The College of Social Work is never satisfied

Faculty and students embrace their enduring mission to care for people but continually stretch and adapt to provide what modern communities need.

When asked to name his favorite College of Social Work teachers, Al Cho ’23 hesitates. “It’s a challenging question,” he says. “I chose to stick around for grad school because I’ve had a lot of amazing teachers.”

There’s Gwendolyn Rees, who focuses on social work in the LGBTQ+ community. Jennifer Haywood ’96 MSW, who teaches how diagnostics can help you more fully consider people and the pressures squeezing them. Martha Hensley Wessell ’07, ’09, ’11 MSW, who encourages looking beyond people’s medical diagnoses. And Holly Dabelko-Schoeny ’02 PhD, who specializes in the older population.

“Holly and Director Marisa Sheldon [’10, ’11 MSW] took me into their organization [Age-Friendly Innovation Center] and said, ‘How can we make your passion and dreams play out?’ Holly’s modeled to me what social work is.”

What is that? “A very value-based system that is willing to meet people where they are,” Cho explains. “It can be solution-focused, and it’s about serving the community and understanding that the community is individuals and individuals are the community.”

His teachers would say Cho nailed it.

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