My dear community,
I wanted to write to update you on our summer, plans for the fall, changes to our alumni listservs and our continued work of developing a culture of accountability at SSW. As I write this letter Smith College is in the process of reopening campus in preparation for an in-person fall term for the undergraduate population. This means our School for Social Work staff will also begin returning to Lilly Hall in the coming weeks, a change that is both exciting and challenging as we continue to adjust to the changing conditions of the pandemic.
On Sunday we will graduate another amazing cohort of students. They have persevered through the challenges of the last two years and as a result, they are graduating with unique skills that will serve them well over their careers. I am so proud of the ways they have studied and learned, advocated for their needs, found joy and developed a strong community despite the physical distances between us. If you would like to join us for the virtual Commencement Ceremony on Sunday, August 22 at 1 p.m., you may register to attend here.
Alumni Listservs
I want to begin by sharing some changes to the way our listservs function. As you know SSW alumni have had a number of regional listservs that have operated for many years. Under the leadership of David Goodman, M.S.W. ’77, Carol Fizer, ’82 and Gretchen Pauley ’00, all remaining regional listservs will be discontinued as of September 30, 2021 and will be replaced with one national listserv in response to requests and queries of many alumni who want to be able to network across the country. This national listserv is neither moderated by or under the administration of the School but continues to be under the auspices of alumni volunteers. Because no one will be automatically added to the new national listserv, if you are interested, you must opt in by contacting David directly.
Developing a culture of accountability
As we consider all the ways that SSW must transform to meet the aspiration of our five Core Principles, we have begun deep work on understanding what it means to create a culture of accountability in which we will each carry responsibility to participate and sustain. You may remember that last summer, we convened a workgroup, the Anti-Racism Planning Group (ARPG) composed of SSW stakeholders including M.S.W. and Ph.D. students, resident and adjunct faculty, staff and administrators and alumni to consider the values and principles of a renewed commitment to anti-racism and racial justice. It was about this time last year that we announced the ARPG’s development of five Core Principles on which we strive to center our operations, processes, programs and interactions. Much recognition goes to Janae Peters, M.S.W. '15, who so ably facilitated the development process that led to the principles.
This summer, Janae, along with Senior Lecturer Megan Harding, M.S.W. '07, reconvened this large workgroup with about 25 continuing and new members. Principle 2 demands that we ensure accountability at the individual, program and institutional levels and that there are meaningful processes for repair and reconciliation. We acknowledge that our processes for addressing incidents of harm have been greatly inadequate. To create real organizational, programmatic and individual change, we each must have the knowledge and skills to participate fully in processes of reconciliation and accountability, understand what is expected of us and be supported to engage in this work.
Under their leadership, the ARPG as a large multi-constituent group has been tasked with building the foundation for these processes. Through the summer, we have met to learn what defines accountability, what knowledge and skills accountability requires and to identify the components of accountability processes that are based in principles of forthrightness, truth telling, centering, listening and receiving.
Two resources we have found useful in framing this work have come from the Ahimsa Collective. We invite you to join us in listening and watching these two offerings:
- Navigating Conflict: This 40-minute podcast offers a conversation between Prentis Hemphill and Kazu Haga about conflict, accountability and healing trauma.
- What are the obstacles to accountability: This 11-minute video offers the perspectives and wisdom regarding the challenges of creating and holding accountability with Sonya Shah, nuri nusrat, Mimi Kim, Ann Russo, Esteban Kelly, adrienne maree brown, Rachel Herzing, Stas Schmiedt, Lea Roth, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha and Mia Mingus
We end this summer having done much planning work around creating a statement of purpose, processes for accountability and reconciliation and policies for transparency and communication. We will continue our work through the fall and spring so that we can roll out our new procedures and the kind of trainings and supports we will need to ensure everyone can participate fully. As we continue this work we will continue to share periodic updates with you around our progress building a culture of accountability and around our visioning work.
InDepth and Updating Your Address
After a hiatus due to the pandemic I am pleased to announce that we have just published InDepth again. Printed editions will be arriving in mailboxes soon or you can read it online now. If you don’t receive your copy in the mail, please be sure to update your address and contact information so you will receive future issues.
If you would prefer to only receive InDepth digitally, please update your preferences.
Sincerely,
Marianne R.M. Yoshioka,MBA, Ph.D., LCSW
Dean and Elizabeth Marting Treuhaft Professor
Co-editor, Smith College Studies in Social Work
Smith College School for Social Work
