Alumni | Page 3 | School of Social Work

Celebrating Excellence: Suzanne Koenig Receives the Highest Honor Bestowed upon an Illinois Alum

Suzanne Koenig at podium Receives Alumni Achievement Award

Celebrating the remarkable achievements of our esteemed alumni is a cherished tradition at the University of Illinois. We are delighted to announce Suzanne Koenig, a distinguished graduate of the School of Social Work, as a recipient of the Alumni Achievement Award from the University of Illinois Alumni Association for the year 2023.

Suzanne Koenig, BSW ’82 is president and founder of SAK Healthcare, a nationally recognized healthcare management and consulting services firm, with specific expertise in senior living, skilled nursing and long-term care facilities. Koenig and SAK provide skills in operations improvement, staff development and quality assurance. Koenig brings expertise in expense management, financial oversight, marketing, census development, clinical review and regulatory improvement to healthcare facilities in order to develop operational enhancements.

As a nursing home administrator and social worker, Koenig has provided turnaround, consulting and restructuring services throughout the U.S. She regularly serves as a court-appointed receiver to oversee and manage healthcare facilities. Having participated in the writing of the Patient Care Ombudsman statute found within the United States Bankruptcy Code, Koenig frequently is appointed as a patient care ombudsman to oversee patient care in healthcare facilities across the country.

Koenig also holds a Master of Science degree from Spertus College. She is a frequent speaker for various healthcare industry associations and business affiliates where she conducts continuing education and training programs. In 2022, she received a New York Institute of Credit Women’s Division Renaissance Award and was inducted into the International Women’s Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation Hall of Fame.

Suzanne also serves as a court-appointed receiver, examiner, monitor, Chapter 11 trustee, and patient care ombudsman. She advises property owners, banks and lenders, trustees, debtors-in-possession, workout groups, and asset buyers.

Watch video of Suzanne’s acceptance speech

Illinois Promise Alumna: “Grateful to Give Back”

Alum Spotlight: Lena Summers

Lena Summers (BS, psychology, 2021; MSW, 2022) is a proud Illinois Promise alum. After graduating with a B.S. in psychology and beginning an MSW program at Illinois, she spent her final semester of grad school in a full-time internship working with homeless youth in Seattle, Washington. After graduation, Lena took a position as a social worker with Washington state’s Child Protective Services (CPS). “I investigate child abuse and neglect cases and assess child safety. It’s emotionally taxing, but it’s so very rewarding.” Lena goes on to share, “I chose this line of work mostly due to personal experiences. There is such an importance in the work CPS does. Ensuring child safety is a crucial role in society, and I’m grateful to be giving back in such an important way.”

As an Illinois Promise Scholar, Lena served as a member of the Illinois Promise Council (student leadership group) and even interned with the Scholars Support Programs unit, where Illinois Promise is housed. When reflecting on the impact that Illinois Promise had on her time as an undergrad and beyond, Lena notes, “Illinois Promise has meant the world to me. I would not be where I am without the support and opportunities that Illinois Promise provided me. Not only could I attend an amazing university with little to no debt, it encouraged me to invest further in my education and myself by continuing on to earn my masters. I never thought it would be possible for me to earn a college degree, let alone at the graduate level. Illinois Promise was a big contributor to these achievements.”

Lena is forever grateful for her time in I-Promise. “I got to meet such incredible Scholars and work with the amazing Illinois Promise staff who do this work with so much heart!” And, as Lena points out, support doesn’t stop once Scholars graduate. “Once an Illinois Promise Scholar, forever an Illinois Promise Scholar!”

Lena still lives in Seattle, enjoying the natural surroundings and spending time with her favorite guy–her Golden Retriever, Chandler.

Social Work 2023 Annual Report Released

collage with images from each story of annual report with the word impact overlaying the images

NASW Honors University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Alumni for Their Impactful Contributions

Alumni in Action graphic featuring photos of Dr. Spitzer and Diana Stroud

Esteemed University of Illinois School of Social Work alumni, Diana Stroud, MSW ’85, and Dr. William (Bill) Spitzer MSW ’73, PHD ’81, will be inducted into the NASW Foundation’s Social Work Pioneer Program. As social work pioneers, they have made outstanding contributions to the field of social work and have paved the way for future generations to follow.

Diana Stroud has dedicated her career to advocating for the most vulnerable populations, including children, families, and seniors. She has been instrumental in developing community-based services and programs aimed at improving the lives of those in need. Her tireless efforts have earned her numerous accolades, including the NASW Social Worker of the Year Award and the California State Assembly Certificate of Recognition.

Dr. William Spitzer has made broad-ranging leadership contributions throughout his distinguished career that have significantly advanced client services, professional practice, and social work education. As a prolific author, his administrative and educational achievements reflect his passion, drive, and life-long commitment to social work in public and private sector healthcare, child welfare, and gerontology. The extensive impact of his community services and social work advocacy has been recognized with 17 national, state, and organizational awards spanning his career, including the NASW Lifetime Achievement Award.

NASW’s recognition of Diana Stroud and Dr. William Spitzer for their remarkable achievements and contributions will continue to inspire future generations of social workers and serve as a reminder of the importance of the profession.

Lough Named School of Social Work Dean

Self-Care Retreat for School Social Workers

three rocks with mind, body and soul written on them stacked on top of each other against a sunset

Retreat Description

Self-care is a term that is often used as a solution for the issues of burnout for educators, including school social workers. This retreat will focus on self-care in many facets. As a society, self-care has been turned into an excuse for systems to continue overusing their employees, and not changing the work environments that employees are working in to help create more desirable working conditions. As school social workers, we are fighting for racial justice everyday, yet continue to see the injustices and can often times feel burnt out by this. Fighting this fight can be difficult, but is important work that school social workers need to engage in. Taking care of ourselves is the key in continuing the fight for racial justice. To continue to advocate for others, we also need to advocate for ourselves and the importance of taking care of ourselves. Through this retreat you will learn from Illinois Social Work work faculty and affiliates, different ways to utilize self-care. This retreat will help you heal from the school year, and prepare you for next school year. Click here to view an editorial written by retreat hosts Dr. Kevin Tan and Jenna Mahoney, “Is Self-Care the Answer?”

June 9 and 10, 2023

June 9 | 1:00-6:30pm
June 10 | 8:30am-12:00pm
7.0 CEUs for LCSW/LSW and LCPC/LPC, 2.0 of these CEU hours will cover the cultural competency requirement for licensure
All events held at the School of Social Work building except for Happy Hour (held at The Literary, 122 N Neil St, Champaign)
$70 for CEUs, $35 for no CEUs

Retreat Itinerary

Friday, June 9

12:30pm
Check-in

1:00-2:00pm
Welcome by Kevin Tan, professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign School of Social Work (1 cultural competence CEU)
“Self-Care, Social Justice, and Social-Emotional Learning”
In this introductory session, participants will be introduced to the notion of self-care in the face of challenges around racial justice and pushback against social-emotional learning. Participants will understand the need to consider signs of burnout and compassion fatigue and develop strategies for managing stress and building resilience.

2:00-4:00pm
“Advocating for Our Role as the Ultimate Self-Care” (2 CEUs), presenters Jenna Mahoney, PhD student and Jeni Free, MSW
This session will provide school social workers with the knowledge about a self-care framework specific for social workers and focus on how school social workers can use education about their roles as the ultimate self-care.

4:00-5:00pm
“Zentangle Mindfulness Art” (1 CEU), presenter Kelli Bertram, LCSW
This session will provide a space for School Social Workers and Psychologists to practice mindfulness, get creative, and learn new therapeutic art skills that they can use for themselves or students as a form of self-care. Zentangle is a form of meditative drawing that involves creating structured patterns and designs within a defined space.

5:00-6:30pm
Happy Hour at The Literary (122 N Neil St, Champaign)

Saturday, June 10

8:30-9:00am
Light Breakfast

9:00-11:00am
“Adding Coaching to Your Social Work Toolbox” (2 CEUs), presenter Brenda Lindsey, teaching professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign School of Social Work
Coaching offers new approaches to help social workers and clients maximize their personal and professional potential. It combines elements of cognitive behavioral therapy, positive psychology, motivational interviewing, and leadership development. Coaching differs from traditional mental health clinical therapeutic approaches. While therapy is appropriate for clients with mental health disorders, coaching is proactive and focused on achieving goals to improve personal and professional life balance. Coaching strategies and techniques have been successfully used by social workers in a variety of practice settings including schools, child welfare, health care, substance use, homeless populations, leadership, and workforce
development.

**Brenda will be presenting this session from another location via Zoom, however you will still come to the Social Work building to attend.

11:00am-12:00pm
Closing by Kevin Tan (1 cultural competence CEU)
The closing will build upon Dr. Tan’s opening session, “Self-Care, Social Justice, and Social-Emotional Learning”

**Please note that this event is geared toward School Social Workers and PDH credits will not be available for this event**

Racial Disproportionality in Child Protective Services: What Can Big Data Tell Us?

Guest Lecturer for the 16th Annual Brieland Visiting Scholar Lecture: Dr. Brett Drake, Professor of Data Science for the Social Good in Practice, George Warren Brown School of Social Work, Washington University, St. Louis

April 26, 2023 | 12-1:30pm
School of Social Work
1010 W Nevada St., Room 2015

Racial/Ethnic disproportionality in Child Protective Services (CPS) has recently received much attention in research, policy, and political circles. This presentation will review current claims being made about racial/ethnic disproportionality in CPS and will ask the question, “How can Big Data be used to assess the accuracy of these claims?”

We will first examine differences in the rates at which CPS investigates Black, Hispanic, and White children. We will then look at differences in how these groups move through the CPS system, from investigation to substantiation to placement. Throughout the presentation, we will focus on the data sources used to introduce the concept of “Big Data” and how it can be used to support policy and practice.

1.0 FREE CEU available. Zoom option available.

The Brieland Visiting Scholar series honors the late Donald Brieland, a leader in child welfare and social work and the law, who served as Dean of the School of Social Work from 1975-1981. The series is supported by an endowment created by Dean Brieland and his family to advance scholarly discussion in social work and social welfare. The goal of bringing a guest scholar to our community is to cultivate an exciting intellectual climate and new ways of thinking about critical social work and child welfare issues.

Online Social Work Degree Programs Address Diversity Needs

Dr. Jan Carter-Black Scholarship for Commitment to Diversity and Leadership

The School of Social Work is pleased to announce the creation of a new scholarship in honor of Dr. Jan Carter Black. This scholarship fund has been established through a generous gift by an anonymous alumni family to honor the impact made by Dr. Carter-Black on them personally, as well as the countless lives she has touched during her career.

Click here for a brief message from Jan

To help increase the impact, the donors have asked to present their gift as a matching challenge. For each dollar donated in support of this new scholarship in honor of Dr. Jan Carter-Black, the anonymous donors will match it, up to $25,000! Please consider taking advantage of this unique opportunity to double the impact of your own gift, support our current and future community leaders, and pay tribute to the life and career of such an influential member of the social work community.

Give Now

Nearly Four Decades of Advocacy and Leadership

After a 21-year career at a private residential child welfare agency that included direct practice and administrative positions, Dr. Jan Carter-Black joined the School of Social Work in 2005. Dr. Carter-Black teaches the Diversity: Identity & Issues course, required of all undergraduate students in social work, and an option for all other undergraduate students on campus to fulfill a general education course requirement. Put simply, Jan has a direct and profound impact on hundreds of students every semester. Dr. Carter-Black also serves as the chair of the Diversity Committee and is a member of the advisory board for the Journal of Undergraduate Social Work Research.

Dr. Carter-Black is a three-time alumna of the University of Illinois, earning a PhD from the School of Social Work in 2005, after having earned her MSW and BALAS in 1995 and 1977, respectively. She was among the first cohort of first-generation college students of color admitted to the university under the Special Educational Opportunities Program (Project 500).

Dr. Carter-Black’s research interests include resilience in African American families, focusing on parenting strategies that facilitate healthy development and success trajectories for children despite external structural forces. Her current research includes examining the challenge of being ostracized by same-race peers for perceived violations of crossing cultural boundaries experienced by Black and Hispanic students.

Criteria and How to Apply

The Dr. Jan Carter-Black Scholarship for Commitment to Diversity and Leadership will support students in the School of Social Work who exhibit high academic achievement, a commitment to the School and the campus community through involvement and leadership, and a commitment to diversity through research or practice. Students interested in applying can learn more by visiting our scholarships page.

For more information about how you can contribute to this scholarship, or other questions related to philanthropy and the impact of donor support on the causes and people here at the School of Social Work, please contact Nathan Goebel at ntgoebel@illinois.edu or 217-244-4709

School of Social Work Homecoming 2022

hail to the orange written in orange on glass

Join us on Friday, October 14, 2022

Kick off the morning with a FREE CEU event:

Violence Prevention Strategies to Promote Health and Safety
Presented by Dr. Rachel Garthe
11:30am – 1:00pm CST
School of Social Work, 1010 W. Nevada St., Urbana (Room 2027)
**seating is limited – metered parking is available near the building**
1.5 CEU’s for LCSW/LSW and LCPC/LPC

CEU Registration

SSW Parking Lot Party

Join us for a pop-up grill and chill outside the SSW building! We will have hot dogs, veggie burgers and all the fixins. Yard games and free SSW-Hoco swag will be available!
4:00-6:00pm CST
School of Social Work Parking Lot (Lot D21- just east of the SSW building)

These events are OPEN TO ALL students, alumni, faculty/staff and friends of the School of Social Work. Don’t forget to show your Illini pride and wear your orange and blue!

Grill and Chill RSVP

Campus Campaign Celebration at Grange Grove

Learn more