Wurzweiler Prof on Fox 5 News

On May 5th, Wurzweiler professor Jonathan Fast appeared on "Good Day: Street Talk" to discuss violence in schools. In this clip he talks about his theory of "ceremonial violence."

Jewish Communal Service students visit the Jewish Week

On Wednesday, May 9, students in Wurzweiler's Jewish
Communal Service Program visited the Times Square
office of the New York Jewish Week. As the largest
Jewish newspaper in the United States, the Jewish Week
has a powerful influence on American Jewish public
opinion. Joined by Professors Saul Andron, Lynne Levy
and Norman Linzer, students engaged in a discussion
with editor and publisher Gary Rosenblatt, managing
editor Robert Goldblum, and assistant managing editor
Adam Dickter about how these journalists deal with
such a grave responsibility.

All three newspapermen spoke openly of the criticism
the paper has sometimes received for its coverage of
sensitive issues, the conflict between serving the
Jewish community and engaging in lashon hara (hurtful
gossip), the challenge of keeping current in an age of
high-speed Internet and blogs, and the personal

rewards of having a story that was printed in the
paper result in relief and assistance to fellow Jews
in need. Students left with many new ideas and issues
to think about as they looked toward a new year of
study and service in the Jewish communal world.
(Thanks to Robert Lebowitz for reporting this even)

50th Anniversary Conference Huge Success

Wurzweiler School of Social Work recently celebrated it's 50th anniversary with a three day conference at the Sheratan New York in midtown Manhattan. Presenters included the foremost names in social work scholarship, alumni from the top ranks of social service agencies in America and around the world, doctoral students, and current MSW students. Each period offered attendees a choice of intellectually stimulating workshops, panels, and paper presentations.

The festivities were topped off by a gala dinner on Sunday night with guest speakers including Congressman Charlie Rangel, of New York's 15th congressional district, and Yeshiva University President, Richard Joel.

Wurz in Top 10: Most Productive Profs

A recent study shows that professors at Wurzweiler School of Social Work are in the top ten of American colleges and universities in the number of scholarly works published between 1999 and 2003.

The study was conducted by Jan Ligon at Georgia State University, D. Lynn Jackson at University of North Texas, and Bruce Thyer at Florida State University.

The six social work journals they examined were:

• Journal of Social Service research
• Social Work
• Social Service Review
• Journal of Social Work Education
• Child Welfare
• Families in Society

These are considered six of the most prestigious journals in the field because they are competitive, carefully edited and rigorously peer reviewed.

The article, Academic affiliations of social work journal authors from 1999 to 2003: A productivitity analysis spanning 25 years of social work scholarship, was published in the Journal of Social Service Research, Volume 33, Issue 3, in 2007. Identical studies have been published every year five years since 1999.

The top ten producers of scholarly work were:

1. University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
2. Columbia University
3. Washington University
4. Virginia Commonwealth University
5. University of Michigan
6. University of Washington
7. University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
8. Yeshiva University
9. University of Tennessee
10. Boston University
11. University of Kansas
12. Fordham University