conference

100 Distinguished Alumni

GSSWSR graduates nominated their peers and colleagues for inclusion in a list of our 100 Distinguished Alumni. We are pleased to list them below and recognize their accomplishments and their dedication to the service of others.

Ann A. Abbott
MSS ’69, PhD ’77
Former chair, Graduate Department of Social Work, West Chester University and Associate Dean, Rutgers University School of Social Work

Faith Angell
MSS ’65
U.S. Magistrate Judge, Eastern District, PA

Khary M. Atif
MSS ’97, MLSP ’98
Program Administrator for Staff Development Support, Philadelphia DHS

Beth I. Barol
MSS ’86, PhD ’98
Associate Professor, Director of the MSW program, Widener University Center for Social Work Education

Linda R. Barth
MSS ʉ۪73
Clinician working with children, families and individuals

Joyce O. Beckett
MSS ’69, PhD ’77
Professor Emerita, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Social Work

L. Diane Bernard
PhD ’67
Retired social work educator and CDWE leader; advocate bringing women’s and LGBTQ issues to the forefront of social work education

Sharon Bishop
MSS ’71
Co-founder of Calibre Associates, consulting organization on human services and human resource issues

Joretha Bourjolly
PhD ’96
Associate Professor, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Penn School of Social Policy and Practice

Yvette Bradford
MSS ’90, MLSP ’90
Former senior administrator with Liberty Lutheran Services and Philadelphia Corporation for Aging; community volunteer

Lynette M. Brown-Sow
MSS ’81
Vice President, Marketing and Government Relations, Community College of Philadelphia

Page Walker Buck
MSS ’04, PhD ’08
Associate Professor, Director of MSW program, West Chester State University

Patricia Millar Burland
MSS ’56
Retired GSSWSR professor of clinical social work; leader, PA Society for Clinical Social Work

Jean Campbell
MSS ’13
Outpatient therapist, behavioral specialist consultant and mobile therapist

Patricia L. Chapman
MSS ’81
Philanthropist supporting women balancing education and family

Lewis C. Chartock
PhD ’74
President and CEO, Metropolitan Employment and Rehabilitation Services/Missouri Goodwill

Darla Spence Coffey
PhD ’99
President, Council on Social Work Education

Soraya Davis Coley
MSS ’74, PhD ’81
President, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

Sandra S. Cornelius
MSS ’68, PhD ’76
President, Elwyn

Adelaide Cromwell
CERT ’43
Professor Emeritus, Boston University

Philip W. Damiani
MSS ’76
Executive Director, Delaware County Court System (Retired)

Joan K. Davitt
MSS ’93, MLSP ’94, PhD ’03
Associate Professor and Hartford Geriatric Social Work Scholar, University of Maryland School of Social Work

Merle M. Drake
MSS ’82
Founder, CEO of Supportive Older Women's Network (SOWN) 1983–present

Fanita Blumberg
English MA ’42, CERT ’42
Transactional Analysis theorist, training analyst and practitioner

JoAnne Fischer
MSS ’73
Executive Director of Maternity Care Coalition (1989-present)

Anna S. Forbes
MSS ’92
Global women's health activist and policy analyst

Ellen W. Freeman
MSS ’73, PhD ’76
Research Professor, Co-director of the Human Behavior Reproduction Unit, University of Pennsylvania Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology

Mariah Fenton Gladis
MSS ʉ۪72
Founder and Director, Pennsylvania Gestalt Center

Judith Green
MSS ’90, MLSP ’90
Coordinator, Family to Family program, National Alliance on Mental Illness, Main Line

Laura Cohen Groves
MSS ’95, PhD ’06
Associate Professor and Chair, Social Work Department, Cabrini College

Gloria M. Guard
MSS ’78, MLSP ’80
Executive Director of People's Emergency Center (1983-2010)

Anne B. Hagele
MSS ’75
Executive Director, Philadelphia Senior Center, Retired

Raheemah Shamsid-Deen Hampton
MSS ’02
Southeast Regional Director, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s Office of Children, Youth and Families

Lina Hartocollis
MSS ’89, PhD ’99
Dean of Students and Director of the Doctorate in Clinical Social Work Program, Penn School of Social Policy and Practice

Julius A. Hayes
MSS ’87, MLSP ’88
National Officer/Local leader, National Association of Black Social Workers; supervisor, Philadelphia DHS

Ethel B. Hill
MSS ’65
Social Security Administration Federal Women's Program Manager (Retired); Howard County, MD, civic leader

Stephen M. Holden
MSS ’67, PhD ’75
New Jersey Superior Court Judge 

Linda Denise Houser
PhD ’10
Associate Professor, PHD Program Director, Widener University Center for Social Work Education

Demetrius S. Iatridis
PhD ’55
Professor Emeritus, Boston College Graduate School of Social Work (1966-2012)

Roberta R. Iversen
MSS ’82, PhD ’91
Associate Professor, Director, Master of Science in Social Policy Program, Penn School of Social Policy and Practice

Carrie Jacobs
MSS ’83
Executive Director and co-founder of The Attic Youth Center for LGBTQ youth

Celeste M. Johnson
MSS ’78, PhD ’06
Associate Professor, Widener University Center for Social Work Education; research focus on urban adolescents and trauma

Aulikki Kananoja
MSS ʉ۪71
Awarded the first Finnish presidential honorary title for social work—the highest honor for a profession (2012)

Stephen E. Kauffman
PhD ’92
Associate Professor, Widener University Center for Social Work Education; Teagle Assessment Scholar of Center for the Inquiry of Liberal Arts based at Wabash College

Nancy J. Kirby
MSS ’65
Coordinator of Alumni Connections, GSSWSR, former Assistant Dean and Director of Admission, GSSWSR (1983-2010)

Carole Landis
MSS ’95
Chairwoman, Landis Foundation for Social Action

John G. Loeb
MSS ’69
Senior Vice President, Public Health Management Corporation, retired (1971-2011); Chairperson GSSWSR Board of Advisors

Robin S. Mama
MSS ’84, MLSP ’84, PhD ’90
Dean and Professor, Monmouth University School of Social Work; Representative of the International Federation of Social Workers at the United Nations

Marcia L. Martin
PhD ’82
Co-Dean (2002-2009); Associate Dean, Director of Field Instruction, adjunct faculty, GSSWSR

Thaddeus P. Mathis
MSS ’68
Professor Emeritus, Temple University School of Social Administration; Founder, Institute for Africana Social Work

Ruth W. Mayden
MSS ’70
Dean, GSSWSR (1987-2002); NASW President (1999-2001); Annie E. Casey Fellow (2002-2013)

Patrick T. McCarthy
PhD ’81
President and CEO, Annie E. Casey Foundation

Judith L. M. McCoyd
PhD ’03
Associate Professor, Rutgers University School of Social Work; research focus on trauma and bereavement

Suzanne M. McMurphy
MSS ’84, MLSP ’85, PhD ’93
Associate Professor, Social Work, University of Windsor; focus on community research

Justine McNamara
PhD ’04
Senior Research Fellow, NATSEM, University of Canberra

Susan A. Messina
AB ’86, MSS ’91, MLSP ’92
Social justice advocate and activist for LGBTQ issues and childbirth education

Honora Rose Miller
MSS ’99, MLSP ’99
Director,Commission on the Status of Women and the LGBTQ Commission, San Mateo County, CA

Judith Dabney Miller
MSS ’85, MLSP ’86
Associate Director, Women's Law Project

Tselane Mokuena
MSS ’94, MLSP ’94
Deputy Executive Director, Tripartite Secretariat-South Africa, Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo; former South Africa Consul to Canada and to Germany

Jean Campbell Moore
MSS ’49
Associate Professor Emerita, Temple University School of Social Administration; founder, Career Ladders Program; program host, WRTI

Anthony Morelli
MSS ’12
Director of Off-Site Programming, Peter's Place—a Center for Grieving Children

Alice Muludiang
MSS ’05, MLSP ’06
Advocate for Sudanese refugees in the US and for capacity building in South Sudan; board member, Global Education Motivators

Sabina N. Neem
MSS ’07, MLSP ’07
Associate Director, Office of Multicultural Affairs, Seattle University; Co-Chair, Seattle LGBT Commission

Sheila Nielsen, MSS ’73
President, Nielsen Career Counseling—executive coaching firm

Dolores G. Norton
MSS ’60, PhD ’69
Professor Emerita, University of Chicago School of Social Administration; first African American tenured professor at ÷ÈÓ°Ö±²¥

Ann O’Brien
MSS ’03, MLSP ’03
CEO, Montgomery Early Learning Centers; former Senior Vice President, United Way of Southeastern PA

Catherine Ormerod
MSS ’99, MLSP ’99
Founding director, Non-Profit Executive Leadership Institute (NELI), GSSWSR; Vice President Programs and Partnerships, Living Beyond Breast Cancer (LBBC)

Cheryl Ann Parks
PhD ’97
Dean and Professor, Simmons College School of Social Work

Belle B. Parmet
MA ’40, CERT ’40
Former Director of Psychiatric Social Worker at Carrier Foundation; early pioneer in family therapy practice

Joan T. Pennell
PhD ’90
Professor of Social Work and Director of Center for Family and Community Engagement, North Carolina State University

Felice Perlmutter
PhD ’69
Professor Emeritus, Temple University School of Social Administration; pioneer in social work administration

Linda Cherrey Reeser
MSS ’60, PhD ’69
Professor, Director of BSW Program, Western Michigan University

Lawrence S. Root
MSS ’71
Professor and Director of Office of Global Activities, University of Michigan School of Social Work

Tawana Ford Sabbath
MSS ’71, PhD ’86
Community elder, clinician and mentor; local and national NABSW leader

Allyson Y. Schwartz
MSS ’72
Former PA US Representative and PA State Senator; President and CEO, Better Medicare Alliance

Deena Schwartz
MSS ’65
Social worker and advocate for persons and families dealing with longer-term intellectual disabilities

Nicholas C. Scull
MSS ’02
Clinical Director, Fawzia Sultan Rehabilitation Institute; Assistant Professor and Assistant Dean, American University of Kuwait

Carol Shapiro
MSS ’78
Founder and President of Family Justice, community centered re-entry program; Ashoka Fellow

Valerie Shapiro
MSS ’05
Assistant Professor, co-director of Center for Prevention Research, UC-Berkeley School of Social Welfare

Corey Shdaimah
PhD ’05
Associate Professor, Academic coordinator of MSW/JD program, University of Maryland School of Social Work

Edmund A. Sherman
PhD ’67
Professor Emeritus, SUNY-Albany School of Social Welfare

James H. Sills
PhD ’81
Former state representative, city councilman and two term mayor of Wilmington, DE

Paula T. Silver
PhD ’92
Dean and Professor, School of Professional Studies, Widener University

Basha A. Silverman
MSS ’12
Vice President for Strategic Planning, Jewish Family and Children's Services of Greater Philadelphia

Barbara L. Simon
MSS ’76, PhD ’81
Associate Professor, Columbia University School of Social Work

Rosa Lee Smith
MSS ’51
Retired counselor, LaSalle University, mentor to countless social workers; collaborator with Dr. Warren E. Smith, community psychiatrist

Deborah Spungen
MSS ’89, MLSP ’90
Founding Director of Families of Murder Victims and Anti-Violence Partnership of Philadelphia

Harold E.Stafford
MSS ’73
Former Secretary of Labor, State of Delaware; more than 30 years of management of Delaware state agencies

Gail S. Steketee
MSS ’73, PhD ’87
Dean and Professor, Boston University School of Social Work

Patricia A. Stewart
MSS ’81
Advocate and national consultant on HIV/AIDS issues in the African American community; clinician and social work mentor

Jennifer Stotter
MSS ’99, PhD ’10
Director of EEO/AA, University of Hawaii at Hilo; former Director of AA/EEO, CVS Caremark Corporation

Emiko Anne Tajima
PhD ’99
Associate Professor and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, University of Washington School of Social Work

Tony Thurmond
MSS ’95, MLSP ’96
Representative, 15th Assembly District, California; former Richmond, CA, council member; youth services advocate

Niambi Robinson-Tillman
AB ’92, MSS ’94, MLSP ’95
Assistant Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Dallas, TX

Theresa Peaches Valdes
AB ’99, MSS ’03, MLSP ’03
Dean of Undergraduate Admissions, ÷ÈÓ°Ö±²¥

Shirley Waites-Howard
MSS ’77
Social work educator, bereavement counselor and longtime community activist

Nina Wall-Cote
MSS ’00
Director, Bureau of Autism Services of the PA Department of Public Welfare

Bertha S. Waters
MSS ’79
Community advocate and activist for social justice and social change

Elizabeth Werthan
MSS ’73
Dedicated advocate for women's health and rights; former Executive Director of CHOICE and Board Chair of Women’s Way

Henry L. Westray
MSS ’74
Former State Coordinator and Chair, Maryland Governor's Commission on Suicide Prevention

Scott M. Wilson
MSS ’65, PhD ’76
Social work education consultant, Senior Educational Specialist, Division of Standards and Accreditation, Council on Social Work Education

Robert E. Young
MSS ’57
Retired Clinical Social Worker and Researcher, Eastern Virginia Medical School