W U R Z W E I L E R S C H O O L O F S O C I A L W O R K l Y E S H I V A U N I V E R S I T Y

WurzweilerUpdateWINT ER 2 0 0 5 The Magazine for Alumni and Friends

Caring for theLatino Community

Washington Heights and Beyond

Caring for theLatino Community

Washington Heights and Beyond

Tool

s

P U B L I C A T I O N S A R E A VA I L A B L E F R O M T H E R E S P E C T I V E P U B L I S H E R S O R A C A D E M I C B O O K S T O R E S .

Prof

essi

onal

Tools for the social work professionImportant new publications by Wurzweiler School of Social Work faculty

M. Joanna Mellor & Helen Rehr

(Eds) Baby Boomers: Can My

Eighties Be Like My Fifties? New

York, NY: Springer Publishing, 2005.

This book addresses issues Baby

Boomers face while simultaneously

projecting ahead to challenges and

benefits that are likely to charac-

terize this next generation of older

persons. It is based on keynote

presentations by noted leaders in

the field of aging, who discuss

their expectations of their old age.

It is both an introductory primer to

aging today as well as a book that

raises questions, suggests solutions,

and indicates avenues of planning

for the future. M. Joanna Mellor is

assistant professor at Wurzweiler

School of Social Work. Helen Rehr

is professor of community medi-

cine emerita and consultant on

social health research, education,

and program planning to Mount

Sinai School of Medicine and

Medical Center.

Richard K. Caputo (Ed.) Challenges

of Aging on US Families: Policy and

Practice Implications, Binghamton,

NY: Haworth Press, 2005.

Challenges of Aging on US Families

presents the latest original

research on the changing roles of

caregivers along with the economic

and emotional effects on the family

unit. The papers discuss in detail

long-term care and the standard of

living of families, with a focus on

the effects of changing family

structures themselves and society

at large. Richard Caputo is a pro-

fessor and director of the doctoral

program at Wurzweiler School of

Social Work.

Carmen Ortiz Hendricks, Jeanne

Bertrand Finch, & Cheryl L. Franks

Learning to Teach, Teaching to Learn:

A Guide for Social Work Field Edu-

cation, Alexandria, VA: Council on

Social Work Education Press, 2005.

This book lays out step-by-step

how to achieve a quality field

education experience for both

students and field instructors by

placing the field instructor-student

relationship as central to achieving

learning goals and objectives.

Carmen Ortiz Hendricks is associ-

ate dean at Wurzweiler School of

Social Work, Jeanne Bertrand Finch

is assistant dean and director of

the office of field instruction at

Stony Brook University’s School of

Social Welfare, and Cheryl L.

Franks is associate director of field

education at Columbia University

of Social Work.

Nancy Beckerman Couples of

Mixed HIV Status: Clinical Issues

and Interventions, New York, NY:

Haworth Press, 2005.

Nancy Beckerman addresses the

unique emotional challenges fac-

ing today’s couples of mixed HIV

status and provides a conceptual

framework for assessment and

intervention. The book provides

therapists with a range of theoreti-

cal approaches to help mixed HIV

status couples deal with their issues

and concerns. Nancy Beckerman is

an associate professor at

Wurzweiler School of Social Work

F E ATURES

8

21

Dean’s Message. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

News & Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Graduation 2005 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Student Profile. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Alumni Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Dinner of Tribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Class Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

DEPARTMENTS

Helping HIV Patients Cope with Life and Loss

Professor Nancy Beckerman’s new book shares her experience counseling ‘mixed’ couples, in which onlyone member has the virus.

Close to Home

How Wurzweiler School of Social Work is helping to solvethe problem of delivering services to the Latino population,the fastest growing minority group in the United States.

A Measure of Justice for Nazi Victims

Longtime Wurzweiler board member Saul Kagan is renowned for his efforts to secure reparations for Holocaust survivors and their families.

10

On the cover: Mural on corner of Audubon Avenue and 182nd Street in Washington Heights.

W U R Z W E I L E R S C H O O L O F S O C I A L W O R K l Y E S H I V A U N I V E R S I T Y

WurzweilerUpdateWINT ER 2 0 0 5 The Magazine for Alumni and Friends

The past six months have been a time of change andtransition at Wurzweiler that has impacted our faculty,staff, and students in a variety of ways. In mid-MarchMargaret Gibelman, DSW, director of our doctoral pro-gram, was diagnosed with lung cancer. On June 3 welost her to the disease, leaving a huge void that was feltmost directly by her students in the final phases oftheir proposals and dissertations. (See the obituary onpage 5.)

We welcomed our new associate dean and profes-sor Carmen Ortiz Hendricks, ’93W, DSW in July. Prof.Hendricks brings a level of enthusiasm and compe-

tence that will enhance the education we provide our students. (See our coverstory on page 10.)

In July we also welcomed Molly Fink as the first Fredda Leff PresidentialFellow at Wurzweiler. Ms. Fink is one of 14 recent graduates of our undergraduateschools who were selected to spend a year working with senior university admin-istrators. See page 5. In August we were joined by renowned bioethicist AdrienneAsch, the Edward and Robin Milstein Professor of Bioethics. (See page 3.)

Faculty continue to generate high-quality scholarship with the publication offive books—by Nancy Beckerman ’91W, Richard Caputo, Margaret Gibelman,Joanna Mellor, and Carmen Ortiz Hendricks ’93W—and more than 40 articlesand/or book chapters in leading social work and related journals. Faculty areon the programs of every national and international professional conference insocial work and related fields and are involved in a wide range of service activ-ities in the community. We are proud of the work that they are doing and theway their research, service, and scholarship are infused in the classroom.

Three Wurzweiler faculty members have been promoted and/or tenuredthis year: Joan Beder ’93W to full professor, David Strug to full professor withtenure, and Jonathan Fast ’99W to associate professor with tenure.

Professors Beder, Heidi LaPorte ’87W,’00W, Susan Mason, Ortiz Hendricks,Strug and Jay Sweifach ’88W,’02W along with faculty from the Department ofFamily and Social Medicine at Yeshiva University’s Albert Einstein College ofMedicine participated in a research program in Havana, Cuba. Their trip willalso include reaching out to the Jewish community in Havana.

This year’s events included conferences on gerontology and child welfareresearch co-sponsored by Wurzweiler, and a successful “Commons Day” dealingwith the genocide in Darfur. For the first time, we coordinated our annual BlockField Instructors Conference and our Field Instructors Breakfast with morethan 100 field instructors from the United States, Canada, France, and Israelparticipating.

I would like to call your attention to our recently renovated and evolvingWeb site www.yu.edu.wurzweiler, which includes information about the school,its activities, and the accomplishments of faculty. The site is under the direc-tion of the innovative and creative Prof. Jonathan Fast.

As you will note, the number of items in the “Class Notes” section of theUpdate continues to grow. Keep in touch.

Sincerely

Sheldon R. GelmanDorothy and David I. Schachne Dean, Wurzweiler School of Social Work

Yeshiva UniversityRichard M. Joel

PRESIDENT

Morry J. WeissCHAIRMAN, BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Robert Schwalbe, PhDCHAIRMAN, WSSW BOARD OF GOVERNORS

v

Patricia Fitzgerald ’99WDIRECTOR OF ALUMNI RELATIONS, WSSW

Leslie Waltzer PollakDIRECTOR OF INSTITUTIONAL ADVANCEMENT,

WSSW

Georgia PollakDIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS

AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS

EDITOR

Kelly Berman

DESIGNER

Emily Scherer Steinberg

PHOTOGRAPHERS

Norman GoldbergPeter RobertsonJane Windsor

CONTRIBUTORS

Marcy FrankJune Glazer

David HillstromCara Aidone HuzinecEsther D. Kustanowitz

Wurzweiler Updateis published once a year by

Wurzweiler School of Social Work2495 Amsterdam AvenueNew York, NY 10033-3299

212-960-5373

Designed and produced through theOffice of Communications and Public Affairs

500 West 185 StreetNew York, NY 10033-3201

212-960-5398

Editorial contributions and submissionsto Update are welcome. This publicationaccepts no responsibility for unsolicited

manuscripts or photographs. All submissionsare subject to editing and are used at the editor’s discretion. Opinions expressed inthis publication do not necessarily reflectofficial School and/or University policy.

WurzweilerUpdate

DEAN’S MESSAGE

This fall, Adrienne Asch, PhD,came on board at WurzweilerSchool of Social Work as theEdward and Robin MilsteinProfessor of Bioethics, a new

chair that will spearhead an initiativeof Yeshiva University to put ethicalissues on the agenda of every student’sundergraduate or graduate education.

“Dr. Adrienne Asch is a world-renowned bioethicist and authority onthe rights of the disabled. Her appoint-ment at the university is a majorcoup,” said Sheldon R. Gelman, PhD,Dorothy and David I. Schachne Deanat Wurzweiler.

An alumna of Columbia Univer-sity, where she earned an MS degreein social work and a PhD in socialpsychology, Prof. Asch comes to YUfrom Wellesley College, where shewas Henry R. Luce Professor inBiology, Ethics, and the Politics ofHuman Reproduction; and professorof women’s studies.

With a background in civil rightsand public policy, she has served as amember of the New Jersey Com-mission on Legal and EthicalProblems in the Delivery of HealthCare; senior Human Rights Specialistwith the New York State Division ofHuman Rights; a member of theNational Commission on ChildhoodDisability and of the Bioethics Work-ing Group for the Clinton Task Forceon Health Care Reform, and as a con-sultant to the Secretary’s AdvisoryCommittee on Genetic Testing. Herresearch and policy work has focusedon issues such as reproductive rights,disability, genetics, and surrogacy.

“The field of bioethics broadens asissues emerge,” Prof. Asch said. “Inaddition to the famous debates oncloning and stem-cell research, bio-ethicists wrestle with issues thatinclude how to define death, how todecide who should get healthcareresources if they are limited, or

whether to disconnect patients in in-tractable pain from life support, andwhether to make emergency contra-ception (the ‘morning-after’ pill)available without a prescription.”

Bioethicists, she explained, interactwith government, healthcare profes-sionals, ethics committees in hospitals,biotechnology firms, and people onstate and national policy commissions,helping them to set policy or bringlegislation and recommendations.

The author or co-author of numer-ous books, monographs, and articles,Prof. Asch will also teach at YU’sAlbert Einstein College of Medicine,Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law,Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychol-ogy, and the undergraduate schools.

“Prof. Asch is a world-class acade-mic who adds much strength and lus-ter to our programs in ethics, whichspan across nearly every program inthe university,” said MortonLowengrub, PhD, vice president foracademic affairs. v

Adrienne Asch, Bioethics Expert,Joins Faculty

Agrant from the National Center forGerontological Social Work will soonenrich the training Wurzweiler studentsreceive in the field of aging. Three pro-fessors—Joanna Mellor, Richard Caputo,

and Susan Mason—are attending annual work-shops held by the Curriculum Development In-stitute to infuse content on aging into the cur-riculum.

The initiative, funded by the John A. HartfordFoundation through the Council on Social WorkEducation, aims to ensure that all social workstudents receive gerontological training overthe course of their studies.

“This puts Wurzweiler on the map of thenational effort to bring gerontology educationinto schools of social work,” said Dr. Mellor, assis-tant professor of social work. She said that theproject is extremely important because the agingpopulation is growing by leaps and bounds.

“All social workers, regardless of their cho-sen field, will work with older people—thereare many grandparents caring for children, andthere are older persons among substance abusers,prisoners, and the homeless for example,” saidDr. Mellor.

The three faculty members joined col-leagues from 76 undergraduate and graduatesocial work programs across the country at thefirst workshop in June 2005. The second andthird workshops will be held in June 2006 and2007. During the three years the professors willstudy the Wurzweiler curriculum—from class-room to field work—and assist faculty in inject-ing aging content throughout.

“Several Wurzweiler professors already dealwith aging in the classes they teach,” said Dr.Mellor, who helped organize the Future of Agingconference at Wurzweiler earlier this year (seepage 4). “Getting this grant means we’ll be ableto work with adjunct and full-time faculty tointegrate these issues more comprehensivelyand systematically into the curriculum.

“The idea is not to include [gerontologystudy] at the expense of other content, but by‘infusion,’” said Dr. Mellor. “So if you’re talkingabout policy towards poverty, you make sure todiscuss old people [in this context] in additionto single parents.” v

Gerontology GrantEnriches Curriculum

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NEWS AND VIEWS

4W U R Z W E I L E R U P D A T E

The Future of Aging,” a conference hosted by Wurz-weiler in April, generated much debate about policiesand programs for seniors.

The conference was recognized by the 2005 WhiteHouse Conference on Aging (WHCoA) as an ‘IndependentAging Agenda Event,’ meaning Wurzweiler reported on pro-ceedings and forwarded recommendations from its con-ference to the White House event, a national gathering ofappointed delegates meeting in Washington, DC inDecember.

Over 100 service providers, older persons, alumni andstudents from the New York metropolitan area attendedthe conference, which was sponsored by Wurzweiler, theWashington Heights/Inwood Council on Aging and YU’sFerkauf Graduate School of Psychology. Co-sponsors in-cluded the Brookdale Center on Aging of Hunter College,the Manhattan Borough-wide Inter-Agency Council on Aging,the New York City Department of Aging, and the RavazzinCenter on Aging at Fordham University.

“It is imperative that we rethink policies and developservice strategies both to meet the needs of our currentolder population and to prepare for future challenges. The2005 WHCoA gives us the opportunity to do this,” saidJoanna Mellor, DSW, assistant professor, who helped planthe conference.

Edwin Mendez-Santiago, MSW, NewYork City Commissioner of Aging, dis-cussed the challenges of increased longevityand cultural diversity in meeting thesocial service needs of seniors in the city.

The paradigm of serving two separatepopulations—the mobile and the home-bound—“is blind to the need for more flex-ible in-home services,” CommissionerMendez-Santiago said. “The elderly shouldbe encouraged to leave their apartmentswhen they can, so they are less isolated.”

Rose Dobrof, DSW, professor emerita at Hunter Collegeand founding director of the Brookdale Center on Aging,gave an overview of the history of the White House Confer-ences on Aging. Even though past White House Confer-ences on Aging were influential in legislation such as theOlder Americans Act, Dr. Dobrof warned against attribut-ing too much credit to the conferences in getting legislationpassed. “A lot of advocacy and work comes before the WhiteHouse conference,” Dr. Dobrof said.

Nelson Peralta, MD, project coordinator of the Centerfor the Health of Urban Minorities, Center for CommunityHealth Partnerships, highlighted affordable housing andaccess to medical care as major issues affecting seniors inthe New York City neighborhoods of Washington Heightsand Inwood.

After the speakers, attendees participated in round-table discussions on issues such as retirement savings,financial abuse, and depression.

Among the policy and service recommendations sub-mitted to the 2005 WHCoA were to maintain SocialSecurity as a wage-based government administered in-surance system, and to increase research of depressionamong older persons.

For a complete report on the resolutions submitted to the2005 WHCoA, contact Joanna Mellor at mellor@yu.edu. v

Conference Gives Wurzweiler a Voice inNational Aging Debate

“The elderly should be

encouraged to leave their

apartments when they can,

so they are less isolated.”

— Edwin Mendez-Santiago,

NYC Commissioner of Aging. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

NEWS AND VIEWS

5W U R Z W E I L E R U P D A T E

Presidential FellowWorks in Dean’s Office

This year for the first time, Wurz-weiler got its own PresidentialFellow, one of 14 graduates ofYeshiva University’s undergrad-uate schools who are spending

another year on campus developingleadership skills. The fellowship programwas conceived by President Richard M.Joel and is now in its second year.

Malca Fink, a 2005 graduate of SternCollege, has been working in the officeof Sheldon R. Gelman, PhD Dorothy andDavid I. Schachne Dean, since July.

Ms. Fink is the Fredda Leff Presiden-tial Fellow, which was established by thefamily of the late Fredda Leff ’78W,longtime Wurzweiler board member.

Dean Gelman oversees the programand runs its leadership training semi-nars covering key topics in universityadministration and Jewish communalleadership.

The program takes some of YU’s topgraduates behind the scenes of the in-stitution and gives them the opportunityto be mentored by a senior administrator.

Ms. Fink has “gone everywhere withthe dean,” she said, making valuablecontacts in NY state and city agenciesas she considers graduate studies inpsychology or law. She said she hopedher future career would include advo-cating for children who are hard ofhearing, which was why she choseWurzweiler for her placement.

Ms. Fink has already made a consid-erable contribution to the school, helpingplan Commons Day for Block studentsthis summer, providing administrativesupport, and taking on some researchand writing responsibilities. v

IN MEMORIAM: Margaret Gibelman

Wurzweiler Establishes the Dr. Margaret Gibelman Memorial Doctoral Scholarship Fund

n memory of Margaret Gibelman, Wurzweiler has established a scholarshipfund to support doctoral students. Alumni can help advance the professionto which Dr. Gibelman devoted so much of her energy and life by lendingtheir support to the scholarship fund. Please consider a donation today. Youmay contribute by using the enclosed envelope, visiting www.yu.edu andclicking on “Giving Online to YU,” or contact Patricia Fitzgerald, director ofalumni relations, at fitzgera@yu.edu or 212-960-5400 x 5779. Thank you!

Wurzweiler suffered a great loss June 3 when Margaret Gibelman, DSW, pro-fessor and director of its Doctoral Program, passed away after battling lungcancer. Dr. Gibelman made a substantial contribution to the field of social

work as a scholar, author, researcher, men-tor, and practitioner.

“She was the consummate academic,with a commitment to scholarship, her pro-fession, and her students,” said Sheldon R.Gelman, PhD, Dorothy and David I. SchachneDean at Wurzweiler, where Dr. Gibelmantaught classes in management/administra-tion, child welfare, and social policy.

Before coming to Wurzweiler in 1994, shetaught at Rutgers University and theNational Catholic School of Social Services.Dr. Gibelman’s management expertise was inhigh demand among national organizations.

She served as associate executive director of the Council on Social WorkEducation, and executive director of the Lupus Foundation of America andthe National Association of School Psychologists.

Dr. Gibelman held senior staff positions with the National Conference onSocial Welfare and the American Public Welfare Association. She served asa consultant to the National Association of Social Workers and to theCouncil on Accreditation for Services to Families and Children.

A prolific author, publishing more than 125 articles and book chapters, shealso authored or co-authored eight books, including What Social Workers Do(1995, second edition 2005) and the more recent Navigating Human ServiceOrganizations (2003).

For the past several years Dr. Gibelman ran the mentoring program for allnew faculty at YU and developed the research infrastructure for ManhattanCampus faculty out of the Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs.

During the last few months of her illness, Dr. Gibelman gained insightinto the indignities of the health care system. “The only thing that makesus human is compassion,” she said in a message sent to Wurzweiler stu-dents at graduation in May. “Our job as social workers is to ensure that com-passion will always be a part of who and what we are. In the end, that is allthat is important.” v

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NEWS AND VIEWS

Malca Fink (R) with an MSW student at

Commons Day

6W U R Z W E I L E R U P D A T E

Faculty News

Wurzweiler appointed a new associatedean, Carmen Ortiz Hendricks ’93W,DSW, previously professor at HunterSchool of Social Work. For more abouther appointment, see cover story onpage 10. Dean Hendricks was recentlyappointed to a three-year term on theCommission on Accreditation of theCouncil on Social Work Education(CSWE). She co-edited Learning toTeach, Teaching to Learn: A Guide forSocial Work Field Education (CSWEPress).

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

In June, Joan Beder ’93W, DSW, andDavid Strug, PhD, were promoted tofull professors, and Jonathan Fast ’99W,DSW, was promoted to associate profes-sor. Drs. Fast and Strug were alsotenured at this time.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Professor RichardK. Caputo, PhD,took over asdirector of theDoctoral Programafter the death ofMargaretGibelman. In July,Professor Caputopublished his sec-

ond book, Challenges of Aging on USFamilies: Policy and Practice Implications(Haworth Press). The book is anoverview of the economic status of agingfamilies in the US. It provides originalresearch regarding the formidabledemands elderly family members create oncaregivers and the beneficent supply ofparenting resources they make availableto needy grandchildren.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Jade Docherty ’96W, assistant dean,graduated from Wurzweiler with herPhD in July. Her dissertation topic was“Students Entering New York City AreaMSW Programs Following a Hiatus:Adjustment to the Student Role.”

Joanna Mellor, DSW, assistant professor,is the 2005 recipient of the Walter M.Beattie Jr. award from the State Society

for Aging of NewYork for outstand-ing contributionsto the organizationand for commit-ment to its goals.She was alsorecently appointeda fellow of theNew York Academy

of Medicine and of the GerontologicalSociety of America (GSA). She co-editedBaby Boomers: Can My Eighties Be LikeMy Fifties?, published by Haworth Press.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Raesa Kaiteris, MSW, was appointedassociate director of field instruction.Previously, she worked for Adelphi Uni-versity School of Social Work in severalcapacities, including director of its Hud-son Valley Extension Program in Pough-keepsie, NY, for 20 years and assistantdirector of field instruction at Adelphi’sManhattan Center for five years.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

During his sabbatical in the spring,2005, Norman Linzer ’60W, PhD, SamuelJ. and Jean Sable Professor of JewishFamily Social Work, researched the impactof the Sept. 11 attacks on social workpractice and ethics in various agencies inNew York, New Jersey, Florida, Boston,Toronto, South Dakota, and Israel, alongwith Heidi Heft LaPorte ’87W, ’00W, DSW,and Jay Sweifach ’88W, ’02W, DSW, bothassistant professors. They met with focusgroups of eight social workers each whowere asked to describe the impact of9/11 on them personally, on the demo-graphics of the agency and on theirpractice, and whether ethical issuesarose. They will present their data in afuture issue of Update.

Joyce Brenner ’83W, DSW, director ofthe Block Plan in Israel, is on the boardof the Counseling Center for Women, afeminist therapy organization in RamatGan and Jerusalem. In that capacity shetook part in an outreach program thissummer helping female soldiers in theIsrael Defense Force prepare to go intoGaza and move families out.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

An article in the spring 2004 (vol. 37)issue of The Social Work Forum, co-edit-ed by Professor Daniel Pollack and EricLevine ’94W, DSW, and published byWurzweiler, received an award from theCenter for Child Welfare Policy of theNorth American Resource Center forChild Welfare (NARCCW). The centergave one of five 2005 Pro HumanitateLiterary Awards to Tracey Feild for herarticle “The Child Welfare FundingProblem: The Title IV-E Straitjacket vs.the Medicaid Roadblock.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Martin Birnbaum, PhD, Beate andHenry Voremberg Professor of SocialGroup Work, traveled to China inOctober as part of a group who wereguests of the Chinese government. Hespoke to local high school studentsabout his work and the role of thesocial worker in the United States.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Professor David Strug is conductingresearch on the impact of US govern-ment travel restrictions on CubanAmericans with the support of a summerresearch grant from the Rabbi ArthurSchneier Center for International Affairsat YU. On a trip to Cuba in September,during which they attended the FourthInternational Congress of Social Work,Professors Strug, Heidi Heft LaPorte,and Jay Sweifach also met with leadersof the Jewish community in Havana.They learned about the history of thecommunity and the challenges itsmembers face today. They hope to con-tinue the contact and explore opportu-nities for research.

NEWS AND VIEWS

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Righteous ProtectorSimone Weil Lipman spoke about how she helped hundreds of Jewish childrenescape the Nazis in France at ‘Righteous Protectors,’ a panel discussion sponsored by Wurzweiler and Stern College’s Dr. Marcia Robbins-Wilf Scholar-in-Residence Program. Ms. Weil Lipman was a social worker with OSE, a Jewishchild care agency, but worked under an assumed identity to help find hidingplaces and false identities for children destined for the death camps in Poland.She said that more French families opened their homes to foster children thanany other nationality during the Holocaust.

Sharing the stage with her was Rev. Carl Wilkens, an American who stayed inRwanda during the genocide in 1994 to care for hundreds of orphans.

7W U R Z W E I L E R U P D A T E

Much in CommonStudents took part in games with a comedy troupe (right) and paired up tocomplete a quiz (below) at CommonsDay, held twice a year in February andJuly. The event aims to build a sense ofcommunity among students, faculty, andstaff through informal interaction. It wasstarted by Martin Birnbaum, PhD, Beateand Henry Voremberg Professor of SocialGroup Work, after the 9-11 attacks to“celebrate who we are and our diversity,”he said.

NEWS AND VIEWS

8W U R Z W E I L E R U P D A T E

In her new book, Professor

Nancy Beckerman shares her

experience counseling “mixed”

couples, in which only one

member has the virus.

Helping HIVPatientsCope withLife andLoss

BY ESTHER KUSTANOWITZ

Helping HIVPatientsCope withLife andLoss

BY ESTHER KUSTANOWITZ

Until recently, mental health professionalstreating HIV-positive patients would focus onhow to deal with the diagnosis, prepare for

the impending loss, or cope with bereavement. Butbecause anti-retroviral drugs are giving those withHIV a second lease on life, today’s social workersface new issues in preparing clients to live with thedisease, said Nancy Beckerman, ’91W, DSW, associateprofessor at Wurzweiler School of Social Work.

“HIV-positive people are turning back to their pro-fessions and relationships, and identifying what they

FACULTY UP CLOSE

need to cope,” said Prof. Beckerman.Prof. Beckerman’s first book,

Couples of Mixed HIV Status: ClinicalIssues and Interventions (New York:The Haworth Press, July 2005),shares her experience counseling“mixed” couples, in which only onemember has the virus.

Most mixed couples, regardless ofrace or sexual orientation, feel closerafter the diagnosis, she said, experi-encing “a second honeymoon.” Prof.Beckerman also found that thelonger the couple doesn’t tell otherpeople about the diagnosis, the moreinternal conflict there is within therelationship.

It is not uncommon for bothheterosexual and gay mixed couplesto think about starting a family. “Ifone of the partners is asymptomatic

and the other is healthy, having achild is not out of the question,” saidProf. Beckerman. Couples withchildren face the issue of how todisclose the illness to their children,and how children might react to thenews.

Still, Prof. Beckerman acknowl-edged, her work with families andpartners of patients with HIV/AIDS“has made it apparent that at theheart of this epidemic lies thehuman condition, as individuals andtheir loved ones must learn to copewith the emotional pain of loss orpotential loss. HIV/AIDS has magni-fied this spiritual and emotionalchallenge for individuals, their fam-ilies and their communities.”

Prof. Beckerman has served as

an AIDS training consultant at hos-pitals and educational institutionsin the New York metropolitan area(including the Department of Sub-stance Abuse at YU’s Albert EinsteinCollege of Medicine), training healthcare professionals to deal with ethi-cal issues specific to those patients.

That work is ongoing “as the faceof the epidemic has been continu-ally evolving,” she said.

That evolution also requires acertain flexibility from both profes-sors and students; as the virusspreads to new populations and iscounteracted with new treatments,the curriculum needs to be updated.

“In an urban center such as NewYork City,” she said, “all students willbe working with families affected byHIV at some stage of their careers.”

As important as staying currenton HIV/AIDS treatment is under-standing its history. In her class ‘TheSocial Dimensions of AIDS, Prof.Beckerman sketches the historicalcontext of epidemics and plagues.

“Students are shocked to see that[the way] HIV/AIDS [is stigmatizedtoday] is not terribly different fromthe way other diseases were handledhundreds, even thousands of yearsago,” she said.

Prof. Beckerman became a full-time faculty member when shereceived her doctor of social workdegree from Wurzweiler in 1991.Since then, she has taught a range ofcasework, group work, and health-related courses, including ‘FamilySystems,’ ‘Social Work in Health Care,’

and the doctoral course ‘Ideology II.’Social work runs in the Becker-

man family: her father, Aaron, was onthe Wurzweiler faculty for 27 years,ten of which overlapped with herown tenure; her mother was a recre-ational therapist in a nursing home;and her late uncle, Hyman J.Weiner, was dean of the NYU Schoolof Social Work and a professor atColumbia University School ofSocial Work.

A medical social worker atMount Sinai Medical Center in NewYork City for five years before sheearned her doctorate, Prof. Becker-man retains a strong interest inethics and healthcare, and has pub-lished widely in the area. Her dis-sertation addressed the topic of“Ethical Dilemmas Facing Hospital

Social Workers: Implications.”“Hospitals are often less than

holistic in their view of eachpatient,” she said. “Sometimes,what the doctor thinks is importantmay come into conflict with socialwork values, such as informed con-sent or confidentiality.”

For instance, she said, if a patientis to be discharged into a poten-tially unsafe environment, socialworkers need to consider the emo-tional, social, and economic impli-cations to determine the patient’sbest interest.

In many cases, such choices are“not a question of right or wrong;you’re looking at the least harmfuloption. It’s a complex, life-and-death issue.” v

9W U R Z W E I L E R U P D A T E

“ In an urban center such as New York City

all students will be working with families affected

by HIV at some stage of their careers.”

FACULTY UP CLOSE

Close toHome

BY KELLY BERMAN

Carmen Ortiz Hendricks, DSW, Wurzweiler’s new associate dean

1 1W U R Z W E I L E R U P D A T E

Wurzweiler School of SocialWork is situated in thepredominantly Latinoresidential neighborhoodof Washington Heights innorthern Manhattan. Thecommunity moves to therhythms of merenguemusic, spilling out of

passing cars or played by impromptugatherings on street corners. Bins ofCaribbean vegetables line the streets out-side supermarkets, where most storesigns are in Spanish.

After hosting waves of Greek andIrish immigrants in the early 20th cen-tury and German Jews fleeing NaziEurope in the 1930s and 1940s, Wash-ington Heights has become home tothousands of Spanish-speaking immi-grants from Mexico, the DominicanRepublic, and Puerto Rico, searching forwork and affordable housing.

This burgeoning Latino communityjust beyond Wurzweiler’s doorstep isbut one small spike in a massive nationalgrowth spurt. Latinos are the fastest-growing minority group in the UnitedStates. According to US Census Bureaufigures for 2000, the Latino populationhas grown from 22.4 million in 1990 to35.3 million in 2000, an extraordinaryjump of 57.9 percent. It’s a fact Wurz-weiler faculty are keenly aware of.

“The numbers are increasing in un-

precedented ways,” said Carmen OrtizHendricks, DSW, a 1993 doctoral gradu-ate of Wurzweiler who was appointedassociate dean and professor at theschool in July. “If this growth rate con-tinues, the Latino population is expectedto increase to 2050 or almost one quar-ter of the US population. But I thinkwe’re going to get there before 2050.”

Immigration is driving the numbers—more so than birth rate, Prof. Hen-dricks said. “There isn’t a single studentin this school who isn’t going to workwith Latino clients, because Latinos aregoing to be in every agency,” she said.“So how do we as social workersrespond to their needs?”

VALUE OF CULTURE

For the associate dean, herself a nativeof Puerto Rico, the answer lies in pro-viding culturally competent social ser-vices to the Latino population. Culturalcompetence entails more than speak-ing the client’s language. “It meansunderstanding the values of culture asperceived by the clients and appreciat-ing how culture guides behavior andgives meaning to life,” she said.

Prof. Hendricks has spent a signifi-cant portion of her career dealing withthis issue, helping to draft the NationalAssociation of Social Worker’s (NASW)Standards for Cultural Competence inSocial Work Practice (2001), consulting

with agencies on how to deliver cultur-ally sensitive services, training agencystaff, and developing and teaching aSpanish-language course for socialworkers. Her book, Intersecting ChildWelfare, Substance Abuse and Family Vio-lence: Culturally Competent Approaches,will be published in spring 2006 by theCouncil on Social Work Education Press.

“People don’t understand the kindsof services they’re getting because pro-fessionals don’t speak their language,”she said. “We need interdisciplinary peo-ple who are culturally and linguisticallycompetent, and who understand thediversity within the Latino community.”

Furthermore, the problem is exacer-bated by an underutilization of mentalhealth services by Latinos. “They’renot using them if they have them avail-able,” Prof. Hendricks said.

At stake, she believes, is the futureof the next generation of Latinos. “Weare faced with a serious dilemma forthe future. Who are these kids? What’shappening to them?” she said. “We’ll berelying on them as the future work-force, but we’re not paying themenough attention.”

Latinos are not well representedamong NASW members, and the gradu-ates and faculty of schools of socialwork, she pointed out. The New YorkCity Chapter of NASW and the PuertoRican Family Institute, Inc. convened

Latinos make up the fastest growing minority group in the

United States. Wurzweiler School of Social Work is uniquely

placed to reach out to this growing population and help solve

the problem of delivering much-needed services.

1 2W U R Z W E I L E R U P D A T E

the Latino Social Work Task Force toaddress this shortage through strategiessuch as mentoring, outreach, and in-creasing financial aid. The Task Force isa coalition of educational leaders, NewYork City agency executives, and Latinosocial workers.

Prof. Hendricks, a founding mem-ber of the Task Force, compiled muchof the available data from the US Cen-sus Bureau, government offices, andprofessional publications into a posi-tion paper for the Task Force, entitled“The Supply and Demand for HispanicSocial Workers.” The report drawsattention to structural barriers con-tributing to the shortage of Latinosocial workers in the United States andsuggests a variety of ways to avert thecrisis. Social work schools, for example,should evaluate how they recruitLatino students and should securefunding for stipends and scholarshipsspecifically for them.

The report has been disseminated tothe deans of social work schools inNew York City and executives frommajor agencies. “The agencies have beenusing the report to get more funding forservices for Latinos and to hire moreLatino social workers.” Prof. Hendrickssaid. “It has become their ammunition.”

WURZWEILER KUDOS

Prof. Hendricks and Wurzweiler’sDorothy and David I. Schachne Dean,Sheldon R. Gelman, also a member ofthe Latino Social Work Task Force,were honored by the Task Force earlier

this year for their contribution to thefield. Also among the group of hon-orees were two Latina doctoral gradu-ates from Wurzweiler—Evelyn Nieves’00W, PhD, and Evelyn Laureano, ’04W,PhD, who both lead agencies in theBronx, where Latinos represent 48 per-cent of the population according to the2000 US Census figures.

Both women are highly accom-plished in their fields. Dr. Laureano isexecutive director of NeighborhoodSelf Help by Older Persons Project(SHOPP), which provides social ser-vice programs for Latino elderly in theSouth Bronx. She sits on MayorMichael Bloomberg’s Senior AdvisoryCouncil for the Department for theAging. Dr. Nieves is executive directorof Fordham-Tremont CommunityMental Health Center, where she over-

sees 16 outpatient programs for adultsand children, substance abusers, andvictims of domestic violence.

Dean Gelman said he was com-pelled to get involved in the Task Forcebecause “Wurzweiler can help make acontribution to the Latino community,both specifically in Washington Heightsand more generally in the UnitedStates.”

STUDENTS IN THE FIELD

The school places a number of its stu-dents at settings in the local community,where they complete the field workportion of their master of social workdegree. “The placements keep us con-nected to the community,” said RonnieGlassman, DSW, Wurzweiler’s directorof field instruction. “We have forgedrelationships with agencies to broadenstudents’ exposure the local Latinopopulation and to show that we care.”

Wurzweiler’s Gerontology StudentProject clearly illustrates this collabora-tive dynamic. The school of social workestablished the project about 10 yearsago in partnership with the WashingtonHeights and Inwood Council on Aging(WHICOA), a coalition of more than 25agencies serving the elderly, to placestudents in community-based organiza-tions in need of trained social workers.The project receives funding everyyear to hire a roaming supervisor forthe students because the agencies arenot funded well enough to employ anMSW supervisor.

Susan Bendor, DSW, associate profes-

“There isn’t a singlestudent in this school

who isn’t going towork with Latino

clients, because Latinosare going to be in

every agency”.

—Carmen Ortiz HendricksAssociate Dean

1 3W U R Z W E I L E R U P D A T E

sor at Wurzweiler and one of thefounders of the Gerontology StudentProject, said the students bring a valu-able range of services to their elderlyclients. “They run groups that no one hadthe opportunity or expertise to runbefore, and they provide more intensivecounseling to seniors getting basic ser-vices such as Meals on Wheels,” she said.

EXPERTISE AND ADVOCACY

Wurzweiler’s participation in WHICOAextends beyond its student placementshowever. Faculty members have servedon the council since the early 1970s,lending expertise and support to advo-

cate for the local elderly population.“Wurzweiler faculty provided testimonyto the New York City Council on theimpact of welfare reform on the elderly,”said Dr. Bendor, who co-chaired thegroup from 1994 to 2003 and is now amember of its executive committee.

When, for example, the Departmentof Aging wanted to substitute frozenmeals for the hot food served in theMeals on Wheels program in 2004, Dr.Bendor testified with the local commu-nity board that the elderly needed thehuman contact during the daily deliveryas much as the food.

FACULTY RESEARCH

Wurzweiler professors have also reachedout to the Latino community throughtheir research. David Strug, PhD, and

Susan Mason, PhD, have conductedstudies focusing on Latino elderly liv-ing in Washington Heights.

Professors Strug and Mason identifieda host of social service needs amongthis population in a study conductedover a six-month period from 2000–2001. They found a shortage of afford-able health and mental health care,adequate and affordable housing, bettersanitation, and help negotiating publicassistance. Social workers, they asserted,have an important role to play in help-ing Latinos overcome barriers such asa limited knowledge of English.

Subsequent studies by Professors

Mason and Strug have explored the in-fluence of culture on the reactions ofLatino elderly to stressful life events.In a study conducted in 2003–2004 thatthey presented at the GerontologicalSociety of America in November, theyfound that “destino,” or the belief thatevents unfold in a way intended byGod, may have helped some of theirLatino subjects cope with traumaticevents.

In a later study comparing the reac-tions of Latino and Chinese immigrantsin New York City to the Sept. 11 attacks,they demonstrated that this concept ofdestiny helped elderly Latinos dealwith the impact of the World TradeCenter tragedy.

Over the past five years, Prof. Strughas traveled to Cuba to research that

country’s approaches to public health,working with the elderly, and socialwork education.

“Cuban social work is communityoriented and stands in contrast to themore individual focus of social workpractice here in the United States,”Prof. Strug said. Much of his researchhas explored ways in which Cuban andAmerican social workers can learnfrom one another.

Recently, he led a team of facultyfrom Wurzweiler and YU’s Albert Ein-stein College of Medicine on a researchprogram in Cuba Dec. 5-9. They metwith public health practitioners and

social workers, and exchanged in-formation about community-basedapproaches to social work and healthcare with their Cuban counterparts.

Cuba is a long way from WashingtonHeights. But the lessons Prof. Strugand his colleagues learn there aboutdelivering health care and social ser-vices could help alleviate the shortageof such services among the growingLatino population in this country.Rather than build an ivory tower in themidst of this Manhattan neighborhood,Wurzweiler has opened its doors sothat its students learn about diversity,its faculty uncover new bodies ofknowledge, and the profession beginsto answer questions about the future ofthe Latino population in the UnitedStates. v

Susan Mason Ronnie Glassman Susan Bendor David Strug

1 4W U R Z W E I L E R U P D A T E

Reaping the Rewards

Wurzweiler yielded a bumper crop of graduates at its commencement ceremonies in May and July: altogether, 178MSWs and 11 PhDs were awarded. The school established two new awards this year to recognize students’ achieve-ments in the areas of gerontology and Jewish communal service. The speakers were agency executives Robert P.Aronson ’78W and Barry Shrage, who shared their insights about working with the Jewish and general communities.

MSW graduate Doretha Bryant

Ruth Stavsky graduated from Wurzweiler the same

day that her son, Jonathan, graduated from

YU’s Sy Syms School of Business Doctoral graduates (L-R): Naomi Katten, Myra Harris, Carolyn Gutman,

Varda Gilad, Michael Cronin, and Blenda Crayton

Recipients of the Faculty Award, pictured with Dean Gelman (L-R): Jonathan Zucker,

Marci Benzaquen, Diana Weilgus, Amanda Fialk, and Leonard Brill

May Commencement

“I dare any of the tough politicians who think they understand the realities of poverty to follow a social worker around for a day. They would learn just howtough you have to be to do our job.”

—Barry Shrage, President of Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston

GRADUATION 2005

Ronette Bloom received a number of awards,

including the Research Award, presented here

by Associate Dean Carmen Ortiz Hendricks

GRADUATION 2005

1 5W U R Z W E I L E R U P D A T E

“It all comes back to you, to each one of you.You must be absolutely committed to making adifference through your work, despite theobstacles you will certainly face. That is howwe build Jewish community.”

—Robert P. Aronson ’78W,chief executive officer of Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit

Block Commencement

Robert Aronson ’78W received a Distinguished

Service Award from Dean Sheldon Gelman

Canadian graduates (L-R): Michelle Nagy, Lauren Greisman, and Jodi Robinson

WSSW’s assistant dean, Jade Docherty, graduated from the PhD program

1 6W U R Z W E I L E R U P D A T E

efore she arrived in New YorkCity to begin classes in Wurz-weiler’s Block Plan in June,Michleen Khoury planned toreturn to Israel in the fall to

complete the field work portion of herMSW degree. But living in New Yorkchanged her perspective.

Shakespeare in Central Park, fla-menco dance performances, and Arabicmusic concerts gave this Palestinianstudent an appreciation of the city’scultural energy, but it was the oppor-tunity to work in a different place withnew methods of practicing socialwork that convinced her to stay.

Wurzweiler placed Ms. Khoury atSunset Terrace Family Health Center,an all-purpose mental health clinic atLutheran Hospital in Brooklyn. Shedoes case management and runs indi-vidual and group therapy sessions withmentally ill patients across a broaddemographic, including Hispanic andArabic clients.

“Most of my life I have only knownPalestinian or Jewish people in Israel,”said Ms. Khoury, who grew up inFassouta, a village in the north ofGalilee. “Meeting people from differ-ent backgrounds can open your mind.Social workers need to know how todeal with difference because if wejudge people, how can we work withour clients?”

After graduating with a Bachelor ofSocial Work degree from The HebrewUniversity in 1996 (entitling her tocomplete her MSW in a year ratherthan the obligatory two years), sheworked with developmentally disabledpeople at Elwyn El Quds in the OldCity of Jerusalem.

For five years thereafter, Ms. Khourycounseled battered women andhelped rehabilitate the relationship be-tween divorced parents and their chil-dren at The Family Center in EastJerusalem. She found her calling asan independent-minded Palestinianwoman helping her clients assertthemselves, whether that meant keep-ing the fabric of the family whole orchoosing to strike out on their own.

“Having my MSW, together withmy professional experience, will nodoubt widen my skills as a social work-er and a therapist,” she said.

For now, her work at Sunset TerraceFamily Health Center has presentedreal-life lessons in how the focus of

therapy needs to be on the client. Thetherapist and client at the clinic worktogether to devise and implement atreatment plan. “I am learning howtherapists must be highly conscious oftheir authority in the relationship anduse it only to promote the client’sinterests,” Ms. Khoury said. “The clientis an equal part in this process.”

She feels grateful to her clients forsharing their private, painful experi-ences with her. “I am witnessing howchildhood traumas, oppression, dis-crimination, and poverty break thehuman spirit and hinder people’s abil-ity to enjoy life and fulfill their dreams,”she said. On the other hand, she ismoved by her clients’ determinationto enjoy as much of life as they can.

“I will take so much from this wholeexperience of witnessing their struggleand reflecting on their pain with meto other places and points in my life,”noted Ms. Khoury, who graduates inMay. “It will contribute to my growthboth as a person and therapist.” v

From the Old City to New York CityBY KELLY BERMAN

B

“Having my MSW,together with my

professional experience,will no doubt widenmy skills as a social

worker and a therapist.”

STUDENT PROFILE

1 7W U R Z W E I L E R U P D A T E

Graduate studies at Wurzweiler gave

Vukani Nyirenda ’69W a footing in

the world of international social work

For Zambian native VukaniNyirenda, DSW, ’69W, Wurz-weiler School of Social Workwas a gateway to a career ininternational social work. Heleft his home in 1967 to pur-sue an MSW at Wurzweilerafter studying with MortonTeicher, who took a sabbaticalfrom his duties as Wurzweiler’sfounding dean to help estab-lish the Oppenheimer Collegeof Social Service in NorthernRhodesia (as Zambia was then called).

The move prepared him to negotiate the twists and turnshis life would bring.

“My social work training at Wurzweiler turned me into achild of the world community,” he said from Inglewood, CA,where he settled after moving between the two continentsa number of times. “I had no problem adjusting, whether itwas in Zambia or elsewhere. Wherever I served, social workwas my weapon.”

One of the first of a group of Zambian students who fol-lowed Dean Teicher back to Wurzweiler for graduate studies,Dr. Nyirenda said he nonetheless always felt as if he were amember of the Wurzweiler family. He forged lasting friend-ships and joined his Jewish classmates for High Holidaycelebrations.

After graduating, Dr. Nyirenda set his sights on an acade-mic career in the United States while working at ShelteringArms Children’s Service in New York, where he helpedestablish a social group work program for foster children.

But change was afoot in Zambia and he was needed backhome. His alma mater, which had subsequently developedinto the University of Zambia, tapped him to be assistantlecturer in social work. Initially, he was reluctant to return.“I had laid out a vast array of research and my academicplans were advanced,” he said. “But my services and skillswere needed in Zambia and it was my honor to oblige.”

Dr. Nyirenda worked at the university for twenty years,during which he rose through the ranks to acting dean ofthe School of Humanities and Social Sciences, to registrar,and then to university secretary.

In 1988, he began a 10-year career in public service forthe Zambian government. He oversaw financial manage-ment, policy implementation, and personnel matters invarious government ministries. In the early 90s, he served

as secretary of the Constitution Committee, which pavedthe way for the return of multiparty democracy in Zambia.He held a similar position at the Civil Service SalariesCommission and was principal of the National Institute ofPublic Administration, which trained civil servants.

In his doctoral dissertation, completed at the Universityof California Los Angeles during a three-year return to theStates in the early 1970s, he advocated that social servicesin Zambia must be in tune with the cultural and socialneeds of the people being served. “Zambian social welfareservices were based on ancient and discarded British laws,”he said. “I recommended a revision of the planning processto come up with services that were useful. After all, youdon’t use foreign recipes and borrowed tools to create yourfavorite local dish!”

Throughout his career, he participated in regional andinternational conferences and organizations, and helpedfound the Association of Social Work Education in Africa.

In 1998, at his professional peak, Dr. Nyirenda was struckby meningitis, and suffered a significant hearing loss. Despitethe advanced technology of a cochlear implant, he was forcedto retire. He relocated to California to be nearer to his chil-dren and grandchildren.

With his medical condition limiting social work opportu-nities, the indefatigable Dr. Nyirenda began writing storiesfor children. One of his stories, “Too Clever By Half,” wasrecently published in an anthology, The Gathering of theMinds (San Francisco: Deadpoets’ Bazaar Publishing).

He draws on his own experience for his story ideas andis inspired by the rich storytelling tradition of African cul-ture. “Although my mother had no formal schooling, shewas a captivating storyteller,” he said. “Her stories madesuch an impression on me. Growing up in that environ-ment—now so far away from where I live—I learned a lotthat I want to share with others, especially children.” v

ALUMNI PROFILE

Out of Africa, aLifelong Dedicationto Social WorkBY ESTHER KUSTANOWITZ

1 8W U R Z W E I L E R U P D A T E

Thank you to our alumnidonors, who contributedto Annual Fund 2005(July 1, 2004–June 30, 2005)

Marynne Aaronson ’91WRabbi David B. Aberbach ’80WJanet S. Adler ’96WFelecie Akerman ’83WIrene G. Ash ’87WRabbi Abraham Avrech ’51WAri J. Bandler ’99WStacy Abroms Bandler ’99W Shira Carol Barnett ’78W Vivian Becker ’69W Nira Miriam Beer ’81W Sheryl Bellman ’72W Dr. Lois Bernabo ’79W Nina Deborah Bieler ’04W Yuditha R. Bienenfeld ’75W Michael A. Bierman ’81W Harriette L. Birnbaum ’79W Tracey A. Blumberg ’82W Renee Bomzer ’79W Zelda Braun ’70W Rabbi Abraham H. Bruckenstein’99W

Aidel Buchwald ’72W Heidi Carmel ’81W Rebecca Ciment ’97W Rabbi Herman Lester Cohen ’82W Jeremy Cohen ’82W Betsy Collins ’82W Annette Colton ’89W Richard A. Corman ’76W Pamela G. Cott ’83W Emily Damron ’84W Joel Daner ’62W Dahrys Druck ’73W Sheila B. Ebbin ’87W Nathan Etrog ’69W Melinda Dianne Fasman ’05W Elise Hahn Felix ’81W Adell Fine ’70W Dr. Mark J. Flanzraich ’79W Faith Fogelman ’76W Bryan B. Fox ’78W Robert Fritz ’85W Adina Faith Galbut ’97W Mildred Galonsky ’75W Paula Galowitz ’71WDonald Geller ’99WVictor B. Geller ’50WNechama H. Ginzberg ’93WIvan Joseph Godfrey ’98WRoberta I. Goldstein ’87WSorie Goldstein ’81WDr. William Goldstein ’62WLorie J. Gombin-Sperling ’79WJoshua Gortler ’60WRabbi Mel Gottlieb ’73WRegina Gradess ’76WShari Pearlman Gregory ’87WWilliam Gris ’99WSanford B. Gruenfeld ’93WRocco Guglielmo ’73WLynne Miller Guss ’80WSharon B. Harow ’96WRabbi Joseph Harris ’99WPatricia Cecile Harte ’79WCarol Anne Harvey ’99WAnn Heller ’82W

Julio A. Hernandez ’00WIngrid E. Herskovics ’80WSharon Herzberg ’81WEsther Heyman ’67WAnita Hilewitz ’79WDavid Himber ’82WIlene Himber ’82WMarvin Hochberg ’59WJennifer M. Hunter-Seaton ’90WBetsy Imershein ’77WJudah E. Isaacs ’86WNatalie Jacobson ’74WSheila Japko ’73WLeslie R. Kallus ’79WSimon Kaminetsky ’79WAmy Linda Katz ’78WJoan Sadinoff Katz ’80WPatricia L. Kent ’94WLydia L. Kievit ’85WKaren Stein Kissileff ’80WYona I. Kollin ’80WBarbara Korson ’93WLeslie Kozupsky ’80WMeri Kraidman ’62WFlorence Kraut ’76WLois Kroll ’78WEmma Leaf ’71WLouis I. Leeder ’87W Lynn Susan Levanda ’89WRabbi Hyman Levine ’82WJanice A Levy ’69WDr. Neal D Levy ’76WDelma A. Lewis ’88WEllen Lightman ’71WDr. Norman Linzer ’60WRhonda J. Liss ’99WDr. Elaine Marshack ’84WBen A. Mayer ’69WSheryl Millstein ’76WSusan Enid Mintz ’81WRabbi Meir E. Mitelman ’82WLisa Dale Moore ’78WFrady Moskowitz ’81WDr. Efrem Nulman ’81WJoan O'Donnell ’80WWilliam Olson ’81WSarah A. Orenstein ’77WNaomi S. Oxman ’81WHelga Pamm ’79WDr. Joan K. Parry ’83WGretchen Phillips ’72WAdeeva Pomeranz ’95WLinda Stein Poskanzer ’79WDebra L. Prince ’77WJinsheng Qiu ’99WSam Rausman ’78WRose S. Reiss ’67WMichael E. Rose ’89WDr. Dina J. Rosenfeld ’74WDaniel Rosenstein ’96WRabbi Michael S. Rosensweig ’86W

Dorothy G. Ross ’67WFrancine Ross-Laurence ’79WDebra Roth ’80WWilliam Rothchild ’63WDr. Eleanore Rothenberg ’92WMadlena Rozenblyum ’93WStephanie K. Sabar ’70WCecilia Sacharow ’66WHope Salmansohn ’78W

Barbara Sarah ’72WSusan G. Sawyer ’96WMiriam Schechter ’81WEsther M. Schlesinger ’80WRabbi A. Irving Schnipper ’50WLizbeth Schoen ’79WDr. Sybil Schreiber ’86WDr. Charles Schwartz ’61W Dorit Cohen Seed ’94WRabbi Hyim G. Shafner ’95WDr. Rebecca Shahmoon-Shanok ’70W

Donna J. Shakin ’80WBetty M. Shapiro ’71WRebecca Shein ’66WMina T. Shonek-Fund ’00WAbraham Siegelman ’63WEllen Rhoda Silberman ’83WDr. Edwin Simon ’75WDr. Alan M. Singer ’78WRichard Sipser ’78WRatzi Skovronsky ’97WLeah Slivko ’78WJudith B. Smith ’82WJudith Sue Sokolow ’79WRuth F. Solomon ’87WDr. Meryl Nadel Spigelman ’94WZvi S. Spiler ’76WGershon M. Steinberg ’88WIra J. Steinmetz ’60WMarjorie Stern ’76WDr. Frederick Jerome Streets ’81WLeah Stromberg ’80WSylvia D. Taubenfeld ’02WEthel Teichberg-Sabath ’96WLilly Tempelsman ’79WRabbi Isadore Tennenberg ’99WRobyn K. Teplitzky ’88WTheodore L. Thomas ’70WJoseph M. Tierney ’99WA. Lillian Trilling ’84WStuart D. Trosch ’86WEllayda Trubetskoy ’02WGene M. Tullio ’76WAdena Twersky ’82WJeffrey Michael Wallach ’79WRabbi Norman AvinoamWalles ’82W

Abraham J. Wasserberger ’74WAnita Weidman ’89WLiora Weinberg ’76WCaryl Paula Weinstein ’76WMuriel G. Weisel ’64WJoel A. Weisenberg ’64WLaurie Weiss-Braunstein ’84WRoselyn Weitzner ’76WSandra Wintman Welkes ’76WRabbi Michael JonathanWolff ’88W

Dr. Ludwig Wurzelmann ’85WJackie Youra ’82WRuth Zachary ’79WRabbi Philip W. Zimmerman ’99WMiriam Zuckerman ’72W

Thank you to the followingfriends and foundations, whosupported Annual Fund 2005

ACCU Weight Loss System/Dr. Charles Schwartz

Mr. and Mrs. David AlpertAmerican Economic Planning Group

Mr. and Mrs. Edward AnfangApollo Technologies International Corp.

Atran FoundationMr. and Mrs. Joseph BartlettRita C. BaumanMr. and Mrs. Andrew BenerofeBenito RistauranteMr. Madeleine Berley andMr. Arnold Penner

Mr. Herbert L. BlankDr. Allan J. Blau/Ramapough RiverCounseling

Dr. and Mrs. Eugene L. BodianEric S. BodnerMilton J. BornsteinMr. and Mrs. David B. ChapnickFred CohenCarol Smith DanielsDanzig Garubo & Kay, LLP/Mr. David L Kay

Mr. and Mrs. Joseph M. DavidsonDePaul Community Services, Inc.Kenneth DichterBruce Breimer and Lorna DoranShelly DubinDoris EhrlichRobert EhrlichCheri Ehrlich EisenIrving A. FayeMr. and Mrs. Noel M. FranceseDr. and Mrs. Sheldon GelmanFred Geller Electrical, Inc.Geriatric Resource Consultants/ Sam Rausman

GMA Electrical Corp.Estate of Lilian Kitt GoldenMyron GreennshnerMr. and Mrs. Martin GrossRuth GrupperElaine HalperKaren HeiligClaire HershHughes, R. K. Inc./Mr. Robert Hughes

Gustave M. JacobsJewish Fed Of Greater Clifton-Passaic

Mr. and Mrs. Arthur H. JosephJ.R. Realty Associates, LLC/Mr. Jamie Ross

Mr. and Mrs. Saul KaganJoel KarppFerne KatlemanHenry KatzDeborah KazisGordon KeilAaron KianofskyMr. and Mrs. Lawrence A. KobrinMollie KornbluthNancy S. KridelDr. and Mrs. Ira KukinBruce Leff

Mindy B. LewisMr. and Mrs. Vincent LoiaconoCecile E. MactaggartMr. and Mrs. Scott D. MargolisEvelyn and Martin MayblumMeisel Tuteur & LewisRichard L. MillerMinneapolis FoundationJudith MoskovitzAlan NorthGeorge M. NullOcean PsychotherapyJonathan W. PappPark West - Riverside ChapelsPodvey Sachs Meanor CatenacciMilton PolevoyMr. and Mrs. Henry PollakMr. and Mrs. Steve PollakMr. and Mrs. William M. PollakDavid M RaimResults Staffing, Inc./Mr. David Epstein

Mr. and Mrs. Peter RhulenIrving M. RosenbaumDoreen RosenbergMr. and Mrs. Robert RosenbergBeverly RothDr. and Mrs. David I. SchachneJoan SchapiroMr. and Mrs. Stuart SchapiroWolf ScheckBetty SchiffRudy SchottJacob SchusterDr. and Mrs. Robert SchwalbeMr. and Mrs Jerry SchiffCarmi SchwartzArthur ShankmanWilliam SilversteinSisters of the SorrowfulMother/Dr. Thomasina GebhardCharles SmithTerrence M. SmithMr. and Mrs. Harvey F. StraussAnnette StreetsMaurice TempelsmanTemple Beth ShalomAndrew TischDr. Charles TrentLloyd TrotterUnited Jewish CommunitiesRuth Warshauer-MetzgerMarshall WeinbergFritz WeinschenkMr. and Mrs. Joseph WilfLeonard WilfDorothy ZaroEli ZborowskiZwicker Electric Co., Inc./Mr David Pinter

Thanks for Your Generosity

WSSW DONORS

1 9W U R Z W E I L E R U P D A T E

Students ReceiveGrants from theJewish Foundation forEducation of Women

Two Wurzweiler students recentlyreceived generous grants fromthe Jewish Foundation for Edu-cation of Women, one of Wurz-weiler’s partners in pursuing its

mission to promote the advancementof social work.

“The support that the foundationhas provided in scholarship assistancehas made it possible for women in spe-cial circumstances to complete theirsocial work education,” said Sheldon R.Gelman, Dorothy and David I. SchachneDean.

The grant recipients are second-yearstudents who have demonstrated bothacademic achievement and financialneed. One of the two grants is designatedfor a student specializing in gerontology.

“This fits our school’s new designa-tion as a Council on Social Work Educa-tion/Hartford Foundation Gero-EdCenter,” Dean Gelman said.

By providing scholarship assistancefor higher education to women withfinancial need in the New York Cityarea, the foundation helps women ofall ages attain the education they need to

make them productive, economicallyindependent members of the commu-nity, said Marge Goldwater, the foun-dation’s executive director.

“We provide scholarship assistancefor women training to enter professionsthat are not terribly remunerative—such as the performing arts, math andscience teachers in the public schoolsystem, and social work,” she said.

“We’re committed to helping socialwork students because typically theydon’t earn a lot of money and if they’resaddled with debt when they graduate,there will be pressures for them to leavethe field to pay it off. We don’t want thatto happen because we believe they do alot of good in the world.”

In addition to these two scholarships,many Wurzweiler students receive jointUJA-Federation Biller/JFEW scholar-ships.

The Jewish Foundation for Educa-tion of Women was founded in NewYork City in 1880 as the Louis DownTown Sabbath School for the purposeof helping under-privileged children ofJewish immigrants on the Lower EastSide. From 1895 to 1932 it was knownas the Hebrew Technical School forGirls and offered courses in commer-cial and industrial arts to youngwomen. In 1932 its board of directorsclosed the school and developed in itsplace a program of direct scholarshipassistance to women. v

Wurzweiler Schoolof Social WorkBOARD OF GOVERNORS

Robert Schwalbe, MSW, PhDChair

Joan Sadinoff Katz, ’80W*Vice Chair

Arthur JosephTreasurer

Herbert BarbanelSecretary

Joan O’Donnell, ’80W*Assistant Secretary

David I. SchachneChair Emeritus

Janet Adler, ’96W*David A. AlpertEdward AnfangJoseph BartlettFroma Benerofe*Madaleine Berley*David B. ChapnickJoel Daner, ’62W*Philip P. GoodkinRichard M. JoelSaul KaganLawrence KobrinMeri Kraidman, ’62W*Ira KukinRobin Hirtz Meltzer, PhDEileen RhulenPeter RhulenIrving M. RosenbaumElaine J. Schott*Lilly Tempelsman, ’79W*Morry J. WeissRoselyn Weitzner, ’76W*

Ira YavarkovskyHonorary Governor

* MSW

Alumni Gatherings

Wurzweiler reached out to alumni acrossthe country at gatherings in Boca Raton,FL (January 6), Miami, FL (January 10),Great Neck, NY (March 20), Boston, MA(16 May), Toronto (May 24), and SanDiego (Nov. 11, 2004).

Special thanks to the following people,who helped organize the events: Dr.Jaclyn Faffer ’82W; Gary BomzerYH,’79W; Joan Sadinoff Katz ’80W, WSSWboard vice chair, and husband Henry;Eleanor Shrage’76W and husband Barry;Stuart Razin ’63Y,F, national director ofCanadian Friends of Yeshiva University.

The Annual Fund 2006 campaign is under way! Yourgift is vital to ensuring that students benefit from the same quality educationthat you received. In addition to the monetary value of your contribution,the support and energy of Wurzweiler’s alumni is an indication that ourgraduates remain committed to the unique dual mission of our school,which continues to have an impact on the face of social work worldwide.

There are several convenient ways for you to give: send in a donationin the enclosed envelope, contribute online by visiting www.yu.edu andclicking on “Giving Online to YU”, or contact WSSW director of alumnirelations, Patricia Fitzgerald, via email at fitzgera@yu.edu or by calling212-960-5400, ext. 5779. We’d love to hear from you!

As you think about a contribution, please give special consideration tothe Dr. Margaret Gibelman Memorial Doctoral Scholarship Fund.

Thanks!

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2 0W U R Z W E I L E R U P D A T E

Wurzweiler’s board of governors hon-ored fellow board member Saul Kaganand remembered the late Fredda S.Leff ’78W, also a board member, at aDinner of Tribute June 28.

About 200 people—includingYeshiva University President Richard M.Joel, Wurzweiler and other YU boardmembers, and friends and members ofthe Leff and Kagan families—gatheredat the Pierre Hotel in New York City.

Ms. Leff served on Wurzweiler’sboard from 1990 until her untimely pass-

ing from pancreatic cancer in 2004. TheLeff family generously committed a giftin her name to support a PresidentialFellow at the university. This year, thefellow is in the office of Sheldon R.Gelman, Dorothy and David I. SchachneDean (see page 5).

Mr. Kagan received a HumanitarianAward for his more than 50 years offighting for compensation for JewishHolocaust victims. A member of Wurz-weiler’s board since 1986, Mr. Kagan isexecutive vice-president emeritus of

the Conference on Jewish MaterialClaims Against Germany (see profile onopposite page).

Proceeds from the dinner wenttoward supporting the Fredda andBruce Leff Jewish Communal ServiceScholarship, the Michael Kagan Mem-orial Scholoarship Fund, and otherscholarships at Wurzweiler.

Special thanks to dinner chair andboard member Elaine Schott for herleadership in planning and coordinat-ing this event.

Dinner of Tribute to Fredda Leff and Saul Kagan

Fredda Leff’s family—son, Matthew; daughter, Fara; and husband, Bruce.

Saul Kagan, standing, with members of the Conference

on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, Gustov

Jacobs, Julius Berman (board chair of Rabbi Isaac

Elchanan Theological Seminary) and his wife, Dorothy

(board vice chair of Stern College), Eli Zborowski, and

Fritz Weinschenk.

President Joel presented the

award to Saul Kagan.

Leslie Waltzer Pollak, WSSW director of

institutional advancement, with Bruce Leff and

WSSW board chair Robert Schwalbe, PhD.

2 1W U R Z W E I L E R U P D A T E

LEADERSHIP PROFILE

Finding a Measure ofJustice for Nazi Victims

Saul Kagan is renownedfor his efforts to securereparations for Holocaustsurvivors and their fami-lies. But many people

don’t realize that he has also been amember of Wurzweiler’s board ofgovernors since 1986.

It is a natural fit, said Mr. Kagan,who points out that social workersplay a key part in developing pro-grams that help Holocaust survivors.

“We depend on social workers inthis country and worldwide to helpadminister social care programs forHolocaust survivors and counsel in-dividual survivors who, due to theirincreased physical and emotionalfrailty, still need therapy,” Mr. Kagansaid.

He is especially proud to be asso-ciated with Wurzweiler because ofthe school’s emphasis on service tothe general as well as Jewish andHolocaust survivor communities.

Mr. Kagan’s own life reflects hispersonal commitment to publicservice.

Born in Vilna, Lithuania, he cameto the United States before PearlHarbor. After the Japanese attack,he enlisted in the US Army andreturned to Europe. It was there thathe had the experiences that wouldmold the rest of his life.

Fighting his way from France in-to Germany during the last monthsof the war, he saw the survivors ofNazi brutality as they were liberated.“This sight and memory one cannever forget,” he said.

It became Mr. Kagan’s life’s workto help bring “a measure of justice”to victims of Nazi persecution.

Shortly after World War II ended,Mr. Kagan began working for the USMilitary Government in Germany.His initial task was to research the“Aryanization” of Jewish property—a term for the Nazi theft of Jewish-owned assets.

His research helped recoverJewish property and documentedthe Nazi regime’s economic crimes,which provided material for theNuremberg war crimes trials. Hewas subsequently promoted tochief of financial intelligence.

In August 1948, Mr. Kagan tooka year-long leave of absence frommilitary government to assist in theoperations of the Jewish RestitutionOrganization in Germany, the firstJewish organization dedicated to therecovery of heirless and unclaimedJewish property in Germany.

“That year-long leave of absencecontinues to this day,” he said.

This led to his association withthe Conference on Jewish MaterialClaims Against Germany, whichwas established in 1951, the yearthe first postwar chancellor ofGermany accepted that country’sresponsibility to pay reparations forwrongs perpetrated by the ThirdReich. Mr. Kagan became the con-ference’s first executive secretary.

He was a member of the ClaimsConference delegation that negoti-ated the Luxembourg Agreementswith the German Federal Republicin 1952, as well as subsequentnegotiations concerning propertyrestitution, individual compensa-tion, and global payments for thebenefit of Jewish victims of Nazipersecution.

Mr. Kagan is also executive vicepresident emeritus and specialconsultant to the Committee forJewish Claims on Austria, whichnegotiated with the Austrian gov-ernment to compensate Nazi vic-tims from that country.

Now 83, Mr. Kagan stresses thatthere are still many thousands ofHolocaust survivors in desperateneed of help.

“After the fall of the Sovietempire, we gained access to sur-vivors who experienced doubletrauma: Hitler and the Soviet sys-tem,” he said. “For nearly 50 years,these people received no compen-sation from West Germany, and EastGermany refused to accept anyresponsibility.”

“This year the world marked the60th anniversary of the liberation ofNazi concentration camps. Muchremains to be done, especially inEastern Europe. We owe this to thesurvivors and to the memory of thesix million,” Mr. Kagan said. v

. . . . . . . . . . . .

BY MARCY FRANK

2 2W U R Z W E I L E R U P D A T E

1960s

Harriet Burns Pappenheim ’68W,

a self-employed psychotherapist

and psychoanalyst, is the co-

author of Bringing Home the

Bacon: Making Marriage Work

When She Makes More Money

(HarperCollins, 2005). She lives

in New York City.

William Rothchild Y,’63W was

appointed executive director,

Toward a More Perfect Union

(TMPU), a non-profit organization

that he helped found in 2000 and

that promotes civic participation

and open dialogue among com-

munities in Palm Beach County, FL.

Previously, he was director of

development/principal gifts and

foundations at the University of

Miami’s Sylvester Comprehensive

Cancer Center. He also held lead-

ership positions at the Anti-Def-

amation League in New York and

West Palm Beach for nine years.

Muriel G. Weisel ’64W has been

working with Selfhelp Community

Service in New York City since her

Wurzweiler graduation 40 years

ago. She works exclusively with

Holocaust survivors. She lives in

Riverdale, NY.

Terry (Reitman) Zalma ’67W retired

as a credentialed alcoholism and

substance abuse counselor at

Zucker Hillside Hospital/Mineola

Community Treatment Center,

where she also served as field

instructor to MSW students and a

faculty field liaison at Adelphi

School of Social Work. She runs a

private practice for individuals,

couples and families, focusing

on relationship issues, substance

abuse, and mental/emotional

dysfunction, in Baldwin, NY.

1970s

Rima (Greenberg) Caspary ’77W

is a psychoanalyst in private

practice in New York City.

George J. Friedman ’77W is a

supervisor and child evaluation

specialist at the Administration

for Children’s Services in New

York City.

Dr. Martin Garfinkle ’76W is

associate professor and chair of

the human services department,

New York City College of Tech-

nology in Brooklyn.

Michael Hyman ’75W, executive

director of the Cleveland Jewish

Community Center, was featured

in the Cleveland Jewish News in

February. According to the article,

membership increased by 20

percent and retention to between

60 and 70 percent during his first

year at the JCC. He instituted a

budget that significantly reduced

the JCC’s deficit, oversaw the sale

of a building, relaunched the JCC’s

cultural arts program, and began

moving the JCC’s preschool pro-

gram into a different building. He

was previously executive vice

president of the JCC in Buffalo, NY.

His work in the JCC movement

grew out of a scholarship com-

mitment to the national JCC Asso-

ciation that he spend two years

working at a JCC after graduating

from Wurzweiler.

Carol Kamine-Brown ’74W is

executive director of Concerned

Home Managers for the Elderly, a

home healthcare agency, licensed

by NY State Department of Health,

specializing in care for the frail

elderly and people with Alzheimer’s

disease. She also has a psycho-

therapy practice in Bay Ridge,

Brooklyn, and serves as an IPRD

consultant, evaluating patients

for nursing home placement.

Bruce Karp ’70W is a self-employed

social case worker who does

individual, marital, and family

therapy, early intervention, and

geriatric social work supervision.

Sara Mills-Cohen ’73W is a school

social worker at Putnam-Northern

Westchester Board of Cooperative

Education Services, where she

deals with special-education and

mainstream elementary students

and serves as the clinical team

coordinator for staff training. She

lives with husband Bob Cohen in

Croton-on-Hudson, NY, and has two

children, Evan, who graduated

from Brandeis University in May,

and Arielle.

Dr. David Ribner Y,R,BR’74W and

wife Mindy (Ganz) ’74S,B, who

live in Jerusalem, celebrated the

birth of a grandson.

Nava Rephun YH,’76W presented

marriage workshops at the

Sephardic Bikur Holim in Brooklyn,

NY; Cong. Shomrei Emunah in

Englewood, NJ; and Bayit Vegan,

Jerusalem. She is a licensed clini-

cal social worker and a certified

Imago Relationship Therapist

with a private practice in NYC.

Marjorie (Vezer) Skutelsky ’78W

is executive director, South Shore

Association for Independent Living,

a mental health agency providing

residential services and clinical

treatment in Nassau County. She

helped the agency grow from a

budget of approximately $300,000

to more than $4 million. She was

the former regional director for

Long Island at Association in

Community Living.

Lilly Tempelsman ’79W, WSSW

board member, is the compeer

coordinator at the Jewish Board

of Family and Children’s Services

in New York City, where she

recruits, trains, and supervises

volunteers, and matches them with

adults with a chronic mental ill-

ness who have been referred by

their therapists.

Dr. Meir Wikler ’72W, ’83W spe-

cializes in individual, marital, and

family therapy for Orthodox and

Chassidic clients in Brooklyn, NY.

Congratulations to him on the

marriage of son Yeshaya to Miriam

Baila Aron in March 2005.

Ruth Zachary ’79W is managing

member of Private Practice

Managed Care in Cliffside Park, NJ,

where she does financial, market-

ing, and administrative manage-

ment consulting for agencies,

social service and medical orga-

nizations, hospitals, and providers

of medical care and mental health

services. She is also an aspiring

fine arts photographer, and her

work can be seen at

www.ruthzachary.com.

1980sNancy Hilsenrath Abraham ’87W

runs a private practice in Great

Neck and Queens, NY, and works

with pediatric oncology patients

and their families at Winthrop-

University Hospital in Mineola, NY.

Previously, she was program

director, St. Vincent Services in

Brooklyn. She would love to hear

from her former classmates.

Barbara (Schwartz) Arfe ’80W is

a related service social worker at

the NYC Department of Education,

and a delegate in the United Fed-

eration of Teachers. She lives with

husband Louis Arfe ’73Y in New

York City.

Dr. Allan Barsky ’88W published

two textbooks, Alcohol, Other

Drugs, and Addictions, and Social

Work Education: A Student’s

Manual. Dr. Barsky is a professor

of social work at Florida Atlantic

University, where he teaches

CLASS NOTES

2 3W U R Z W E I L E R U P D A T E

CLASS NOTES

In June 1940, Aristides de Sousa Mendes, the consul-general ofPortugal in Bordeaux, defied his goverment’s ruling in order tosave thousands of Jews fleeing Nazi-occupied France. His act ofmoral courage went unrecognized for 55 years until an inter-national group, co-founded by Robert Jacobvitz ’75W, pressured thePortuguese government to reclaim Dr. Sousa Mendes’ reputation.

“Dr. Sousa Mendes consulted with his wife and children, andthey decided they had a higher value to uphold than thePortuguese government at the time,” said Mr. Jacobvitz. “I couldnot but work on their behalf.”

The Portuguese diplomat helped save the lives of about30,000 people—including 10,000 Jews—by issuing visas to thoseseeking safe passage through his homeland. But for defying gov-ernment orders, Dr. Sousa Mendes was dismissed from his job.

He fell into poverty and died a pauper in 1954. About 30 years later, Mr. Jacobvitz, then the executive direc-

tor of the Jewish Community Relations Council for Oakland,CA, read in a local newspaper about the efforts of Dr. SousaMendes’ son, John Paul, to clear the family name.

“I thought, if I were a Jew standing in front of his door at thetime and someone other than him had been in his place, I andmy children wouldn’t be alive today,” said Mr. Jacobvitz.

In 1986, Mr. Jacobvitz co-founded the International Commit-tee for the Commemoration of Dr. Aristides de Sousa Mendeswith John Paul and his wife Joan Abranches, and AnneTreseder, an attorney in San Francisco.

They worked with Jewish communities in Lisbon, France,and Canada, gained major media coverage, and rallied the sup-port of US politicians.

“We created a momentum and constituency for the family’scause that they never had,” said Mr. Jacobvitz.

Their efforts culminated in a public apology from MarioSoares, Portugal’s first democratically elected president, in 1995.During a ceremony at the Portugal National Theater in Lisbon,Dr. Sousa Mendes was awarded the Medal of Liberty, the coun-try’s highest civilian honor, posthumously and was advancedto the most senior grade diplomatic rating.

“The family now has a sense of satisfaction that the worldknows the pain they went through and the good work theirfather did,” Mr. Jacobvitz said.

For his efforts, Mr. Jacobvitz was awarded the Aristides deSousa Mendes Medal by the International Raoul WallenbergFoundation at the Museum of the Jewish Heritage in New YorkCity on April 6. The reception marked the opening of themuseum’s exhibit of the registry book used by Mr. SousaMendes for the first 2,000 visas issued.

Mr. Jacobvitz, now executive director of the BuildingOwners and Managers Association (BOMA) of Silicon Valley,said he was inspired by the man whose cause he championed.

“Dr. Sousa Mendes was one of those individuals who soughtjustice and truth in his life, no matter the consequences,” hesaid. “It was part of the fiber of who he was.” v

Robert Jacobvitz ’75W HelpsClear Holocaust Hero’s Name

professional ethics, conflict resolu-

tion, and addictions.

Marcia (Salmansohn) Bronstein

’83W was appointed vice presi-

dent for development, Jewish

Community Centers of Greater

Philadelphia, where she oversees

annual and capital campaigns,

grants, sponsorships, and endow-

ments. Previously, she was vice

president of institutional advance-

ment at Martins Run, a life care

community in Media, PA.

Ada (Gonzalez) Delgado ’82W is

a member of the school child

study team at Paterson Public

School in Paterson, NJ. She

assesses students to help deter-

mine eligibility for special instruc-

tional assistance. She also provides

Employee Assistance Program

services for one of the local

hospitals, and conducts drug

assessments of referred students.

Marci Mayer Eisen ’81W is coor-

dinating a new social justice

initiative at the St. Louis Jewish

Community Relations Council

after running family programs at

the St. Louis Jewish Community

Center for 24 years.

Wendy (Lache) Freund ’87W is

administrative supervisor of record

information, New York Foundling,

where she specializes in adop-

tion search and reunion. She also

runs a private psychotherapy

practice.

Anita (Charzinoff) Galvan-Henkin

’88W is a self-employed psy-

chotherapist in private practice

in Westport, CT. She specializes

in post-traumatic stress, anxiety,

and depression, and is certified

in psychoanalysis and EMDR

(Eye Movement Desensitization

and Reprocessing).

Sister Thomasina Gebhard ’88W

was featured in The Star-Ledger,

January 2005. She is the director

of Partnership for Social Services

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Robert Jacobvitz, second from the left, with three of Dr. Sousa Mendes’

grandchildren.

Family Center in Franklin, NJ. In

2004, she was named New Jersey’s

Social Worker of the Year by the

state chapter of NASW, and a

“Hometown Hero” by Cub Scout

Pack 90 of Franklin for her many

years of charity work, particularly

with the Partnership’s food pantry.

Dr. Andrew R. Gottlieb ’82W is in

private practice in New York City

and on the editorial board of the

Journal of GLBT Family Studies. He

has published three books: Out

of the Twilight: Fathers of Gay Men

Speak (2000), Sons Talk About

Their Gay Fathers: Life Curves

(2003), and Side by Side: On

Having a Gay or Lesbian Sibling

(2005). He has two new projects

in the works: From the Inside Out:

Clinical Interventions with Families

of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and

Transgender People and On the

Meaning of Friendship Between

Gay Men, both due out next year.

His publisher is The Haworth Press.

Rabbi Andrea Gouze ’83W, spiri-

tual leader of Congregation Shaare

Tefilla in Norwood, RI, was ap-

pointed director of pastoral care,

New England Sinai Hospital and

Rehabilitation Center. She is also

spiritual group facilitator at the

Jewish Seniors Agency in Provi-

dence and board member of the

National Association of Jewish

Chaplains.

Diane Gross ’87W works with

adults and latency-age children

in her private psychotherapy

practice in New York City.

Rabbi David G. Grossman ’80W

is director of pastoral services,

Metropolitan Jewish Geriatric

Center in Brooklyn, NY. He is also

heavily involved in Bikur Cholim

of Boro Park, which organizes

visits to Jewish hospital

patients.

Jackie (Buchman) Kaufman ’89W

is a child developmental social

worker in the Munroe County

school district in Rochester, NY.

Martin S. Neier ’82W was appoint-

ed regional director of the

Washington/Baltimore office of

American Associates, Ben-Gurion

University. His work focuses on

fundraising.

Robert Ornstein ’81W is a psy-

choanalyst in private practice and

a hospice social worker in

Mohegan Lake, NY.

Gail (Fenbert) Paige-Bowman

’86W is in private practice in

Norwalk, CT, and New York City,

where she specializes in addic-

tions and co-dependency, aging

issues, chronic illness, and spiri-

tual counseling for individuals,

groups, and couples. She

obtained her master’s degree in

divinity in 2002.

Diane (Grill) Penner ’81W is asso-

ciate professor of gerontology,

Hostos Community College (CUNY)

in the Bronx, NY. She developed,

and currently coordinates, the two-

year gerontology degree program.

Rabbi Samuel B. Rosenberg

’89W, spiritual leader of the

Elmora Hebrew Center in Elizabeth,

NJ, was honored by his synago-

gue for 25 years of service to the

Jewish people and the community.

A licensed clinical social worker

and certified family therapist, he

received certification as a psycho-

analyst from the Contemporary

Center of Advanced Psycho Analytic

Studies in 2004.

Laurence Segall ’84W is a geri-

atric care consultant at United

Methodist Homes in CT and Life-

care Inc. in CT and NY, and critical

incident/stress debriefing consul-

tant at United HealthCare. He lives

in Trumbull, CT.

CLASS NOTES

Hector Rivera CreatesReferral Website

The process of making social service referrals can some-times be time-consuming and inefficient. Recognizing anopportunity to improve this process, Hector Rivera ’99W

created a Web site to connectproviders more easily with theclients who need their spe-cialized services.

123Referral.com is a refer-ral system for social workers,discharge planners and virtu-ally anyone who is searchingfor services, local events, grantinformation, and employmentopportunities. It includes a

database of social work and child care referrals, a databaseof available grants, and a calendar of events, all of whichare free for both care providers and potential clients.

The site is designed to be as user-friendly as possible,said Mr. Rivera, assistant administrator at Casa Promesa,which provides long-term care for people living withHIV/AIDS.

“Not everyone can spend hours on the Internetsearching for information to help a client or friend,” hesaid. “The time factor is important for a fast and effectivereferral. With 123Referral, you do not have to subscribe.You log on, you search, and boom, you’re there.”

With new advertising revenue, the site will extend itsrange from the New York metropolitan area across theUS and into his native Puerto Rico, which is experiencinga rampant outbreak of HIV/AIDS, Mr. Rivera said.

“The need for services to this population is immi-nent,” he said, noting that substance abuse, methadonemaintenance, diabetes, and immigration “are becomingissues with no solutions on the island. Organizations sendclients to New York for services, but 123Referral.com willhelp address these issues for those who live there.”

Mr. Rivera encouraged organizations, professionals, andany other service providers to add listings for their ser-vices, post special events on the calendar, and search forgrants.

Mr. Rivera said his education at Wurzweiler inspired himto search for a way to improve the referral process.

“Our professors encouraged us to change the world byhelping others help themselves,” he said. “I am doing justthat.” v

2 4W U R Z W E I L E R U P D A T E

2 5W U R Z W E I L E R U P D A T E

Frederick Jerome Streets ’81W,

’97W, chaplain of Yale University,

edited Preaching In the New

Millennium: Celebrating the Ter-

centennial of Yale University (Yale

University Press, 2005). The col-

lection includes sermons by Rabbi

Laura Geller, senior rabbi of Temple

Emanuel in Los Angeles; former

Yale chaplain William Sloane Coffin,

Jr.; and Rev. Peter Gomes, minis-

ter at the Memorial Church and

Plummer Professor of Christian

Morals at Harvard University.

Dr. Selma Willner ’86W runs a

private practice for adults from

her home in Port Washington,

NY. She also volunteers as a

speaker for the AARP.

Paulette (Hiller) Yaged ’80W runs

a private psychotherapy practice,

specializing in affective disorders

and working predominantly with

the Orthodox Jewish population.

She lives in Brooklyn, NY, with

husband Rabbi Moshe Yaged ’58Y,

’61R, a spiritual counselor at YU’s

MSTA-Yeshiva University High

School for Boys.

Dr. Stefan Zicht ’84W is a clinical

psychologist/psychoanalyst in

private practice. He is a faculty

member at William Alanson White

Institute, Manhattan Institute for

Psychoanalysis, and the Postgrad-

uate Center for Mental Health. He

co-chaired the annual meeting of

Division 39 of the American

Psychological Association in

spring, 2005.

1990sCynthia (D’Angelo-Cardinali)

Better ’96W is a psychotherapist

in private practice in River Edge,

NJ, specializing in sexual and

domestic violence, incest, trauma

intervention, and women’s issues.

She also runs a post-partum

depression group.

Arlene Brofsky ’98W is supervisor

of special education, Secaucus

Board of Education in Secaucus,

NJ. In addition, she is a therapist

for the Family Service League in

Montclair, NJ.

Alan E. Caro ’90W recently joined

Kol Shalom, a Conservative synago-

gue in Bethesda, MD, as principal

of its Talmud Torah and Hebrew

High School. He previously worked

at Jewish Community Centers, in-

cluding the Washington, DC JCC as

assistant executive director, High

Holiday program coordinator,

and Hebrew school teacher.

Marlene (Schweid) Charnizon

’90W is an associate editor at

Reed Business in New York City,

where she edits reviews of chil-

dren’s books for a library publi-

cation. She also works part-time

as a psychotherapist at the Wash-

ington Square Institute, where

she received her certificate in

psychoanalytic psychotherapy.

Aaron Cohen ’96W, a psychiatric

social worker at Health Insurance

Plan (HIP) of New York in Brooklyn,

specializes in treating dual diag-

nosis and psychiatric clients. Mr.

Cohen, a Jewish Quaker, describes

his practice as “spiritually-based.”

Sherri (Kilpatrick) Duchenne

’92W is coordinator of managed

care, Fordham Tremont Community

Mental Health Center. To keep her

skills sharp, she continues to

take courses in policy and com-

puter training.

Barbara (Buchsbaum) Gilford

’93W, who previously worked for

a behavioral health agency, now

has her own psychotherapy prac-

tice for individuals and couples.

Her specialties include treating

post-partum depression.

CLASS NOTES

Leslee Mavrovic Receives‘Top Ten Women in Queens’ Award

Leslee Mavrovic ’96W, DSW, vice president for social work services at Parker JewishInstitute in Queens, was recently honored by the Queens Courier Newspaper group asone of the Top Ten Queens Women in Business. The awards ceremony was attended by

local government officials, including New York City PublicAdvocate Betsy Gotbaum and Queens Borough PresidentHelen Marshall.

“I was delighted to be part of the group of award win-ners, women whose careers have improved the quality oflife in the communities in which we live and work,” said Dr.Mavrovic. Other honorees represented various fields inbusiness and health care, ranging from Citibank andConEdison executives to nurses and doctors.

The annual event is also a fundraiser; a silent auctionheld during the event helped to raise money for the School

for Language and Communication Development in Glen Cove, NY, a non-profit schoolfor children with language disorders.

Dr. Mavrovic earned her master’s degree from New York University and her DSWfrom Wurzweiler. She began her professional social work career as director of socialwork at Parker Jewish Institute 20 years ago, and has since become a passionate advo-cate for those in need of health care and rehabilitation.

In her job, she helps patients and families cope with the impact of aging, illness, disabil-ity, and institutional and community living. She is also responsible for patient satisfaction—the subject of her Wurzweiler dissertation—as well as the management and supervision of fivedepartments: social work, volunteers, admissions, psychological services and pastoral care.

Her research interests include Alzheimer’s disease, patient/family satisfaction, andadvance directives, and she has run workshops, seminars and presentations on thesesubjects throughout Nassau and Suffolk counties for various professional organizations.

A founding member and past chairperson of the Social Work South Council of theNew York Association of Homes and Services for the Aged, Dr. Mavrovic chairs the Satis-faction Measurement Committee of the Alliance for the Continuing Care Network. v

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2 6W U R Z W E I L E R U P D A T E

Dr. Rosalie (Russo) Gleicher

’95W and husband Adam Gleicher

’86Y, YU investment accounting

manager, celebrated the birth of

their first child, Max Joseph, in

December 2004.

Dr. Ivan Godfrey ’98W is a foren-

sic psychologist with the NYS

Office of Mental Health, where he

creates, develops, and enhances

supportive resources and services

for inmates returning to the com-

munity from state prison and

court jail.

Elka (Wolloch) Klarsfeld ’92W

is a social worker at the Hudson

Valley Dialysis Center, where she

provides counseling and concrete

and psychosocial services for

patients ranging in age from

19–90. She is married with two

daughters, ages 7 and 10, and

lives in Hartsdale, NY.

Shea Z. Lerner ’99W is director

of development, New York College

of Osteopathic Medicine/New

York Institute of Technology. He

lives in Plainview, NY, with wife

Pamela and son Noah Jacob.

Steven Lieberman ’93W is direc-

tor of social services, Sephardic

Bikur Holim in Brooklyn, NY,

where he does clinical work with

families, couples and individuals,

supervises other staff, and man-

ages the budget. He lives with

wife Sivia and three children in

Elizabeth, NJ.

Dr. Donald L. Paine ’97W, a certi-

fied clinical marriage and family

therapist with his own Web site

(www.paraklein.com), recently

married Deborah E. Goodwin, an

educator, in Gibraltar.

Alan J. Podber ’97W is a senior

supervisor of the home care ser-

vices program at NYC Human

Resources Administration. He is

a blues and old-time country

guitarist, and created the music

for the play “Wholly Mother

Jones,” a CD of which was

recently released by Green Eagle

Press (www.greeneagle.org).

Dr. Reuben Romirowsky ’98W left

his post as chief executive officer,

Jewish Family Services of

MetroWest, to become regional

director, UJA-Federation of New

York in Westchester. He lives in

Teaneck, NJ, with wife Diane and

his two daughters, Sjai and

Aliza.

Cecilia (Meyers) Sacharow ’96W

moved to Israel. Previously, she

was a guidance counselor at

Yeshiva Darchei Torah in Far

Rockaway, NY, and ran a private

practice specializing in marriage

and bereavement issues.

Gabriela (Kamensky) Sadote

Sleppin ’93W is assistant direc-

tor of program and budget,

American Jewish Joint Distribution

Committee in New York City,

where she oversees the system-

wide planning process.

June Ann Smith ’90W, PhD, asso-

ciate professor of education at the

C.W. Post Campus of Long Island

University, was awarded the uni-

versity’s 2005 David Newton Award

for Excellence in Teaching earlier

this year. Dr. Smith specializes in

counseling and development and

has coordinated the Mental Health

Graduate Counseling Program at

C.W. Post since 2002. In her pri-

vate practice, she provides family

and child adolescent counseling

as well as career counseling.

Paul E. Stevens ’90W is a super-

visor at the outpatient behavioral

health clinic at St. Joseph’s Medical

Center in Yonkers, NY. He married

Elena M. Rocco in June 2004.

Robyn (Kerzner) Teplitzky ’99W

is annual fund director, Hamden

Hall Country Day School in

Hamden, CT, and president, J&R

CLASS NOTES

Lynne Levy Brings Jewish Family Expertise to Wurzweiler

When looking for someone to teach the course“Jewish Response to Communal Needs,” Wurz-weiler tapped a woman who has been at theforefront of helping American Jews cope withmodern-day change. Lynn Levy ’98W, who taught

over the summer in the Block Plan, has been helping theUnion for Reform Judaism—the “home address” for the

largest Jewish movementin North America —to com-bat the growing problem ofdivorce within its con-stituency since 1999.

As the Union’s directorof premarital education,Ms. Levy drew heavily onJewish ethics and ritual tocreate a curriculum to helpengaged and newly marriedyoung couples strengthentheir relationship.

“We begin by exploringour expectations for mar-

riage and our families of origin, then move to communica-tion skills, highlighting the Jewish values of communicatingwith respect and honor,” Ms. Levy said.

They cover topics such as conflict and its successful reso-lution, the creation of the Jewish home and the partnershipof marriage.

Piloted at Union-affiliated synagogues in 11 cities, the curri-culum is now being promoted by the Union to the rest of itsmore than 900-member synagogues.

In the meantime, Ms. Levy, who trains facilitators and over-sees evaluation, is at work on a follow-up program. She is alsodeveloping a new curriculum to help empty-nesters bolstertheir relationship after their children leave home, and sheenvisions curricula for couples married three to five years,for blended families, and for teens thinking seriously aboutdating and marriage.

“My work is in the realm of strengthening Jewish fami-lies—helping them make healthy choices and encouragingthem to explore their Jewish identity,” Ms. Levy said.

This summer, Ms. Levy shared her experience and know-ledge with students in the Certificate program, addressingissues such as changes in the Jewish family paradigm andthe evolving needs of the American Jewish community. Herreturn marked her first experience as a classroom teacher,but not her last—she is back this fall to teach ‘Jewish SocialPhilosophy’ to a new group of students. v

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2 7W U R Z W E I L E R U P D A T E

Consulting, a not-for-profit fund-

raising firm. She has earned state-

wide recognition for her work

with the Jewish community and

the Anti-Defamation League,

among other organizations. She

lives in Woodbridge, CT, with her

husband Jeffrey and two chil-

dren, Molly and Jacob.

Albert John Treadwell ’98W is a

clinical social worker at North

Shore Long Island Jewish Health

System/Zucker Hillside Hospital

in Glen Oaks, NY.

Regina (Palasek) Wall ’93W is a

psychoanalyst and psychothera-

pist in private practice and at

Family and Children Services of

Central NJ in Princeton.

Darcy F. (Shatkin) Wallen ’91W is

a social work consultant and

psychotherapist whose private

practice focuses on the Hasidic

community of Crown Heights,

Brooklyn. She runs parenting and

staff development workshops, and

travels throughout the US and

Canada providing Jewish educa-

tional workshops and groups. She

enjoys continued involvement with

Wurzweiler by supervising WSSW

students.

Lucy (Rosenberg) Wardimon

’94W runs a private practice and

mental health clinic in Tel Aviv,

Israel, where she offers psycho-

analytic and body-psychotherapy,

and trauma-centered therapy.

Lisa Weissbach-Efrat ’97W joined

the Jewish Family and Children’s

Service in New Jersey earlier this

year as coordinator of its Jewish

Family Life Education program

and Project SARAH (Stop Abusive

Relationships at Home) Domestic

Abuse Services. Before that, she

was a social worker at Woman

to Woman, a domestic violence

shelter in Israel.

2000s

Marjorie A. Allen ’04W is a social

worker in the family support unit

at the Metro NY Developmental

Disabilities Services Office in the

Bronx, NY.

Nicola Bingham ’02W is a super-

visor at the Administration for

Children Services in New York City.

She is also working with WSSW

professor Martin Birnbaum on a

steering committee at ACS to

revitalize group work services

within the agency.

Alison Brown ’03W is a social

worker at Covenant at South

Hills in Pittsburgh, PA. Among

her duties is helping to run the

Alzheimer’s Caregivers Support

Group.

Michael Cronin ’05W, DSW,

received the 2005 International

Rhoda G. Sarnat Award from the

National Association of Social

Workers Foundation in July for

advancing the public image of

professional social work. Since

1997, Dr. Cronin has been the

main representative for the Inter-

national Federation of Social

Workers, acting as the public

face of social work at the United

Nations. He is the social work

manager at St. Luke’s Roosevelt

Hospital Center in New York City.

In September, he became an

assistant professor of social

work at The Richard Stockton

College of New Jersey.

Faith (Zuckerberg) Fisch ’04W

is currently a full-time mother in

Brooklyn, NY.

Dr. Cesar Garces ’02W works in

the intensive care unit at Bronx

Lebanon Hospital Center in the

Bronx, NY. He also runs a private

practice at the Queens Neuro-

psychiatric Institute in Jackson

Heights, Queens, NY.

Judith L. Harris ’04W is a staff

attorney at the Juvenile Rights

Division of the Legal Aid Society of

New York, Bronx office, and a

member of the Social Welfare Law

Committee of the Bar Association

of the City of New York.

Frances K. (Eichholz) Heller ’03W

works as an oncology social

worker at NY Presbyterian

Columbia University Medical

Center in New York City.

Mandy (Belfer) Kaiser-Blueth ’03W

is planning and allocations asso-

ciate, United Jewish Communities

of MetroWest New Jersey.

Allison Predmore ’04W is family

specialist for the ACT Team at

Transitional Services in Jamaica,

Queens, NY, a program that pro-

vides services for persons affected

by severe mental illness. She is

also part-time service coordina-

tor, New Frontiers in TBI, in Man-

hattan, which serves people

affected by traumatic brain injury.

Marilyn Rivera ’03W, a social

worker at HHC/Gouverneur

Hospital in New York City, prac-

tices clinical social work in a

Spanish-language day treatment

program for the persistently

mentally-ill population.

Dr. Jessica Rosenberg ’03W co-

authored “No Need to Hide:

Out of the Closet and Mentally

Ill” in Best Practices in Mental

Health: An International Journal

(Winter 2005) and “Clinical Work

With Immigrants and Refugees:

An Ethnographic Approach,” in

Multicultural Perspectives in

Working With Families (Springer:

New York) in April. She is assis-

tant professor at Long Island

University. She and husband

Samuel Rosenberg edited Com-

munity Mental Health: Challenges

for the 21st Century (Routledge:

New York).

Sheilah Ann Rourke ’00W is

director of operations, America

Works of Albany, which provides

welfare-to-work services in Albany

County. She also works at

Altamont House, a not-for-profit

residential rehabilitation facility.

WE MOURN

Jeffrey M. Katz ’82W, who passed

away in December 2004. He was

a co-owner in the family business,

City Scrap & Salvage Co, and had

previously worked at JCCs in Akron,

NY, and the District of Columbia.

Ruth (Goldman) Miller ’65W, who

passed away in August 2005. She

was the wife of the late Rabbi

Israel Miller ’38Y,R, YU senior

vice president emeritus.

Maria McDonald West ’75W, who

passed away in March.

CONDOLENCES TO

Joan Beder ’93W, professor, on the

loss of her sister, Ellen Clements.

Judith Gottesman ’95W on the

loss of her father, Rabbi Aaron, a

chaplain of the San Diego police

and fire departments. San Diego’s

mayor proclaimed Aug. 4, 2003,

Rabbi Aaron Gottesman Day, and

he was 2004 Man of the Year in

Southern California’s St. Patrick’s

Day Parade.

Amanda Loving-Moses ’97W, and

Philip Loving ’98W, on the loss of

their father, David, a longtime

field instructor and advocate of

WSSW in South Dakota.

Susan Mason, professor, on the

loss of her brother, Theodore

Mason.

CLASS NOTES

I graduated from Boston UniversitySchool of Social Work in 1970, at a timeof anger and hope and revolutionarypromise. We protested against the warin Vietnam, the invasion of Cambodia,and the death of fellow students atKent State University in Ohio. The greatgift of growing up then was the beliefthat each of us individually and as agroup could make a difference.

So there I was in 1970, raised as anOrthodox Jew, but no longer practicing,committed to changing society but nolonger quite sure how to do it. Trainedas a group worker and a communityorganizer, I began working in a Jewishcommunity center with teenagers, whowere also confused and committed,seeking and searching.

My job was to help them stop usingdrugs, rejoin society, go to college, andlive normal productive lives. But ofcourse in 1970, Richard Nixon was the

President of the United States, the warstill raged on, and the society we wereasking those kids to rejoin seemed attimes unjust and alienating.

How do we heal our clients andchange our society at the same time?How can we find a way to live in theworld without accepting its injustices?

I began to believe that the idea ofcommunity itself provided a kind ofanswer. The teenagers I was workingwith needed to feel that they could beuseful. They needed to feel connectedto something larger than themselves.The more I worked with those teen-agers, the more I realized that none ofthis could take place outside the con-text of community and that helpingthem build community was about themost important thing I could do.

Since then we’ve come to under-stand even more clearly the power ofcommunity to provide meaning andvalues for ourselves and our children.Through the work of brilliant writersand researchers like Robert Bellah andRobert Putnam, we’ve learned that com-munity is becoming increasingly frag-ile in America with devastating resultsfor the stability of our families.

The deterioration of community alsoexacerbates social inequality and injus-tice. How can we raise children to be-come responsible adults in the absenceof positive community norms and val-ues? How can even the best education,job training, welfare or social programssucceed in a chaotic environment with-out the support of community?

For the last 30 years I’ve workedwithin the Jewish community and I’ve

come to believe that communities offaith remain the most powerful institu-tions of community development andstrength in American society.

In the 19th century, Alexis deTocque-ville noticed that interlocking commu-nities of caring and civic responsibilityformed the basis of America’s civilsociety and capacity for cohesion inthe face of our wild diversity.

Two years ago, at the beginning ofthe 21st century, Nancy Tatom Ammer-man’s groundbreaking study, “Congre-gation and Community,” revealed thatreligious institutions were the mostimportant and widespread form of face-to-face community in America. Sheasserted that churches in America areuniquely open and connected acrossdenominational lines, transformingparticularistic religious experiencesinto opportunities for unity.

With its tradition of religious toler-ance, democratic values, and civil soci-ety, America may well representhumankind’s best hope for a world inwhich pluralism is a real alternative toreligious fundamentalism as a path toGod. As we strengthen congregationallife and pluralistic communities of faith,we also strengthen America’s handagainst fundamentalism and terrorism.

One core belief is central to theHebrew Bible of Moses, the Gospels ofChristianity, and the Koran of Moham-mad: a community of faith must be acommunity of justice. The God we allbelieve in hears the cry of the poorand oppressed and will hold thosewith power responsible for their suf-fering. And in these dangerous times Ibelieve that good people of faith mustjoin together to create a religiousworld view in which religious murderbecomes impossible. We must take ourfaith and our communities back fromthose who believe otherwise. v

Barry Shrage, MSW, is president of Combined

Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston. This

article was adapted from his speech at Wurz-

weiler’s commencement in May 2005. His

wife, Eleanor ’76W, is a WSSW alumna and

his daughter, Nili Sarles, is a student.

2 8W U R Z W E I L E R U P D A T E

PERSPECTIVE

Keeping the FaithBY BARRY SHRAGE

Religious communities have always offered cohesion and

comfort. With the rise of fundamentalism, that role has

taken on new meaning, says Barry Shrage.

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Beckerman, N.L. (2005). Couples ofmixed HIV status: Clinical issues andinterventions. New York: HaworthPress.

Beder, J. (2005). Evaluation researchon the effectiveness of social workintervention on dialysis patients: Thefirst three months. The Journal ofNephrology Social Work, 24, 36-44.

Beder, J. (2005). Friendship anddeath: Why it hurts so much andwhat can de done to help. HealingMinistry, 12(2), 37-41.

Beder, J. (2005). Loss of the assump-tive world-How we deal with deathand loss. Omega, 50(4), 255-265.

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Caputo, R.K. (2004). The effects ofparent religiosity, family processes,and peer influences on adolescentoutcomes by race/ethnicity. AmericanJournal of Pastoral Counseling, 7(3),23-49.

Caputo, R.K. (2005). Poverty. In J.K.Roth (Ed). Ethics, revised edition(pp. 1169-1171). Pasadena, CA:Salem Press.

Caputo, R.K. (2005). Distribution ofthe federal tax burden, share ofafter-tax income, and after tax in-come by presidential administrationand household type, 1981-2000.Journal of Sociology and SocialWelfare, 32(2), 3-18.

Caputo, R.K. (2005). What’s moralitygot to do with it? An essay on thepolitics of moral values in light ofthe presidential election of 2004.Families in Society: The Journal ofContemporary Social Services, 86(2),171-179.

Caputo, R.K. (2005). Challenges ofAging on U.S. Families: Policy andPractice Implications. New York: TheHaworth Press.

Caputo, R.K. (Ed). (2005) Inheritanceand intergenerational transmissionof parental care. Marriage & FamilyReview, 37(1/2), 107-127. Also inR.K. Caputo (Ed.) Challenges ofAging on U.S. families: Policy andpractice implications. (pp. 107-127).New York: The Haworth Press.

Caputo, R.K. (2005). Redistributiveschemes that skirt poverty: Recon-sidering social justice in light of VanParijs and Zucker. Journal of Poverty,9(3), 109-129.

Caputo, R.K. (2005). Religiousnessand adolescent behavior: A compar-ison of boys and girls. Journal ofReligion & Spirituality in Social Work,24(3), 39-67.

Clemans, S.E. (2004). Recognizingvicarious traumatization: A singlesession group model for traumaworkers. Social Work with Groups,27(2/3), 55-74.

Clemans, S.E. (2005). A feministgroup for women rape survivors.Social Work with Groups, 28(2),59-75.

Gibelman, M. (2005). What socialworkers do, 2nd Ed. Washington,DC: NASW Press.

Gibelman, M. (2005). Social workersfor rent: The contingency humanservices labor force. Families inSociety: The Journal of ContemporarySocial Service, 86(4), 457-469.

Gibelman, M., & Gelman, S.R.(2005). Scientific misconduct insocial welfare research: Preventivelessons from other fields. SocialWork Education, 24(3), 275-295.

Gibelman, M., & Gelman, S.R.(2005). Ethical considerations in thechanging environment of humanservice organizations. In M.L. Pava& P. Primeaux (Eds.). Crisis andOpportunity in the Professions; Vol.6;Research in Ethical Issues in Organi-zations. (pp. 1-19). Oxford: Elsevier.

Linzer, N. (2004). Same-sex marriagein America: The struggle for legiti-macy. The International Scope Review,6(11), 1-16.

Mason, S.E. (2005). Offering AfricanAmerican opportunities to partici-pate in clinical trials research: Howsocial workers can help. Health &Social Work, 30(4) 296-304.

Mason, S.E., & Pollack, D. (2005).Legal aspects of hyperactivity med-ication in the schools: What schoolsocial workers need to know? SchoolSocial Work Journal, 30(1), 61-74.

Mellor, M.J. (2005). Proceedings ofYeshiva University conference onMeeting the challenges of older per-sons: Combining practice and policy.New York: Yeshiva University.

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Pollack, D. (2004). A change at thetop. Policy & Practice, 62(4), 24.

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Pollack, D. (2005). Intercountryadoption: Who are the good guys?Policy & Practice, 63(1), 28.

Pollack, D. (2005). Financialaccountability of human serviceagencies. Policy & Practice,63(2), 24.

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Pollack, D. (2005). The capacity of amentally challenged person to con-sent to abortion and sterilization.Health & Social Work, 30(3), 253-257.

Pollack, D. (2005). Informed consentis a process not just a piece of paper.NASW California News, 32(1), 8.

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Sweifach, J. (2005). Social work inJewish community centers: A ques-tion of compatibility. Social Work,50(2), 151-161.

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