Wurz Prof Pollack Book on Adoption

Lyceum Books is publishing Adoption in the United States: A Reference for Families, Professionals and Students, by Wurzweiler professor, Daniel Pollack.

This outstanding reference work provides information about adoptions for each state and will be a suitable resource for graduate-level students, professionals, and parents.

More about Adoption in the United States

Wurzweiler Proffs Visit Cuba, Study Health Care

Drs. Susan Mason, David Strug and Joan Beder, faculty at Wurzweiler, have just returned from Cuba where they are working on a book on that country’s health care system.

The book, Community Health Care in Cuba: An Enduring Model will be published in 2008. It focuses on Cuba’s unique integrated health care system and examines health care at the local community level using an ecological perspective. Each chapter is grounded in data collected and analyzed by the authors themselves and is written by highly respected professionals in the health field and in the social sciences who either live in Cuba or who have traveled often to that country.

The authors have interviewed numerous officials of the Cuban government and have visited the homes of Cuban women and men to learn how their health system serves the people at the community level.

Dr. Mason told the What's New blog:

The Cuban health system has its flaws, but it is known internationally for its effectiveness while utilizing limited resources. There may be important lessons we can learn from them to improve our delivery of health services.

Any trip to Cuba is an exciting and powerful experience and this trip was no exception with interesting interviews and meaningful exchanges with Cuban heath care experts.

Richard Joel Addresses Jewish Communal, Education Grad Students on Leadership

This past Wednesday, November 28, Yeshiva University president Richard M. Joel spoke candidly to students and faculty in the Jewish Communal Service Certificate program of the Wurzweiler School of Social Work and Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration about leadership and organizational change.

Joel opened the discussion with a reflection on the lessons he learned as associate dean of Cardozo Law School, president and international director of Hillel, and his current position as president of Yeshiva University. Joel began bluntly enough:

I don’t believe in change, and I don’t believe in institutions. What I do believe in is G-d, civilization, and the destiny of the Jewish people. It is very easy to get caught up in helping to save or preserve an institution and forget that the institution itself is there to serve a higher purpose. I believe in change not for the sake of change, but rather for the sake of something else, something greater. Whenever you are involved in change, you must ask yourself where it is that you want to go.

Joel pointed out that many who are involved in organizational change are sometimes too quick to “act frantically,” without properly thinking through where it is that they want the organizational to go and what purposes they want it to serve. As an example, Joel referred back to his experiences when taking over the helm of Hillel, the college campus Jewish organization. He recounted some of the resistance he first encountered, both from Hillel rabbis who were satisfied with the small but strong core group of interested Jewish students and who didn’t care to extend their influence to the larger unaffiliated Jewish student body, as well as the mostly elderly board members of B’nai B’rith, Hillel’s funding organization, who initially distrusted Joel’s Orthodox Jewish affiliation.

In responding to these challenges, Joel began his tenure at Hillel by framing a clear and compelling mission, stating that their goal was to “maximize the number of Jews doing Jewish with other Jews.” With this mission in mind, Joel then forged an implementation strategy to introduce changes to “engage Jews where they are at,” such as forming Jewish a capella groups, refurbishing old 1950s-era Hillel buildings, and expanding the qualification requirements of campus Hillel directors to include not only rabbis but also those who were impassioned, though non-ordained, educators.

Under Joel’s tenure from 1988 to 2002, Hillel grew from a $13 million enterprise to one with a budget of $60 million, forming partnerships with other organizations and attracting philanthropists such as Edgar Bronfman and Michael Steinhardt. President Joel also emphasized the importance of evaluation and clear metrics to measure progress of the change process, thereby providing feedback for mid-course corrections and for developing new initiatives. Joel also reflected on the challenges and potential pitfalls of leadership, noting that leadership is lonely at the end of the day, since it is the leader alone who “stays up at night worrying about the problems of the institution.” Such loneliness can lead to self-righteousness, he noted, as the leader begins to think of himself as a martyr for his work. To combat this potential snare, Joel emphasized the necessity of “having a life,” and centering one’s energies in one’s family.

Throughout his address, Joel continually referred to the love, guidance and support of his wife, Esther, who was present during part of his talk, and he spoke with pride of his six children (three of whom have followed his footsteps into Jewish educational and communal work). In fact, Joel stated that the hardest part of his work has been being away from his wife and family as he travels throughout the country. Joel concluded by emphasizing the importance of Jewish communal work today, pointing out that the old reasons for being Jewish—nostalgia, anti-Semitism, the Holocaust—have largely fallen away, leaving many Jews searching for new reasons to remain true to their heritage. Yet, he also encouraged those involved in such work to develop a sense of humility, which he clearly displayed himself throughout his talk.

I view the work I do much like my wife and I view the role of parents. To be successful as a parent, you need to do everything right—and then you still need mazel [luck]! Similarly, in your careers, you need to work hard, and even after that, there is still no assurance that things will work out.

Still, it was clear to those present that for Joel they did, with the myriad contributions he has made upon Jewish life in last few decades. And with his typical candor, honesty, humor, passion and enthusiasm, students left inspired that their future efforts and work might similarly bear fruit.

Thanks to Robert Liebowitz for this post

Professor Gary Stein Delivers RAND Report, Coordinates Leadership Conference for Newly Formed Palliative Care Network

Wurzweiler Prof Gary Stein has been consulting to the RAND Corporation this past year. At a national invitational forum on advance care planning held in Washington in October, he reported on his analysis of research and outreach materials on advance care planning and directives for people with physical and intellectual disabilities. This informed a broader focus on advance care planning that also considered legal approaches and public engagement. The outcomes of this meeting are a report of recommendations for federal policymakers on advance care planning that will be submitted next year to the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation at the Department of Health and Human Services and to Congress (under a statute requesting a report to Congress on this issue).

In a second project, Stein and Grace Christ, a colleague from Columbia Univerity School of Social Work, have been coordinating a day-long leadership conference for social workers conducting practice or research in palliative care or hospice to be held on January 30, 2008 in Tampa, FL, prior to the annual conference of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Support from the Academy will allow social workers to attend the one-day program at no charge. Christ & Stein are chair and vice-chair, respectively, of the newly formed Social Work Hospice and Palliative Care Network. 

Interested in attending the SWHPN free pre-conference? Registration information here.

Wurzweiler Students Descend on Nashville for the Annual United Jewish Communities General Assembly

Between November 11th and 13th, 17 Wurzweiler students had the privilege to be among the nearly 4,000 participants at the United Jewish Communities’ General Assembly. Under the theme of “One People, One Destiny,” the GA, held at the Gaylord Opryland Resort in Nashville, looked to tackle a myriad of challenges facing the organized Jewish community in North America, including:

• changing trends of philanthropy,
  
• Israel advocacy,
  
• and promoting, nurturing and cultivating the involvement and emergence of tomorrow’s Jewish leaders.
  

This last concept--celebrating new and younger leaders--pervaded much of the proceedings. There were many young speakers at the plenary and breakout sessions, and there was a very large delegation of college and university students in attendance.

Under the guidance of Professor Saul Andron, Wurzweiler students were personal benefactors of this special attention. Professor Andron arranged an informal question and answer session with three Wurzweiler alumni who currently hold executive positions in their respective Federations (Judah Isaacs in Detroit, Marc Terrill in Baltimore and Max Kleinman in MetroWest, NJ). This session actually led to an impromptu invitation from Marc Terrill to a Baltimore Federation reception, attended by Baltimore professionals and lay leaders, later that evening.

Wurzweiler students met in a special session with volunteer leaders and professionals of the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta. After presentations from the chief professional and volunteer officers of the federation, students were paired with individual members of the Atlanta federation delegation for more in-depth discussion of the issues facing this rapidly growing Jewish community and the challenges the federation faces to implement new strategies to engage Jews in Jewish life. There was also time for a more intimate conversation between students and the professionals of this community about their career choices.

The Wurzweiler students returned energized from this conference with added enthusiasm for the Certificate program and commitment to pursue leadership positions in the Jewish community.

Summing up her experience, first-year student Samantha Leapman noted that...

The GA was an opportunity to join our fellow students in seeing our classroom learning experience come alive. With Dr. Andron’s help, we learned about the importance of creating new and innovative ways to engage the Jewish community, paving the way for our future involvement in the larger Jewish community.

Adena Kaplan, 2nd year student added...

Each year, the G.A. provides an ongoing opportunity for young professionals in the field to open their eyes to the depth, strengths, and gaps in the field of Jewish Communal Service. Our trip again reminded me of the enormous but exciting roles there are for us to take on in the field.

(Thanks to Yehezkel Jesin for reporting this story.)

Premier of Social Work in Cinema Attracts Alumni, Students

Wednesday, November 7, marked the premier of Wurzweiler's Social Work in the Cinema program. No klieg lights, paparazzi, or fans straining at velvet-covered ropes, but a respectable turnout of students and almuni in Belfer Hall, room 921, where the movie was shown using a a newly installed projector and sound system of exceptional quality. The film was Three Approaches to Psychotherapy (1965), a classic documentary featuring Carl Rodgers, Fritz Pearls, and Albert Ellis. In the movie, each therapist spends a half hour working with a new patient, a woman named Gloria.

After the movie, Wurzweiler faculty member, Dr. Joan Beder, contributed her considerable clinical experience to a panel discussion about the film. The audience was intrigued by Dr. Rodgers' warmth and empathy, and startled--to say the least--by the confrontational style of Dr. Pearls. Because most of the audience was generation X and Y, they were unfamiliar with Pearls' books and the style of therapy he created, called "Gestalt."

The next film showing, on February 6th at 4:00 PM, will be My Name is Bill W., (1989) an HBO production with James Woods and James Garner. Everyone is welcome, and if a sufficient number of people RSVP, we will be able to provide fresh popcorn from an old fashioned movie theater popper. Movies and popcorn are free of charge. Any questions, email thecyberprof@gmail.com.

New Book From Dr. Strug and Others About US Travel Policy, Effect on Cuban-American Families

Love, Loss and Longing: the Impact of U.S. Travel Policy on Cuban-American Families, authored by Jeanne Parr Lemkau and Wurzweiler faculty member, David Strug, was recently co-published by the Latin American Working Group Education Fund and the Washington office on Latin America. This large format book, printed on fine paper, llustrates, through photographs by Nestor Hernandez jr. and Juan E. Gonzalez Lopez, the divisive effcts of US policy toward her island neighbor.

• View an excerpt from Love Loss and Longing.


• Read more about US Cuban relations on the WOLA website.


• Read a review in the Havana Journal.


• Buy a copy.