An Investment in the Future: Fundraising Campaign

The University of Washington School of Social Work is ranked among the best in the nation, and for good reason. Year after year our students leave here ready to take on the tough and rewarding work essential to the well-being of our families and communities. Sixty-five percent of our graduates stay right here in the Pacific Northwest and make their contributions close to home.

U.S. News and World Report ranked the UW School of Social Work third in the United States out of 168 schools. Our outstanding faculty leads the way in the dissemination of research results, publishing more articles than any other social work teaching staff in the country. The quality of their research garners nearly $20 million in research and training awards annually. Five of our professors have been honored with the UW Distinguished Teaching Award and the S. Sterling Munro Public Service Award in the last five years. Five have been named Hartford Faculty Scholars, a significant national award. Each year 2000 human service professionals turn to the School of Social Work for workshops and courses that keep them abreast of current research and innovative policies and enable them to better serve our communities.

The accolades and awards are important, but wouldn't mean much if they didn't reflect a deep commitment to easing human suffering. Our students, graduates, and faculty serve every day, doing all they can to help people do better for themselves and their families. Our students contribute more than 175,000 hours of volunteer service to 200 local nonprofit and public organizations each year.

The UW School of Social Work is training undergraduate and graduate students to meet the complex social challenges of the 21st century. Our Institutes of Excellence highlight research and education in health, social policy, and justice. We're not going to solve all the problems in the world. But we are determined to leave it in better shape than we found it.

Today

Today the demand for well-trained social work practitioners is urgent. The need is expected to grow 30 percent by 2010, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, making it one of the fastest growing categories in the job market. The UW School of Social Work is uniquely qualified to educate and prepare a new generation of social workers ready to meet this critical demand.

We lead the way in innovative research and with methodologies that yield real results, transforming lives and communities. The School is at the forefront of changes in social work theory and practice. The old ways of helping are giving way to more effective, compassionate, and comprehensive methods.

Families and communities welcome social workers who know and respect their cultures. Our students come from a wide range of ethnic and cultural backgrounds. They are helping to redefine the profession and create a more diverse workforce to better meet the requirements of multi-ethnic communities.

An Invitation

There are many ways to contribute: offer your time, a gift, your insights. We welcome whatever you can do. Gifts at every level advance the cause. Your gift, large or small, can have a profound impact on the lives of students and teachers, rewarding them for their accomplishments and helping them realize their aspirations.

Is there someone who inspired you? Made all the difference to the person you became? Gifts can be made to honor him or her and in fields that may be meaningful to you or the one you choose to honor.

The world isn't going to become a simpler place any time soon. Social workers will continue to minister to the critical social, health, and community needs of our most vulnerable citizens and to any of us who find ourselves in crisis.

Whatever challenges the future holds can be met, if we do it together.

Graduate Profile
ERIN STANLEY
Institute for Indigenous Health and Child Welfare

Whatever she was going to do in life, Erin Stanley knew early on that she wanted to work with people. "I wanted to be working with the tribes, with indigenous people," she explains. "It just felt right." Erin spent her early years in Taholah, on Quinault Indian Nation lands that hug the rugged Washington coast.

In college she felt a little lost as one of only a few Native American students at a university far from home. Then she heard that the UW School of Social Work had recently hired two Native American professors. Two? That was unprecedented. Erin packed her bags and headed for Seattle.

Erin completed her bachelor's degree in social work and her masters a year later. She is now the assistant director of the Honor Project, a research project of the Native Wellness Center, a research center for practice and policy. She also works with the Institute for Indigenous Health and Child Welfare. The Native Wellness Center was founded in 2002 by Associate Professor Karina Walters and Assistant Professor Tessa Evans-Campbell, the two distinguished professors whose presence at the School had drawn Erin to it.

"To work with these two women in this environment is a gift," says Erin. "We're creating a real community here. It's so inspiring to see two Native women researchers who work in such a respectful way with the community. They teach us to let the community drive the work and that the answers lie with the people."

Only about 50 percent of Native American students make it to high school graduation. The example of Native people succeeding in college can be a powerful inspiration for kids trying to complete their education. Five years ago, there were only two Native students in the School of Social Work. Last year 12 Native students graduated; four candidates will enter the PhD program in the fall.