WSSW Proffs Help Students Deal with Complex Issues Around Madoff Fraud

Two Wurzweiler faculty were recently featured in a front page story in the New York Times. Times reporter Javier Hernandez interviewed Rabbi Linzer about his Jewish Social Philosophy class to see how this experienced professor helped his class deal with the complex emotions they were experiencing regarding Bernard Madoff.

Federal prosecutors have charged Mr. Madoff with orchestrating a 50 billion dollar fraud that numbered, among its victims, various Jewish institutions, synagogues and schools, including Yeshiva University.

...The students in Rabbi Linzer's class last week wrestled with the headlines and their emotions. Some said Mr. Madoff's religious affiliation was irrelevant; others worried that his Judaism might tarnish their own, that outside eyes would not be able to see past his faith.

Professor Lynn Levy was also interviewed by Hernandez. She described how she had her class...

...dissect the Madoff case through the lens of trust last week. Questions flew through the room: If we cannot trust business, why trust government? Will people be more skeptical of the Jewish community? How do we rebuild confidence in us?

Read the New York Times article.

Jewish Communal Service Students Host Reboot Leader

The Jewish Communal Certificate Program recently hosted Amelia Klein, Field Director at Reboot for a Lunch and Learn. Reboot, a six year old avant-garde Jewish organization, is committed to revitalizing Jewish traditions and culture and providing an outlet for unaffiliated yet identified young Jews.

Amelia spoke informally to a mixed group of certificate and non-certificate students about the inception of Reboot in 2002 with a summit, or “open space” for Jews of all backgrounds to come together and discuss what is out there for Generation Y Jews.

Reboot now boasts several divisions including a published magazine, Guilt & Pleasure, a record label, Reboot Stereophonic, which releases revitalized Jewish music, and holds “Do It Yourself” parlors throughout the country which are open arenas that invite all Jews to discuss, debate, and celebrate all things that are Jewish.

Reboot has also been a part of several data collection studies including, “Grande Soy Vanilla Latte with Cinnamon, No Foam…” Jewish Identity and Community in a Time of Unlimited Choices. This study, among others, proves Reboot’s mission to a tee. Young Jews throughout the nation are not looking to affiliate in the ways of our grandparents, or even our parents. Generation Yers seek a no strings attached attitude that will allow them to express their Jewishness in ways that are comfortable – through music, art, and social gatherings, which is precisely what Reboot provides. Reboot receives funding from the Charles and Andrea Bronfman Foundation along with several private foundations.

Amelia described Reboot as a “catalyst for catalysts” in that it allows prominent members of various artist communities to network among each other and return to their own hubs with new ideas to inspire and connect.

The session was intriguing and further reinforced the ideas that certificate students have been learning in both first and second year classes; that the nature of the Jewish community is changing and it is our job as new, Jewish communal professionals to keep up with these changes and develop new creative strategies to connect young Jews to Jewish life.

(Thanks to Chana Topek, our guest editor)

WSSW Students Blog About Their Experience in New Orleans

In the beginning of December, Professor Saul Andron took the students in the Jewish Communal Service program on a field trip to New Orleans, to speak with members of the Jewish Community about their ongoing efforts to recover from Hurricane Katrina. The trip made a deep impression on them all, as is apparent in the following account by Ira Gubenko, a JCS student.

Working for the Jewish community in Ukraine, I have participated in many trainings and seminars. However, I have never experienced such a touching, educational and well-organized one. During the seminar we met different people: the president of Jewish Federation and his wife, executive director of Jewish Family Service, various Jewish citizens of New-Orleans, and many others. Although all these people were different, they were strongly connected by the catastrophe that had happened in New Orleans and they all had a story to share. Conversing and listening to them was an amazing experience for me since I come from a country where sharing of emotions is considered to be almost shameful.

Read more student accounts on their blog.

Distinguished Alums Tell Students About Their Paths to Success

On the evening of November 19, over 150 students crowded into the Belfer Commons to hear alumnae from Wurzweiler School of Social Work talk about their transition from being students to becoming leaders in the national social work community. The evening, organized by student government (SGA), was also another opportunity for the entire Wurzweiler community to join together, for students in different programs and schedules to get know one another, faculty and administration.   

Erica Liebowitz, the current SGA president, welcomed attendees. She spoke about the many activities of the SGA, such as creating programming--including the popular Lunch 'n Learn series--lobbying, organizing and engaging in community service, and providing "a clearinghouse for concerns from students and answers from administrators."

Dean Sheldon Gelman introduced Sarah Kaplan, the Community Organiing and Policy intern at the New York chapter of the NASW, who encouraged everyone in the assembly to join the NASW!

Nancy Doniger, from Columbia University School of Social Work and Justine Freitas, from Hunter College School of Social Work, talked about the Undoing Racism Project. 

Next Mark Miller, our alumni director, introduced our distinguished guest speakers. Here are some excerpts from his introductions:

Irwin Lenefsky, a native of New York is an active duty Army Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) with over 21 years of active service. In 1985, he obtained a MSW from Wurzweiler School of Social Work, Yeshiva University and Rabbinical Ordination from the Theological Seminary at YU. He holds a Ph.D. from Catholic University in Washington.

Lawrence Caplan graduated from WSSW in 2006. He immediately started working at Esperanza, which (at that time) was a pilot program for the Vera Institute for Justice. Esperanza is an alternative to incarceration program for youth. He provides home-based individual and family counseling to court mandated youth and their families. In addition to his role at Esperanza, for the past year he has been a volunteer  with the National Association of Social Worker’s New Professionals Task Force Steering Committee.

Arlene Peller has had a private practice since graduating from WSSW.  She has also been a clinical supervisor and director of an alcohol and drug treatment facility for women, as well as, an adjunct teacher at Montclair State University and Bloomfield College. She is married, with three married children and seven grandchildren.  

Manoj Pardasani is a graduate of both the MSW and Ph.D. program at Wurzweiler. He began his career in social work as a teenager living Bombay, India, where he organized a group of friends to volunteer their time and resources and created a literacy program for homeless and/or orphaned children. The program expanded rapidly and in a few years they served nearly a hundred children utilizing the services of 250 volunteers. For the last 10 years, he has worked as a social work practitioner in diverse fields and settings such as senior centers, group homes for the developmentally delayed, community mental health centers and homelessness/HIV/AIDS-related social services. In 2006, he was chosen as Social Work of the Year by the Indiana State Chapter of NASW.  He is currently on the faculty at Fordham University.

 

Wurzweiler Prof Pontificates at Summer Symposium in Oxford

Wurzweiler Professor Jonathan Fast was one of 22 academics from around the world invited to the annual Oxford Symposium at Brasenose College in Oxford, England. Dr. Fast presented a paper called The School System From Hell, a reference to the school district of North-Western Alaska and how its' embedded racism toward the local indigenous cultures, the Yup’iks and the Athbaskans, and structured inequality of services was one of the factors contributing to a school rampage shooting by Evan Ramsey in 1997. The paper was adapted by Dr. Fast from his book Ceremonial Violence: the Psychologicl Explanation for School Shootings, which will be published in September by the Overlook Press.

The five day event, organized by University of San Franciso's Center for Family and Child Development, began on August 10^th. Twenty-two attendees from the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Argentina, China, and the Phillipines, presented papers on topics at the cutting edge of school based health and family therapy. During their free time, attendees explored Oxford’s narrow streets, marveled at the architecture, or practiced punting on the Thames.

Jewish Communal Certificate Students Explore the Kehillah Partnership at The Bergen County JCC

Dr. Harold Benus, Executive Director of the Bergen County YJCC, in New Jersey, had an idea. Why not create a network of synagogue congregants who pay one fee for membership at a synagogue of their choice, and automatically gain access to programming at the Bergen County Y. Strengthen the Jewish community and save money at the same time. The Kehillah Partnership, he decided to call it.

When Dr. Saul Andron, director of the Certificate in Jewish Communal Service program heard about it, he decided it would be a perfect field trip for certificate students who were attending the summer Block program.

After a tour of the newly renovated facility, Dr. Benus and his staff (including Steven Mark, WSSW ‘08/Certificate in Jewish Communal Service), and the immediate past president of the agency described how they had developed the Kehillah Partnership and the experience during the pilot phase. Students learned firsthand about the challenges and complexities of this new collaborative model.

Dr. Benus acknowledged that the JCC movement is “not well” and that many JCCs haven’t adapted successfully to the changing needs and interests of individual Jews and families. He explained that there is fierce competition in the marketplace to attract members for leisure-time activities and that the entire Jewish communal system is experiencing cutbacks due to declining philanthropic support. With synagogues being the primary portal for many Jewish families and the one fee for multiple services model as the driving strategy, Dr. Benus hopes that community members will find the Kehillah Partnership an affordable way to participate in Jewish communal life.

Thanks to Rachel Neuman, our guest editor.

Two WSSW Students Present at Research Conference

Two Wurzweiler students, Lara Bolsom and Wendy Schudrich, presented posters at the annual Behavioral Science Research Day conference, co-sponsored by the Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology and the Institute of Public Health Sciences. The conference took place on the 15th of May, on the campus of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Laurie J Bauman, Ph.D., a sociologist and Professor of Pediatrics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, was the guest speaker.

Ms. Schudrich used survey techniques to measure job satisfaction among 434 urban child welfare workers. She found that while most of the workers did not regret their career choice, child abuse prevention had not been their first preference. More than half the respondents had thought about leaving their jobs in the previous year, but more than 75 percent intended to stay. The four factors associated with looking for employment were contingent rewards, satisfaction with the nature of the work, pay, and perceptions of child welfare, in that order.

Ms. Bolsom presented a single-system research design that she had developed in Social Work Research and Evaluation (SWK 6401), a required course for all MSW students. She measured the efficacy of Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy (REBT) on a 29 year old female complaining of excessive negative thoughts. Using standard scales and a client log, she demonstrated that her own practice was effective in reducing the occurrence of negative thoughts for the client.