Fall 2011 - Wheelock College

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sTudeNTs Applying Research to Service M.S.W. students collect data for a domestic violence program It started with a student in Wheelock’s Master of Social Work (M.S.W.) program who wanted to serve New Orleans with the social work skills she was learning at the College. At the time, there were no Wheelock service trips designed for M.S.W. students, but, after much networking, Assistant Professor of Social Work Dr. Nicole Dubus developed a trip that would help students understand the unique needs of the Katrina survivors, the community needs of New Orleans, and the issues related to an important social work issue: domestic violence. Last May, four students spent a week in New Orleans conducting research on a project that will help shape how emergency shelter will be provided to the city’s domestic violence victims in the future. After a domestic violence center in New Orleans was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the shelter’s clients were scattered and difficult to reach. Rather than starting from scratch and rebuilding the facility, the shelter’s staff instead began providing women with vouchers for hotel rooms. They found that by using this method, they could serve more people and tailor the services to meet the individual needs of women and families better than they could when they had a single physical shelter. “ People try to understand how a woman stays in a violent relationship. It’s how we stay in New Orleans knowing any day we could flood again. . . . You get your kids ready for school, you go to work, you learn to live with the fear as if it is not there.” A year after President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law, the state of health care policy in the U.S. has never been more in the news, and it is a frequent topic of discussion in Wheelock’s Child Life and Family Studies Department. 18 Fall 2011 —Mary Claire Landry, Director of the New Orleans Family Justice Center Students Bring Dr. Judith S. Palfrey and Focus on Health Care Policy to Wheelock Dr. Judith S. Palfrey (center) talked health care policy with Wheelock Child Life Organization students; the organization’s 2010-2011 president Rachel Schumacher ’11 (left of Dr. Palfrey); faculty; and staff. The visit to campus this year by Judith S. Palfrey, M.D., which was sponsored by the department and the student-led Wheelock Child Life Organization, focused the discussion spotlight on access to affordable health care for children and families. Dr. Nicole Dubus and four M.S.W. students: Meghan Coonan, Brianna Boffoli, Emily Birkhead, and Heather Farrell standing by the rising Mississippi River After six years of providing vouchers, the staff wanted to evaluate which approach, shelter-based or non-shelter-based, was more beneficial. Wheelock students Meghan Coonan ’12, Brianna Boffoli ’13, Emily Birkhead ’12, and Heather Farrell ’12 collected information and stories from past recipients of the emergency housing. Already skilled in research interviewing, field note writing, and data analysis, the students learned more about domestic violence in New Orleans by observing civil and criminal court proceedings, touring service agencies, visiting neighborhoods still abandoned post-Katrina, and sitting in on a national steering committee meeting of the Family Justice Center, a service center for victims of family violence and their children. At the end of the trip, they produced a detailed report of their findings which is now the beginning of a Domestic Violence/Sexual Assault Services Program evaluation that will help determine how domestic violence victims in New Orleans receive emergency shelter in the future. “This was a very productive service learning research project,” says Dr. Dubus. “And we developed a network with wonderful organizations and people—the Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New Orleans; Mary Claire Landry, who is director of the Domestic Violence/Sexual Assault Services and the New Orleans Family Justice Center; Dr. Jenkins from University of New Orleans; Dr. Brown from Loyola University; and the many people we worked and laughed with during our stay.” Dr. Palfrey is the immediate past president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, director of the International Pediatric Center at Children’s Hospital, and first lady Michelle Obama’s appointment to lead her Let’s Move! initiative to fight childhood obesity. Dr. Palfrey’s discussion with students centered on where we are headed in health care reform, the need to provide all children with the right health care when and where they need it, and the need to ensure that their families and communities are also healthy. “Too often, we see the consequences of families’ ill health fall on their children,” she said. “If we are to truly reform our health care system, we will embrace the notion that the health of everyone in the community really matters. There are solutions. We need only compare ourselves to other industrialized nations who spend less on health care and get better outcomes than we do.”
Corpus Mirabile (Wondrous Body), 2011 by Gregory Miguel Gómez and Peter Andruchow Welded stainless steel and black anodized cast aluminum Williamson College of Business Administration, Youngstown State University Natural Numbers and Business Metaphors in Gregory Miguel Gómez’s Latest Sculpture Associate Professor Gregory “Greg” Gómez’s large-scale metal sculptures are permanently on view at more and more sites around the country. His latest, Corpus Mirabile (Wondrous Body), was a year and a half in the making and is now installed at the Williamson College of Business Administration at Youngstown State University. “The design of the sculpture is inspired by the Fibonacci number, the logarithmic number sequence found in many forms in nature,” he says. “Corpus Mirabile is a metaphor for ‘the Corporation,’ an ever-expanding entity, with form, made of many parts, working together, and going through cycles. The open surface of Corpus Mirabile, revealing its strong inner structure, suggests the values of trust and transparency, in matters of business.” AWARD-WINNING FACULTY FaCulTy Dr. Eleonora Villegas-Reimers Receives Excellence in Education Award Dr. Eleonora Villegas-Reimers, who is an associate professor in elementary education and human development and a member of the Massachusetts Board of Early Education and Care, was honored at the Statehouse on Oct. 6 for her work in Massachusetts on behalf of children and families. Gov. Deval Patrick and Secretary Paul Reville, members of the Legislature, and many community leaders, families, and children gathered at the Statehouse to honor Dr. Villegas- Reimers, among other Latino-American educators, with the Excellence in Education Award. New England Aquarium Ocean Stewardship Award for Dr. Charles “Chuck” Fidler Now in its second year, the New England Aquarium’s Ocean Stewardship Award is given to teachers who have been working to promote an ocean conservation ethic in their classroom. Nominated by their educational colleagues, these educators model active, hands-on teaching that engages students in ocean stewardship and its importance. In October, the Aquarium presented Dr. Chuck Fidler, assistant professor in physical science, with this year’s award, and everyone at Wheelock knows why. Fidler inspires his undergraduate students by sharing his passion for the ocean and leading them on direct in-the-field learning experiences within New England’s local coastal areas. And students love it. Dr. Fidler is never at a loss for students to fill his classes. By showing the importance of our local coastal ecosystems and our impact on them, Dr. Fidler is a true ocean steward. Wheelock Magazine 19
Page 1 and 2: Fall 2011 • The Campaign for Whee
Page 3 and 4: Dear Alumni and Friends, More than
Page 5 and 6: (PAGE 2) SEE XEROX FOR HOW THESE TH
Page 7 and 8: The Campaign for Wheelock off to a
Page 9 and 10: The Campaign for Wheelock LYRICS TO
Page 11 and 12: Five Transformational Firsts The Ca
Page 13 and 14: Teacher Bound Program ― Something
Page 15 and 16: A Grand Reopening for Mattahunt Com
Page 17 and 18: Advocating for Teaching Media Liter
Page 19: Ava Jennings ’12 participated in
Page 23 and 24: Fall Alumni Symposium Honors Louise
Page 25 and 26: Leader in the Spotlight INTERVIEW B
Page 27 and 28: Maine Alumni Talk Policy Wheelock a
Page 29 and 30: WheeLock coLLege annuaL rePort of g
Page 31 and 32: Named Funds Scholarship and Loan Fu
Page 33 and 34: 2010-2011 Anniversaries Celebrated
Page 35 and 36: Anne Wingle Howard Deborah Carlson
Page 37 and 38: Lynese Marshall Pearson Donna Crave
Page 39 and 40: Board of Trustees and members of th
Page 41 and 42: in Honor of Deborah Lisansky Beck E
Page 43 and 44: Thanks to Louise Butts ’51/’55M
Page 45 and 46: Jane Steele Milchen ’51/’69MS m
Page 47 and 48: on Martha’s Vineyard six months o
Page 49 and 50: “because I had broadcast my comin
Page 51 and 52: Lynn still volunteers with the Swin
Page 53 and 54: I think she takes after me! Josh, n
Page 55 and 56: Students on a Mission Wheelock stud

Fall 2011 - Wheelock College

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