Class Notes

Garrett Raubolt, LCSW (SSW 05) has been recognized in the Northwestern Memorial Hospital (NMH) employee magazine Connections for his work developing and instituting the health systems first Collaborative Care, Integrated Behavioral Health Program in Primary Care. While working in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at NMH, Garrett is embedded in a primary care clinic to identify and treat patients who are experiencing depression.

Gayle Shier Kricke received her doctorate in June from Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine in Healthcare Quality and Patient Safety. Gayle is the second person in the nation to hold PhD-level training specific to healthcare quality and patient safety. Gayle works at Northwestern Medicine as a Clinical Quality Leader for the healthcare system where she focuses on establishing an integrated quality program across a multi-hospital system.

Melissa Mendez has worked to build Wheeler Clinic's early childhood programs that serve very young children with trauma and their families. She administers the Birth to Three early intervention services at Wheeler and serves as President of Connecticut's Infant Mental Health Association. She serves on a number of advisory boards and work groups aimed at improving the early childhood system in Connecticut including the CT Home Visiting Consortium, the CT Help Me Grow Advisory Board and the CT Early Childhood Trauma Collaborative. Melissa is a trained Child Parent Psychotherapy (CPP) therapist and a trainer for home visitors on culturally responsive practice in infant and early childhood mental health and working with families in intergenerational poverty.

Linda Young Landesman, since retiring in 2012 from the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation has published several books on behavioral health: Landesman's Public Health Management of Disasters: The Practice Guide, 4th edition, published by the American Public Health Association, May, 2017; co-edited Case Studies in Public Health Preparedness and Response to Disasters, published by Jones and Bartlett Learning; and Emergency and Disaster Preparedness for Health Professionals, published by Paradigm Education Solutions, November, 2017.

Bruce Thyer, Ph.D. 1982 (Social Work and Psychology), was recently appointed as a Distinguished Research Professor at Florida State University, where he has been a Professor since 2002. In 2016 he was inducted as a Fellow into the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare.

Sirene-Rose Lipschutz recently began working as Tribal Therapist in Flagstaff, Arizona, working with the Navajo and Hopi in Tuba City, Arizona and with the Havasupai at the floor of the Grand Canyon.

Aneeta Pearson launched www.internationalchildwelfarenews.com in March 2017, a site that features child welfare news from around the world, not covered through mainstream media. ICW News features news through discussion, interviews with child welfare professionals, and recommended literature. Child welfare professionals interested in being interviewed related to a story, please contact Aneeta through the website.

Karen Gordon Rosenberg’s experience in the field of geriatrics spans two decades. Her involvement with Caring Across Generations, a national organization, included two visits to Washington, D.C., to collaborate with others from around the country to raise the national consciousness on aging, caregiving, and access to dignified care through dialogue and advocacy. In November 2017, she presented at the Interdisciplinary Conference of the Aging and Society Research Network on the following topic: The Case for Care Management: Changing the Trajectory of Aging.

Elda Dawber's novel about childhood trauma and recovery, "Wait Until I'm Dead!" is available at amazon.com. It recently received an exceptional review in Dignity: A Journal on Sexual Exploitation and Violence at [email protected]/dignity, highlighting its value in the prevention of child sexual abuse and the treatment of survivors.

Dr. Grace Chee, Ph.D., M.S.W. U of M SSW class of 2009, defended her doctoral dissertation on March 25, 2016. She has accepted a teaching position at the Singapore Institute of Management (SIM), beginning in January 2017. She will be teaching human lifespan development and introduction to social work courses.

Miriam Connolly was hired as Director of the Blavin Scholars Program at the University of Michigan.

Recently retired from a career as an administrator, educator, and therapist at Michigan State University, Pine Rest Mental Health, Calvin College, and Western Michigan University. Looking forward to new ventures as a grandparent and volunteer.

I have recently received tenure and have been promoted to Associate Professor of Sociology at Eastern Illinois University. Since completing my Ph.D. in 2010 from Western Michigan University, I have been teaching Social Statistics and the Sociology of Poverty and Social Welfare at EIU. My research has focused on changes in social welfare programs and their impacts on historically marginalized populations, rural and micropolitan food insecurity, and the location, access, and utilization of food pantries by food insecure populations.

Recently retired after almost 40 years in social work, case management and department leadership in hospitals in Vermont and Maine. Over the years, was active on the Boards of the Society for Social Work Leadership in Health Care and the American Case Management Association. Currently serving as Chair of the National Board of Case Management certification and also enjoying other volunteer work in the Burlington, VT area, travel, leisure, grandchildren and not carrying a pager!

Linda (Turner) Katz spent 40+ years in the child welfare field, as a foster/adoption worker, supervisor, manager, University of Washington lecturer, and retired after 10 years as director of the Court Appointed Special Advocates Program at the King County (WA) Superior Court. She served as a volunteer CASA for 40 years. Since retirement she has published a memoir, Sing Me Awake, about Mississippi in the 60's and her SSW friend, Donna Higgins. Her second book, Rise Up! Discoveries in an Urban First Grade, will be published in March 2017. She lives in Seattle with her husband, and has a grown son.

Amy Ellwood, MSW ’83, retired after 25 years of service at the University of Nevada School of Medicine. She was awarded the academic rank of Professor Emerita of Family Medicine and Psychiatry. She continues teaching on a volunteer basis in the psychiatry residency and child/adolescent psychiatry programs. She was also recently named the Outstanding Psychotherapy Supervisor of the Year by the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellows.

James “Jim” Toy, MSW ’81, was honored by NASW-Michigan with the 2016 Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his outstanding social work practice and his continued commitment to the principles of social justice.

Laurie Carpenter was selected to receive NASW-Michigan’s 2016 Public Citizen of the Year award, along with her Co-Director Michael Hood, for their work in Flint, MI, during the Flint Water Crisis. They founded Crossing Water, a volunteer-run NGO, in response to the crisis, and lead social worker-led Rapid Response Service Teams in providing resources and education to the most vulnerable residents in Flint.