Dean Anita Lightburn on the future of the SSW, 1995
Dean Anita Lightburn shares with the Journal her thoughts about the social work profession and her goals for the future of the Smith College School for Social Work.
Alumni
Photographing and Celebrating Diverse Families, 2000
By showing how different families can be, Peggy Elman Gillespie, M.S.W. 1969, and her Family Diversity Projects hope to convince us all that diversity is something to be celebrated.
HIV and AIDS in Provincetown, 1998
Provincetown (or P-town) residents responded quickly and thoroughly to the devastation that HIV and AIDS brought to their community in the early 1980s. In 1996 Pamela Peterson AC 1984, M.S.W. 1994 and her coauthor Jeanne Braham recognized P-town’s uniqueness and came to the Cape Cod community to interview those infected by HIV and AIDS as well as their families, friends, and caretakers.
Katherine Brownell Oettinger, Children’s Bureau Chief 1967
Katherine Brownell Oetinger, M.S.S. 1925, became chief of the Children’s Bureau, an undersecretary in the federal Department of Health, Education, and Welfare in 1957 during the Dwight D. Eisenhower administration.
Janna Malamud Smith, “A Place of Her Own,” 1998
Throughout history, women have been denied the benefits of privacy. All that changed with Roe V. Wade. Here, the author of Private Matters: In Defense of the Personal Life examines the important role privacy plays in women’s lives.
Dorothy Atwill on Achieving Work-Life Balance in 1928
In this article, a psychiatric social worker contends with challenges of work-life balance that will seem familiar to many working women ninety years later.
Elizabeth Moore Manwell, “Out of the Nest Means Mothers Too,” 1962
Elizabeth Moore Manwell, one of the first SSW graduates, wrote this essay for the Smith Alumnae Quarterly in 1962. She asked, “Society needs unselfish women leaders, now more than ever, for the great women pioneers have gone but injustice and misery have not. Who will take their places?”
90th Anniversary InDepth, 2008
Marian Schneider, “Nourish Your Magnolia,” 1979
In this 1979 essay, Marian Schneider, M.S.S. 1960, reflects on divorce from the perspective of a marriage and family therapist and someone who has been divorced for a long time.
Dorcas Davis Bowles Oral History, 2007
Dr. Dorcas Davis Bowles, SSW ’60, has had a distinguished career as an educational administrator, clinical teacher and author on ethnic identity. In this excerpt from her complete oral history, she remembers how she became interested in social work and her experiences as a student in the Smith College School for Social Work in the 1960s.
The Social Syndrome Alumnae Newsletter, 1920-27
One of the first groups of alumnae out of Boston attempted to keep everyone connected in the 1920s through a newsletter they called “The Social Syndrome.” Though they only put out two issues, they are enlightening ones.
Florence Day and the Alumnae Association, 1956
One of the goals Florence Day set for her administration was to establish a strong and lasting Alumnae Association. Listen to alumni and read Day’s own words on how she approached this goal.
Juanita Dalton Robinson on Florence Day’s Kindness and Humor
In this video, two alumnae share a delightful story of Florence Day’s treatment of them while they were students.
A Gentle, Over-modest, Gracious Lady: Tribute to Florence Day by Annette Garrett, 1957
The first Alumnae Association Newsletter after Florence Day’s death. The whole issue is devoted to a tribute to the former dean by Associate Dean Annette Garrett.
Personification of the School: Tributes to Florence Day and Annette Garrett, 1958
Soon after the more expected death of Director Florence Day from cancer, Associate Director Annette Garrett died unexpectedly. In this issue of the Alumnae Association Newsletter, SSW faculty member and alumna Nancy Staver gives a “biographical tribute” to the controversial and devoted Garrett.
Doctoral Program Launched, 1964
In 1964, Dean Howard Parad sheperded the Program for Advanced Study (PAS) into a Doctoral Program.
Golden Jubilee Edition, 1968
This Golden Jubilee issue contains a history of the Alumni Association, a letter from Dean Howard Parad on the cusp of curriculum changes, and reminiscences about the very first years of the SSW from Mary Cynthia Smith, M.S.S. 1920.
Students, Alumni and Faculty Evaluate Significant Changes in the Late 1980s
Significant changes instituted by Ann Hartman soon after she became dean in 1986 brought the attention of students on campus, of the Northampton Community and of alumni spread around the world.
Maria Braveheart Jordan and almost getting arrested while teaching, 1990s
In this video, Maria Braveheart Jordan, Ph.D. 1995, shares a story about when she almost got arrested while teaching.
Monica McGoldrick Oral History, 2014
In this excerpt from her complete oral history, Monica McGoldrick recounts why she chose Smith School for Social Work, her experience at the school, and the importance of friends who understood her research passions and who kept her accountable to stand up for the oppressed.
Memories of Esther Clemence
In this video, three alumnae share funny and poignant stories of Esther Clemence.
Graduation Ceremonies: Restricted, None, and Accidental
In this video, Juanita Dalton Robinson, M.S.S. 1951, Betty Brumbaugh, M.S.S. 1939, and Barbara Beller, M.S.S. 1952 remember when graduations were restricted or non-existent, as well as one harrowing accident just after the ceremony.
Faculty and Students: Mentorship, Collaboration, and Conflict
In this video, alumnae remember the complicated learning relationships they had with SSW faculty, including being challenged and inspired. The diverse years the alumnae graduated in also shows changes in the way faculty and students related to each other.
Challenges Faced in the Field
Annette Garrett’s Discipline and Twinkle
Choosing, Affording, and Arriving at Our SSW
In this video, Lillian Syndar, M.S.S. speaks about how she came to SSW, and how she afforded it, during the Great Depression. Zora Lucick Jackson, M.S.W. 1963, describes the welcome she received when she arrived from a small town in Saskatchewan, Canada. Finally, Edith Carlon Atkin, M.S.S. 1930, and Esther Levin, M.S.W. 1967 offer two very different reasons for why they chose Our Smith SSW.
Candid SSW Photo Gallery
Florence Hollis: Memories and Remembrance
When Everett Kimball and Bertha Kapen Reynolds were looking for a new Associate Director in 1934, they asked Florence Hollis, M.S.S. 1931, before they asked Annette Garret. Hollis was an influential social work researcher and developed the profession in important ways. She taught at the SSW in the 1950s. In this post, two alumnae share funny stories about Hollis as a speaker and as a mentor. In addition, there is a transcript of Louise Bandler’s memories of Hollis from the 70th Anniversary, Hollis’s own memories of being at SSW, and a description of Hollis and Rosemary Reynolds’s papers in the Sophia Smith Collection.