Class Notes

I've been working with Detroit Regional Dollars for Scholars since November 2025! Excitedly putting my passion macro social work into practice through education equity, access and success.

I have fond memories of my great professors, especially John Tropman and Chuck Brown

After nearly a decade working across youth and sport ecosystems, I founded Paleza - a merchandise and fundraising platform built to direct resources into girls' and women's sports. Through every purchase and fundraising campaign, supporters buy merchandise they love while collectively reinvesting in the programs and athletes they show up for.

My experiences and MSW training shape how I think about all of it — empowerment, systems change, community ownership, and meeting people where they are. Celebrating one year in June 2026, we're looking forward to building alongside the growth of leagues and exciting mega events to create more access and opportunity for girls and women across the U.S.!

I am so grateful to the professors and staff of U of M's School of Social Work. I was going through one of the toughest times of my life during my MSW. My advisors and professors helped guide me and support me so I could graduate successfully. I am now working at my dream job as a mental health therapist and addictions counselor. I am in recovery from substance use disorder and am able to use my lived experience to help others who need help. Forever GO BLUE!

Brittney Williams, '16, MSW '17 has been appointed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to the Michigan Board of Social Work. Williams is the Social Work Division Administrator at the Washtenaw County Public Defender's Office. She is also a social work PhD student at Wayne State University, and a proud legacy member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. Her term begins March 19, 2026, and ends December 31, 2029.

Steven has been employed full-time in geriatric social work, part-time as an adjunct faculty member at WSU and has had several poems published in Survive & Thrive: A Journal for Medical Humanities and Narrative as Medicine.

As a Musician/ Social Worker I am involved in transforming the Detroit Community in the direction of Social Justice whilst actively renovating Belle Isle , particularly the historic Remick Bandshell to be used as a free concert venue by the diverse equitable and inclusive Detroit community.

I recently launched a podcast exploring the transformative and healing power of kindness. My first guest was Dr. Dan Siegel, a mentor whose work I was first introduced to during my time in the MSW program. His work, along with the exceptional training I received in attachment theory from Julie Ribaudo and Doug Davies, deeply informed my dissertation research at Arizona State University, and Dr. Siegel served on my dissertation committee.

This initial podcast conversation focuses on the healing power of mindfulness and kindness within family systems where trauma has occurred. Through this research and clinical work, I developed a kindness–mindfulness model that I now teach in organizations and use in my work with individuals. The podcast is titled Kindness in Action with Dr. Natalie Gruber.

I think of my fabulous professors back in the middle 1970s and thank them for what they taught me. I wish them all the best!

I am the new director of the African American Cultural & Historical Museum of Washtenaw County https://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/2025/11/first-full-time-director-o…