Dear SSW community:
I am writing with a few updates. First I wanted to let you know that Associate Professor Benjamin Capistrant will be leaving the School for Social Work in November to pursue another opportunity in data science research. Ben joined us two years ago from his previous position as a faculty member in Smith College’s Statistical & Data Sciences Program. Ben has been a tremendous colleague and instructor and a thoughtful contributor to our curriculum and work. Please join me in giving him our best wishes in his future endeavors.
Earlier this fall we welcomed Janae Peters, ‘15 M.S.W. to the position of Interim Associate Director of Field Education. Janae has accepted this one year, full time role as we create a permanent position. Janae is well known to SSW faculty and students. She was a Marta Sotomayor Fellow from 2018-20 and the chair of last summer’s multi-constituent Anti-racism Planning Group. We are very grateful and excited to have Janae in our Field Department.
As I have communicated previously, SSW is actively searching for two resident faculty members. Our search committee has convened, our job announcement is posted and we have been receiving strong applications. We will hold initial interviews with candidates in early winter. More recently, we also have decided to open two limited-term lecturer positions at the school. These positions will play an important and valued role during this time of transition on our faculty.
The faculty and I understand that ensuring representation on our resident faculty is critical to creating a school where Black, Indigenous and other POC voices and experiences are made more central. We are using our five guiding principles to shape our hiring priorities and to guide our searches for the limited term lecturers and tenure track faculty.
Applications for the two open rank professor positions are still open and we will begin accepting applications for the two limited-term lecturer positions soon. If you, or anyone you know, would be a great addition to the SSW faculty, we hope you will submit an application.
Thank you everyone.
Sincerely,
Marianne RM Yoshioka, LCSW, MBA, PhD.
Dean & Elizabeth Marting Treuhaft Professor
Co-editor, Smith College Studies in Social Work
Smith College School for Social Work
