Wellness Wednesday from the School of Social Work

Jody Olsen, PhD, MSW '72

Jody Olsen, PhD, served as the 20th Director of the Peace Corps between March 2018 – January 2021. With the global COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Olsen led the evacuation of all 7,000 Peace Corps Volunteers from 61 countries safely back to the United States.

Dr. Olsen began her career as a Peace Corps Volunteer, Tunisia. She also served the agency in five other senior positions, including Deputy Director. Prior to returning to the Peace Corps in 2018, Dr. Olsen was Visiting Professor at the University of Maryland-Baltimore School of Social Work and Director of the University’s Center for Global Education.

Dr. Olsen received a BS from the University of Utah, a master’s in social work from the University of Maryland, Baltimore, and a PhD in Human Development from the University of Maryland, College Park. In 2022, she was a Resident Fellow at the IOP Harvard Kennedy School.

Among her awards, she has received the University of Maryland President’s Award, the University of Utah’s alumni of the year award, and two honorary doctorates.

"My experience as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Tunisia confirmed my subsequent choice of the UMB School of Social Work. The school encouraged my curiosity across cultures and my subsequent international career"---Jody Olsen

March 14th – I Want to Build a Practice, Now What? (12:00 – 1:15 PM)
Starting and building a private practice means you are not only a practitioner, but you are now a small business owner. The panelists will discuss their experiences, challenges and best practices around building a private practice. Attendees will also receive valuable tips on branding, marketing, and establishing a niche for their practice.

Panelists:

Lynn Grodzki, LCSW, MCC, MSW ’88, Psychotherapist, Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Master Certified Coach
Alyssa Jones, Founder & CEO, Alyssa Pina Design Studio
Victoria D. Stubbs, LICSW, LCSW-C, Owner, Inner Truth Psychotherapy and Wellness, LLC

Moderator: Seante Hatcher, LCSW-C, MSW, Assistant Dean, Continuing Professional Education, University of Maryland School of Social Work

March 28th – What Does it Mean to Be a Leader in Social Work? (12:00 – 1:15 PM)
The social work profession has a long history of producing some of the top leaders that have create societal change through organizations, government, communities and society as a whole. As social workers the leadership skill set is a part of the degree. Steven Lewis will discuss how his social work degree, skills, training, and expertise lead him into leadership and management roles. He will also discuss how we prepare the next generation of social work leaders and continue to show the value of the profession.

Speaker: Steven R. Lewis, MBA, MSW ’02, President & CEO of Community Partnership for Child Development

Moderator: Amy Greensfelder, LMSW ’17, Executive Director, Pro Bono Counseling Project

We Want to Hear From You!

The University of Maryland School of Social Work is developing a new DSW program to be launched in the fall of 2024. The Doctor of Social Work degree, or DSW, is an advanced practice doctorate designed to prepare licensed MSW (Master of Social Work) graduates for leadership roles in academic, agency, and private practice settings.

The DSW fills an important educational need for Social Work professionals by promoting skills in advanced treatment methods, teaching pedagogy, supervision and leadership skills that are not available within most Ph.D. programs.

We are in the process of planning this exciting curriculum and would like to hear about your interest in the DSW. Please click on the button below to complete a brief questionnaire. Your response is important to us and will help to shape the proposed curriculum. If you have additional questions please contact me at epecukonis@ssw.umaryland.edu. I look forward to hearing from you.

The School of Social Work is undergoing the construction of a new website which will enhance our ability to share social work jobs within our student and alumni communities.

In the meantime, we are gathering available jobs via the following form: Post Your Social Work Job.

Jobs will be gathered into one email and sent to current students, recent graduates, and members of the alumni association on a bi-weekly basis until the new site is live.

Thank you for your ongoing interest in hiring our MSW graduates!

CWLA Searches for New CEO

As many of you know, after an extraordinary tenure as the CEO of CWLA, Christine James-Brown is retiring. CWLA is very fortunate to have benefited from her leadership. She will continue as the CEO until a successor is identified and will be available to assure a successful transition.

Having celebrated a century of service, CWLA is looking for a leader who can leverage its legacy of advocacy to maintain a strong voice on behalf of children and families who are most vulnerable. The Board of Directors of CWLA has organized a Search Committee and begun the process of soliciting candidates for the CEO position. The job description for this position is available at https://www.cwla.org/ceo-search/.

Feel free to disseminate it within your network of contacts and encourage qualified candidates to apply for this extraordinary leadership opportunity. To apply, candidates are asked to e-mail a cover letter and resume to: search@cwla.org. Inquiries about the position may be directed to the Search Facilitator, Joe Costa, at justcalljoe651@gmail.com.