. Be a guest speaker for a class

.  Become a Practicum Agency Instructor

.   Give updates for the UM Social Work Program Newsletter

. Tell people about the UM Social Work Program and help recruit students

. Tell us about job opportunities                     

. Complete surveys for reaccreditation and assessment purposes

. Donate

• Be a guest speaker

Donations from our Alumni help pay for the movies, books and journals at the library; for students to attend local and regional social work conferences; for scholarships; and for textbooks and electronic equipment to be used by students in the classroom.  In 2008, 1 in 10 donors to the UM Foundation was a Social Work Alumni.  About 13 % of all UM Alums make donations to the university, but about 44% of all SW Alums give to the program.  The Social Work Alumni do their part to support both the UM Social Work Program and the University of Montevallo.  Your generosity and thoughtfulness truly makes a difference for our current students. 

 Or you can request your donation go to support one of our scholarship programs.

To contact the Social Work Program, please call or email Dr. Laurel Hitchcock, at 205-665-6180, or lhitchcock@montevallo.edu

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Profiles of Recent Social Work Alumni

Kelly Duke, Graduate Student at the University of Alabama

                When I stepped onto the campus of the University of Montevallo as a 17 year old freshman, I knew I wanted to study social work, and I knew Montevallo was the right place for me. By the time I had completed the Social Work Program at the University of Montevallo, I had learned what it truly meant to be an advocate and a leader. Now, as a 26 year old graduate student at the University of Alabama, I'm using the important lessons I learned at Montevallo during my internship in Washington, DC.

               I have been so fortunate to take advantage of the amazing opportunities that have come my way, including receiving two scholarships, one specifically for being a University of Montevallo graduate. This allowed me to come to Washington, DC to complete my MSW internship with a non-profit called Sasha Bruce Youthwork. Sasha Bruce started over 30 years ago as a homeless shelter for runaway and homeless youth in DC. Since then, the agency has grown to 17 programs that serve young people and their families. I have had a wide range of experiences at Sasha Bruce, from doing street outreach to homeless young people at night to meeting with politicians during the day.

Much of my work here has focused on program development. I have helped start a new Teen Outreach Program in one of DC's most notoriously impoverished, violent, and under-performing schools. This program teaches life-skills and service learning to students while they earn high school credits. I have also worked on developing a drop-in center in one of DC's housing projects. Sasha Bruce's programs will provide services at this center including parenting groups, health and wellness groups, after school activities, tutoring, job training, and special events. I was able to be part of the grant writing team that wrote the grant to receive funding for this project, however as of this time, services are being offered in-kind. Another program I have had the pleasure to work on is a workforce development program that takes young people from the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services, teaches them a trade, gives them a stipend, and helps them to work toward their educational goals.

Patrice Reese-Hardy, Social Worker at First Light Shelter

         I am a proud UM Spring 2009 Social Work Graduate. Like many of my classmates, the learning and knowledge gained through the UM practicum process led to my     current job. I work at First Light, an emergency shelter for women and women with children, in Birmingham, Alabama. Our goal at First Light is to work with homeless women and their children to create a safe and nurturing community so that they maintain their dignity, find hope and seek out opportunities to grow achieving their full potential.

        Never being exposed to working with the homeless population prior to practicum, I assumed I would spend my time finding apartments and helping women to make their house a home. Contrary to that belief, my experiences have ranged from dealing with untreated mental illnesses to everyday economic causes of homelessness.

Even faced with situations that I never conceived I would deal with while working with the homeless, I felt more than prepared. UM equipped me with more than just the basic skill of meeting people where they are and not only looking at their current issue but the sum of the parts that might have led to that circumstance. I have learned how to step outside of my personal thoughts and beliefs and see the person for their need. That is something I thought I would struggle with but has become almost second nature through practice.

I am never more proud to say I am a UM graduate, than when someone notices the listening ear and concern that I share with a client. Montevallo didn’t just teach me theory, but it also taught me compassion and to look beyond just what the eyes can see, but what the heart can see. UM made me not only a great social worker, they have helped to make me a better person.