Destiny Ayala, a BSW student and a SWEEP mentor, was awarded a Social Work Education Enhancement Program (SWEEP) Mentor Scholarship this past year. This scholarship is granted by the school to exceptional SWEEP mentors and is funded by donors. As a SWEEP mentor, Destiny walks alongside first-year BSW students, helping them acclimate to the Steve […]
We all know it takes a village! Meet the members of our community
Removing the stigma of addiction
Megan and Matthew Szabo Endowed Excellence Fund at the Steve Hicks School of Social Work. Liz Pires thought it odd when spoons started vanishing from her kitchen. She asked her teenage children, Matt and Megan, to please put used spoons in the sink or dishwasher and make sure they were not accidentally throwing them with […]
Why your support matters: Norma Jaramillo, BSW ’21
Norma Jaramillo graduated in the top 7% of her high school class in Lockhart, Texas. Still, she didn’t think she could go to college. “My family couldn’t afford it,” she said. But when her 12th grade culinary teacher, a UT Austin alum, encouraged her to pursue higher education, Jaramillo decided to take a chance. She […]
Supporting doctoral students
Sherry Miller Melecki Endowed Graduate Fellowship in Social Work Sherry Melecki interacts daily with doctoral students through her job as graduate program coordinator at the Steve Hicks School. Since 2008, when she started, she has helped shepherd 94 doctoral students towards graduation. “It is exciting to see the students come in, so full of ideas […]
Why I Give: Tiffany Davis, MSSW ’95
Tiffany Davis remembers dressing up as a development officer—a navy blazer and khaki pants—for Career Day in middle school. Davis’ father has had a long career in higher education development. Her her mother became a development director at an independent school when she went back to the workplace after raising her children. “I always say […]
A win-win
Earl Maxwell Scholars Program Many Central Texas nonprofits can’t host social work interns because they don’t have master’s level social workers on staff who can supervise students. A new $1.7 million grant from the St. David’s Foundation addresses this challenge through the creation of the Earl Maxwell Scholars Program at the Steve Hicks School of […]
Why Your Support Matters: Jonathan Spinks, BSW ’21
As an at-risk youth growing up in Northeast Washington, D.C., Jonathan Spinks never imagined he’d be where he is today. “College wasn’t always seen as the track I’d follow, so money wasn’t set aside for me,” Spinks said. “But I was tired of my lifestyle and I was tired of hearing people tell me I […]
Your gifts at work
Gifts to the Steve Hicks School of Social Work produce powerful, lasting returns. They help create knowledge, advance research, strengthen communities, and enrich student experiences. Most importantly, they help educate social workers who will go on to make a positive impact in the lives of countless individuals, families and communities. These are three examples of […]
Fall 2019 Community
Why I Give Hannah Powers, BSW ’15, MSSW ‘18 Hannah Powers didn’t wait to graduate to start giving back. She donated during the university-wide annual campaign, 40 Hours for the Forty Acres, while she was still in the master’s program. Her donation went to the SWAN scholarship fund. “I saw that the funds were going […]
We mourn the loss of Dean Emeritus Barbara W. White
Barbara W. White, dean emeritus, passed away July 19 in her Austin home surrounded by her family. She was born Feb. 26, 1943, in Jacksonville, Florida. She received a Master of Social Work and a doctorate in political science from Florida State University. White was the first African American dean in The University of Texas […]
