Montevallo, Ala. – The University of Montevallo social work program held it’s 2016 Social Work Month celebration on Wed., March 23 in Anna Irvin Dining Hall on the University campus.
The national theme of 2016 Social Work month is Forging Solutions Out of Challenges, something that special guest speaker and UM alumnus Renae Carpenter describes as something that social workers have been doing since the beginning of the profession. Carpenter is currently the State Social Work Director for the Alabama Department of Health.
“Social work was built from forging a solution to challenges such as poverty, helping the disabled, even supporting the enslaved,” Carpenter said. “Today you are forging solutions to new challenges, but graduates that leave UM are prepared to go out and find those solutions.”
Carpenter further encouraged the students by always remembering what led them to social work and always supporting and reenergizing other social workers. “Never lose sight of why you do what you do,” Carpenter instructed the students currently preparing to become licensed social workers.
The University of Montevallo social work department is celebrating its 91st anniversary in 2016. The program was one of the nation’s first programs of its kind and the state’s only training program for most of the early 20th century.
The program also recognized Alabama Possible as the Practicum Agency of the Year and UM alumna Jennifer Travis-Scott of Pathways as the Practicum Instructor of the Year during the celebration.
Several students were honored with scholarships and were inducted in Phi Alpha, the national honorary academic and leadership society for social workers. Phi Alpha inductees include Amanda Faye Currie, Cecelia Marie Estis, Corrine Eyer, Jamie Epperson, Morgan Gothard, Stephanie Higgins, Brianna Juarez, Karina Lewis, Megan Nunnery, Tabitha Sullivan, Rebecca Walden and Hanna Yeargan.
For more information on the University of Montevallo’s Social Work program please visit the Social Work Webpage.
About The University of Montevallo
The University of Montevallo seeks to be unique in higher education in Alabama, by providing students from throughout the state an affordable, geographically accessible, “small college” public higher educational experience of high quality. Settled within an atmosphere of national historic beauty and offering a tradition of innovative cultural expression, we seek to provide professional programs supported by a broad base of arts and sciences that are designed for intellectual and personal growth in the pursuit of meaningful employment and responsible, informed citizenship.