March 2026 Dean's Note

Women were at the forefront of developing the social work profession and continue to comprise most social workers in the United States. Thus, during Women’s History Month and National Social Work Month in March, it is fitting to reflect on our professional lineage and impact. From Jane Addams, the first woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize and a leader in the social work profession, to lesser known women such as Lugenia Burns Hope, whose work as a social reformer in Atlanta was a model for the eventual Civil Rights Movement, to Florence Roberts Day, who founded the University of Denver Graduate School of Social Work (GSSW) in 1930, to today’s students, staff, faculty, and practitioners, social workers continue their tireless effort to advance positive social change.

However, converging environmental and social crises are posing new demands for the profession, which must shift from envisioning a preferred future to assertively changing the present. GSSW emphasizes training social work students to make a real-world impact on the communities that need us most. We want our students and alumni to be in partnership with and in service to those communities.

In this issue, you will read about some social work innovators and change agents who are rising to meet the social work moment and are applying their wisdom, conviction, creativity, and social work skills in powerful ways.

Reflecting on lessons learned over a long social work career in child welfare, K-12 education, and private practice, GSSW alumna and Advisory Board member Sarie Patterson (MSW ’94, LCSW, PhD Education ’16) observes that today’s challenges present a rare opportunity to create new policies and build entirely new systems that better serve the community.

Assistant Professor Mónica Gutiérrez is a community-engaged QuantCrit and LatCrit scholar who examines the intersections of place, power, and belonging. In partnership with Denver Public Schools administrators, staff, educators, students, and families, she is studying the influence of school resource officers on safety for Latine and Black high school students. Professor Gutiérrez hopes her research will inform policies and interventions to improve safety, racial equity, and student well-being.

Alumna Nadine Bridges (MSW ’10) is executive director of One Colorado, the state’s leading advocacy organization dedicated to advancing equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQIA+) Coloradans and their families. As the organization gears up to combat anti-trans legislation on Colorado’s November ballot, Nadine discusses leveraging solidarity as a superpower.

Alumna and Professor Emerita Jean East (MSW ’79, PhD ’95) is a Colorado social work leader who helped GSSW to grow and innovate through initiatives such as our Four Corners MSW Program. To support MSW students who are pursuing macro-level social work in policy, advocacy, research, health care, and community change, she is matching donations to GSSW’s Margaret and Jean F. East Scholarship Fund. I invite you to contribute to this important campaign honoring Professor East’s legacy of correcting injustices and investing in the profession’s future social change leaders.

Finally, please join us April 2 for the launch of GSSW’s new Voice to Vision series, which features social work and social change visionaries who will help participants apply social work skills to address the problems they see in the world. In our inaugural talk and workshop, Professor East and alumna Renata Heberton (MSW ’13) will share their experience creating an intentional community as a response to homelessness and displacement.

These stories illustrate some of the ways social workers are translating thoughts and ideas into meaningful social change. I hope they provide inspiration for your continued efforts.

Henrika McCoy, MSW, MJ, PhD
Milton Morris Endowed Dean of Social Work and Professor