Dear Alumni Colleagues,

It’s hard to believe that I completed my first semester as Dean at the UConn School of Social Work. I’ve become increasingly familiar with the work and impact of our outstanding faculty and their research as well as our students who are engaged with some of our most pressing social welfare issues, child and adolescent behavioral health, substance use disorder, juvenile justice reform, LGBTQ+ health, and supporting immigrants and refugees.

In the short time I have been here, we’ve successfully launched our CT Health Horizons Scholarship programs that support MSW students studying to become school social workers as well as our CT Adelante program that trains bilingual social workers to meet the mental health needs of the Latine community. We also just announced the development of our fully online MSW program which is flexibly designed to meet the needs of our busy students. We’ll be enrolling our first fully online MSW class in Fall 2024!!

The faculty and I continue to actively work on our Strategic Plan Goals. Given current events and in keeping with the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Anti-Racism Strategic Focal Area, we will be hosting trainings on Islamophobia and antisemitism this spring for our students. Our faculty continue to revise our curriculum and coursework to ensure that it reflects an anti-oppressive approach to social work practice.

Finally, it has been a great pleasure meeting alumni. I’ve met many of you when visiting local social service organizations as well as at our alumni gatherings and coffee hours. Learning about the work and influence of the UConn SSW is truly inspiring. I welcome the opportunity to get to know more of you. I encourage everyone to keep in touch with the school through attending events, joining our Alumni Board, engaging in continuing education, or simply reaching out to me or our Alumni Director.

My best wishes for a happy and healthy new year!

Warmly,

Laura

Natasha A. Stapleton is a graduate of the University of Connecticut School of Social Work, class of 2016. Since graduating, Natasha began her employment with CREC – Capitol Region Education Council, where she started her career as a School Social Worker. In this role, Natasha works with a variety of students and families helping to support a variety of social and emotional needs. Natasha is also an active member of the school leadership team; she is a Culture and Climate Coach and is member of the safety committee. Through these various roles, Natasha has a voice in advocating for the equitable practices for diverse students across the school, within curriculum and activities that are provided at the school. As a social worker, Natasha is responsible for educating staff about various diagnosis and how to engage students from a trauma informed lens. Part of this work is supporting staff in recognizing their biases and its impact on educating student from diverse backgrounds. Natasha has over 15 years of experience providing community-based support and therapy to both children, families and adults.

This passion for advocacy is also seen through her volunteer work. Natasha was a member of the juvenile review board for approximately two years. In this role, she served on a panel with juvenile probation officers, police officers and a variety of community advocate across Hartford. The team provided restorative interventions for at risk youth and first-time offenders. Through this work, the panel successful in diverting many youths from juvenile court for minor violations. She also volunteered for several years with Dress for Success, a program built around inspiring women to achieve economic independence by providing a network of support, professional attire and tools to assist women both in work and life.  Currently she volunteers with the Hartford CERT team, Community Response Team. In this capacity, she has developed skills in disaster response and hazard awareness. She also works with the Hartford Fire Fighters to educate individuals within the community about fire safety and supporting the community through a variety of volunteer events around Hartford.

Natasha grew up in Windsor, where she graduated from Windsor Public schools where she ran track and played basketball. Her experience graduating from high school five months pregnant fueled her desire to serve her community and ignited her passion for advocating for families and children. Natasha has also developed a passion for traveling. She has traveled to more than 40 countries around the world where she has had many immersive experiences like hiking a volcano, scuba diving, seeing the pyramids of Giza and visiting several indigenous villages from Colombia, Panama, Egypt and Peru. She also enjoys tasting different foods, visiting museums, theater, photography, meeting new people and alone time. Natasha believes that her experiences while traveling continue to change and shape her as a person and it’s an experience that she has begun sharing with her students. Her goal is that student from challenging situations can see world beyond their experiences and be inspired to want more.

Trel completed his undergraduate studies at Southern Connecticut State University in Political Science (2018); he founded the SCSU-Juvenile justice/Youth Expo as the SCSU-NAACP Juvenile Justice Chair (2015) and continue to lead those efforts later in the chapter as the 1st Vice President. Trel is also a Founder of the Brotherhood, Scholarship and Excellence, a collegiate mentoring program aimed at holding minorities young men accountable to graduate on time at SCSU.  Trel then went to the University of Connecticut School of Social Work, earning a Master’s in Social Work, Class of 2022.

Trel is CEO/Founder of Daniel’s Company Youth Leadership Mentoring Program. Trel is an award-winning Mentor recognized by Former Governor Malloy’s Administration and the current Governor Administration, the Honorable Ned Lamont. Trel serves as the Former Chair of the New Haven Mentoring Collaboration-Subcommittee on Youth and Gun Violence and is passionate about bringing resources to underserved communities impacted by community violence. Trel served as a Commissioner in the Town of Hamden (Human Service Commission) from 2017 to 2020 as the youngest Commissioner at the time in that commission and in the town. Trel also served as a Board of Director of the Southern Connecticut State University-Alumni Association from 2018- 2023.  Trel is a consultant serving as a valuable resource to non-profits that are starter-up in Violence Prevention work.

Trel has over 15 years of community service and had earned numerous accolades for his leadership, mentoring youth and selfless service towards others. Trel is an expert in the area of Forensic Social Work (areas include Juvenile Justice, and victim services) and pride himself on advocating for individuals who are the least, lonely and left out in society.  During, Trel spare time, he enjoys lifting weights, traveling and eating good food. In addition, Trel also write poems, short stories and novels that are aimed at giving Black and Brown individuals voices in society and are often based on contemporary and social issues that minorities have to deal with in their communities.

Emily Henderson is Master level social worker who currently works for The Department of Corrections as a License Drug and Alcohol Therapist. She was born and raised in Pike County, Alabama and is the youngest of 4 siblings. Emily has been working in the field of Social work for a total of 13 years. She is now on track to become clinically licensed in the social work field by 2023. Since her career path started, she has specialized in working with a wide variety of at risk populations; however, her main career focus has been to specifically work with those who are reentering society from the criminal justice system. Emily Henderson found her passion with this population after an internship experience in Alabama at the Julia Tutwiler Women’s Correctional Facility.

Emily Henderson spent 5 years in Montgomery, Alabama where she graduated from the illustrious Historical Black College, Alabama State University in 2011. At that time, she obtained her Bachelors in Social Work with a focus area in Criminal Justice. She later graduated in 2013 with a Masters in Social Work from the University Of Connecticut School Of Social work; located in West Hartford, CT. During her time at UCONN, she held a concentration in Community Organizing with a focus area in Black Studies. After graduating with her Masters from UCONN, Emily began her career working with prominent social service agencies in the Greater Hartford area, such as: Families in Crisis where she conducted group therapy for male abusers. She then worked at The Bridge family Center assisting adolescent males; who were connected to The Department of Children and Families, obtain independent living skills. While working for The Bridge Family, Emily simultaneously worked with The Chrysalis Center. It was there she found her second passion in working with the homeless population and operated on the frontlines of ending chronic homelessness. She furthered her advocacy at Mercy Housing and Shelter as a Program Manager, working with the homeless population who had a severe history of addiction. Emily decided to further skill with The Department of Corrections in the Addiction Treatment unit, aiding those with severe opioid dependencies. She has credited all of her time at these agencies as having a significant role in working to reducing recidivism, homelessness and now the Opioid epidemic in the state of Connecticut.

Emily Henderson has used her skill sets in the community to advocate against social injustices where she has organized rallies in support of Trayvone Martin. She has hosted and collaborated with community stakeholder as well as local universities to provide adolescent sexual health to vulnerable communities. She takes pride in being a former Mighty Marching Hornet with The Alabama State University Marching band and being a first-generation college graduate. She also takes pride in being from the same hometown as “The Boy from Troy,” the late former House of Representatives, Mr. John Lewis. Emily’s future plans are to continue her work in the field of social work and to extend her clinical knowledge and therapeutic services to those returning to the community after incarceration.

Yolanda has been employed by the Department of Children and Families for 25 years. Yolanda currently is a Social Worker in the Statewide Quality Improvement Division’s Case Practice Review Unit. In this role she conducts case reviews to assess for compliance with policy and identifying areas of needs for staff. Prior to this she worked for the regional office where she conducted various case reviews, provided one to one coaching for staff, participated in various Quality Improvement Teams, served as the Multidisciplinary Evaluation Liaison, and worked on special projects.  Yolanda provides technical assistance to the Region 4 Citizen’s Review Panel which is made up of community members who review policies, practices, and procedures and evaluate the extent that the region is meeting its child protective services responsibilities.

Yolanda has experience working with families as a Social Worker in the Ongoing Social Work Unit, Sexual Abuse Specialty Unit, Medically Complex Specialty Unit and Permanency Specialty Unit. Yolanda has also worked for the Foster Care & Adoptive Services Division where she provided oversight and support to foster parents, conducted training for kinship providers, facilitated support groups, licensed kinship foster homes and relicensed foster homes.

Yolanda is actively involved in various groups and committees within the office. Yolanda is Co-Chair of the office Wellness Team, a member of the Hartford Office Council and member of the Advisory Council. In addition, she takes a lead role in organizing and planning office wide events.

Within the community Yolanda is Co Leader of the Latinas in Motion Hartford Chapter. This organization encourages, inspires, and empowers women to get active.

Yolanda earned a Bachelor of Science from the University of Connecticut in 1998 with a major in Human Development and Family Relations and a minor in Criminal Justice. Yolanda earned her MSW in 2005 with a Major Method of Community Organization and a focus area in Puerto Rican and Latino Studies. She has served on the Board of Champions since 2022.

This year has marked key milestones in the history of UConn School of Social Work. We recently celebrated our 75^th anniversary with a special event at the Bond Ballroom in Hartford. I was especially pleased to see so many of our alumni, faculty, staff, both current and emeriti, students, and community partners at our celebration. Our alumni continue to support the School of Social Work in multiple ways – as adjuncts, field instructors, faculty advisors, donors, and social work leaders in Connecticut and beyond. At 8,800 strong, you are the best ambassadors possible for the School of Social Work.

For the last eight years, I have had the privilege of serving as the dean and I stand on the shoulders of the 13 prior Deans, including dean Reimers, Case, Cronin, Whetten, Trecker, Lutz, Germain, Coleman, Green, Humphreys, Abrahamson, Davidson, and Raheim. During these 75 years there have been many changes in social work and social work education. For those of you familiar with professional graduate education, you know that there are dual foci – the preparation of the next generation of professional practitioners, and the generation of new knowledge. While the balance of these two areas of focus have shifted over the course of the decades, I maintain that both are critical and when done right, one should inform and strengthen the other.

Through both, the mission remains: We are rooted in a passion for and commitment to social, racial, and economic justice and the improvement of human well-being, both locally and globally. Through our degree programs, we prepare the next generation of social work practitioners and scholars. Our faculty is committed to the generation and wide dissemination of cutting edge and impactful knowledge, informed by social justice and anti-oppressive lenses, through traditional and innovative research methodologies.

In our 75 years, we have contributed mightily to the field and to the community, and I want to note several important achievements. In nearly eight decades, we have offered the MSW for more than 50 years; dual degree programs; an Advanced Standing Program in the 1990’s; the first and largest public PhD Program since 2002; a social-justice focused, cohort-based, urban BSW Program since 2015; and more recently a DCF cohort program; BSW Spanish Speaking Program with DCF; and Scholars in Aging program. This year we also welcomed Innovations Institute, an interdisciplinary, translational research center, which greatly expands our national footprint.

In addition to internal and various external funding, we have developed and maintained very robust collaborations with the Connecticut Department of Children and Families, the Office of Early Childhood, the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, the Department of Social Services and the Department of Public Health – each has a research component and a workforce development program. At our Commencement on May 6, one of our most distinguished alumni and long-term partners, DCF Commissioner Vannessa Dorantes, offered an inspiriting message to graduates. I hope you will take some time to watch the recording.

Finally, I am excited to share that we have successfully completed the search for our 15^th dean. Please join me in welcoming Dr. Laura Curran, who will begin in her role on August 11, 2023. Dr. Curran was selected from an exceptionally talented pool of applicants. She joins UConn from Rutgers University-New Brunswick, where she is Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs. As Provost Anne D’Alleva stated, Dr. Curran demonstrates a clear understanding of the mission of our School of Social Work, with a commitment to social, racial, and economic justice and the improvement of human well-being, both locally and globally.

As we celebrate the rich heritage of our school and share our hopes for the next 75 years, I invite you to reflect on what the School of Social Work has meant to you, your career, and your life. The University has identified life transformative education as a pillar of our identity. I have long maintained that social work education, is, in fact, life transformative and I hear this over and over again from our alumni. We hope you will continue to stay close to the school, and continue to support the School and our students, as donors, mentors, field advisors, and lifelong friends.

Thank you.