Dear Silver Community and Friends,
I arrive at the end of my first year as Dean inspired and energized by all that we have accomplished together.
The 2022-2023 academic year has been marked by leadership in emerging areas of social work research and practice; a re-centering of social justice in what we teach and do; greater local, state and national exposure for our thought leaders; and concrete steps to make our social work education more accessible to a diverse pipeline of students.
All of these developments serve our mission to be the top destination for students who want to make a difference in the world as innovative and impactful social work practitioners.
Amid these achievements, we continued to take pride in our tradition of clinical excellence and also rejoice that one of our own faculty, Dr. Linda G. Mills, has become President Designate of New York University! As this year closes, I am bursting with pride over the impact that our students, faculty, staff and alums have made within our profession and in the communities that we serve.
As I reflect on these developments, I circle back to several commitments that I made when I began my tenure as Dean last July.
Among them were to carry forward the cutting-edge research and thought leadership that we are doing in artificial intelligence and data science, thanks to a pivotal, combined $16 million grant by Dr. Constance Silver and Mr. Martin Silver, to the Silver School and our NYU McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research.
Making a social work education more accessible
I also have committed to eliminating financial barriers to obtaining a social work education at Silver, as well as making education more accessible to a diverse candidate pool of students.
We have already taken steps to defray practicum placement onboarding and licensure costs for students with need, but that’s just the beginning.
I’m proud to say that we intend to align MSW practicum learning hours (also known as field learning) that MSW students are required to complete for Practicum Instruction I-IV from 1,200 hours to the 900 hours required by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE), beginning in the Fall 2024.
Our School must work with our students, faculty, practicum agency partners and other New York City area schools of social work to get there, and we will. Hand in hand with these changes, we will make use of innovative tools and cutting-edge teaching methods in order to continue our tradition of providing a rigorous clinical education.
This development will not impact the number of hours required for MSW students in any pathway for incoming and current students in the Fall 2023 semester.
We will provide additional details in the coming months, as we work internally in coordination with CSWE and the New York State Department of Education.
Addressing the need for more social workers in schools
Meanwhile, Silver is taking steps to address critical needs in the communities around us.
The after-effects of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to reverberate, disproportionately impacting low-income communities and communities of color. Young people are heavily impacted, and it is taking a toll on their mental health.
This is a moment that many of our graduates today are trained to meet.
Over the years, I have called for having more social workers in schools, to meet the needs that children and teens have with their mental health and other concerns.
That’s why I’m proud of our plans to launch the School Social Work Training Academy, in partnership with the New York City Department of Education. It will be a national exemplar for how schools of social work and municipalities can work to address the critical shortage of school-based social workers.
And crucial to its success will be the generous support of the Silvers, for which we are eternally grateful.
Spearheaded by our Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, Dr. Linda Lausell Bryant, this new initiative will increase the pipeline of qualified and well-prepared professionals who can help shift the trajectories of K-12 students toward academic, social and career success.
It will prepare a cadre of diverse graduate MSW students to be competitive candidates for any available school social work jobs. It will also deepen the skills of school-based social work staff who are currently working on the front lines of need in some of our most vulnerable communities. The course of study will include tailored academic, professional and social supports in schools across New York City.
Translating our work into policy and action
Another commitment that I made involved strengthening the ways in which we translate our research and practice into policy impact. In December, New York City Council Member Erik Bottcher met with me, Dr. Lausell Bryant, Interim Assistant Dean of Practicum Education and Community Partnerships Dr. Anne Dempsey, and Senior Advisor Aimee Vargas to discuss plans to help address the shortage of social workers in New York City. Research by Dr. Ramesh Raghavan, an expert in mental health services research who developed a theory of child well-being, drew a visit to Silver from Icelandic Minister of Education and Children Ásmundur Einar Daðason in November. In March, Dr. Raghavan visited Reykjavik, Iceland, where he advised Council of Europe (COE) member states on implementing a child well-being agenda. In April, Director of the Center for Health and Aging Innovation Dr. Ernest Gonzales gave invited testimony at a U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging hearing, during which he called for the passage of the Protecting Older Workers Against Discrimination Act. In May, Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman reintroduced the Pursuing Equity in Mental Health Act into the U.S. House of Representatives. The bill was written following nine months of work by the Congressional Black Caucus Emergency Taskforce on Black Youth Suicide and Mental Health, for which I led the working group of experts that issued a report informing the bill’s text.
Many thanks
These developments are just a few of the strides that Silver made during the 2022-2023 academic year. I am grateful for the leadership of our Associate Deans and Directors in all of these accomplishments, including Director of the BS Program Dr. Cora de Leon; Director or the MSW Program Dr. Ernest Gonzales; Director of the DSW Program Dr. Kirk “Jae” James; Director of the PhD Program Dr. Rohini Pahwa; Coordinator of the MSW Program, Rockland and Westchester Campuses Dr. Aminda Heckman; Coordinator of the Global MSW Program, NYU Shanghai Dr. Qingwen Xu; Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Dr. Linda Lausell Bryant; Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs Dr. Victoria Stanhope; Associate Dean of Research Dr. Marya Gwadz; Associate Dean of Student Affairs Courtney O’Mealley; Interim Assistant Dean of Practicum Learning and Community Partnerships Dr. Anne Dempsey; Director of Office of Global and Lifelong Learning Benjamin R. Sher; Associate Dean of Finance & Administration Sandra Kim; Assistant Dean of Enrollment Services Amy Greenstein; Assistant Dean of Development of Erin Capone; Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Dr. Richeleen Dashield; Chief of Staff Andrew Davis; Director of Strategic Communications Sheryl Huggins Salomon; Senior Advisor to the Dean Aimee J. Vargas; Director of Administrative Services & Human Resources Officer Evelyn Kleinbardt; and Director of Information Technology Aaron Milestone. As well, I am grateful to the many faculty, staff, students, alums and partners, without whom none of this would be possible.
Read on, in this Year in Review report, about additional highlights and updates. Many of you who are reading this will have had a hand in these successes. Whether or not you are named, please know that your contributions are deeply appreciated.
Thank you for your continued support and impact.
Michael A. Lindsey
Dean and Paulette Goddard Professor of Social Work