SSW Celebrates 2021 Program Grads
Ending the 2020-21 academic year, the School of Social Work celebrates another impressive array of program graduates – all who have met the challenges of the past year with perseverance, innovation, and deep connection to community despite distance. Interim Director Joe Merighi sent grads off with the following message:
“No matter what your next step is after graduation, I ask you to consider doing one thing: that is, use your passion, your intellect, and your social work knowledge, skills and values to build a better, stronger, and more unified world.”
Program highlights for this year’s grads:
The Masters of Social Work (MSW) program will have 85 May graduates, 10 planned for this summer, and 9 in fall. Several of these grads are dual degree students in MPH and MPP, and two will start our PhD program in Fall 2021!
The Youth Studies program graduates 18 this spring, 4 over the summer, and 1 graduate this fall. The Youth Development Leadership (YDL) program has 10 Spring graduates, 2 summer graduates, and 1 fall graduate.
The PhD program will have seven graduates this academic year: Molly Driessen, DDF recipient, has accepted a faculty position at the University of Saint Joseph in Connecticut; Cary Waubanascum, DOVE recipient, has accepted a faculty position at the University of Wisconsin, Green Bay; Mingyang Zheng has accepted a faculty position at Radford University in Virginia; Young Ji Yoon has accepted a faculty position at Colorado State University, Pueblo; Tanya Bailey will stay at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities, directing the PAWS (Pet Away Worry & Stress) program that she created; Katlin Okamoto will graduate this summer and plans to stay in Minnesota for now; and Belle Khuu graduated in December 2020, and is working as a postdoc at the University of Minnesota’s Institute on Community Integration. Read more about these graduates and their words of thanks.
Congratulations to each and every graduate on their way to build a better world!!!