A leader for play therapy studies
Norma and Clay Leben Professorship in Child and Family Behavioral Health
Norma and Clay Leben are no strangers to supporting the School of Social Work. Clay received his PhD from the School in 1985, and since the day he crossed the stage Norma and Clay have remained ambassadors for the School through the donation of their time, energy and resources. The Lebens have now decided to make a gift of a lifetime and created this professorship to support an outstanding professor in social work whose research, teaching, writing, lecturing, and other activities will be devoted to child and family behavioral health. The professorship holder will also provide leadership for the endowment that the Lebens established in 2003 to increase awareness of play therapy methods in social work education, by guiding play therapy studies, the annual play therapy symposium, and the annual selection of Leben Scholars.
A legacy of caring
Cole William Adams Memorial Endowed Presidential Fellowship
The endowed presidential fellowship supports master’s students interested in the field of addiction and recovery. Partners at the Amherst Foundation created this fellowship to honor Cole William Adams’s memory and do something meaningful for his mother, Tracy Erwin–an Amherst fellow partner. According to his friends and family, Cole greatly enjoyed helping others. Through this fellowship, his legacy of caring and kindness will carry on.
Donors revealed (and celebrated)
Jane Addams Field Education Development Endowment
In 2007, clinical professors Jean Avera and Bonnie Bain anonymously established the Jane Addams Field Education Development Endowment. This fund has enabled the Field Office to bolster their activities through trainings, appreciation events and awards for field instructors. In 2010, after they were both retired, Bain and Avera agreed to reveal their connection to the endowment in hopes of inspiring others to support the school. This spring, they were acknowledged for the first time publicly at the annual donor event. When asked why they decided to create this endowment, Bain said, “Because field is crucial to educating qualified social work practitioners, and for most of us, it is a life transforming experience.”
Why I Give
Susan Woessner (MSSW ’09) gives to the School of Social Work to express her gratitude for the education she received, the experience she had, and the future the school prepared her for.
“I was fortunate to be able to attend the school thanks to an alumni gift and I hope to pay it forward to give a future social worker the same opportunity. Hook ‘em!” she says.