Belmont’s Social Work Club recently volunteered for a day with four kindergarten classes at Una Elementary School. Club members hosted a holiday party for a total of 68 students and made a craft, served a snack, read stories and gave out goodie bags. The bags contained gloves, toothbrush, pencils, notepad, crayons, an orange and a glue stick.

The Club was also active earlier in the semester as they collected more than 350 cans of green beans to donate to Luke 14:12, a non-profit soup kitchen providing free meals to the hungry, homeless and working poor of Nashville. They also volunteered at Thistle Farms to help package a large shipment and spend time with the ladies of Magdalene House.

Associate Professor of Social Work Dr. Sabrina Sullenberger has been working with four former colleagues from Indiana University on a five year, ongoing research project to study attitudes of poverty and construction of social class.

Sullenberger and her team’s research was recently featured in an article in The Atlantic entitled, “Teenagers are Losing Confidence in the American Dream.” For more information, click here.

Social Work Program Chair and Associate Professor Dr. Sabrina Sullenberger was recently honored as one of The Social Work Degree Guide’s 30 most influential social workers alive today. Sullenberger has been a faculty member at Belmont since the summer of 2013, after spending 10 years at Indiana University.  She holds a PhD in Social Work from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with research interests in poverty and child welfare. Her work has been internationally published with areas of exploration in the scholarship of teaching and learning. She teaches social work by infusing service learning and hands-on assessment. Sullenberger believes in passing the torch of change in social service to her students.

Selection was based on merit, scholastic study, and political activism. From celebrities to university professors, the list includes individuals who plan, engage, and support social work. Many belong to professional associations that provide ethical guidance and support to various communities. Most have authored books or published journal articles on policy, reform, crisis intervention, and civil liberties.

Information about all 30 social workers can be found at socialworkdegreeguide.com.

In a ceremony marked by numerous standing ovations, students and faculty were honored this week during the University’s annual Scholarship and Awards Day convocation. All of the awards given reflected Belmont’s mission and commitment to scholarship, service and leadership.

In one of the most moving presentations, graduating senior and social work major Matthew Thompson was awarded the John Williams Heart of Belmont Award, which is given to a student committed to Belmont’s values including innovation, persistence, advocacy for change, community development and service. Before coming to Belmont, Thompson served in the Navy on the USS George Washington for five years.  In 2005, he enlisted in the Army where he served an additional four years and afterwards completed one year of service in the Tennessee National Guard. After 10 years of service and three deployments, he was honorably discharged and began pursuing a degree at Belmont. Continue reading →

Social Work senior Matt Thompson recently presented a poster at the Baccalaureate Program Director’s (BPD) national conference on social work education.  His poster, which was selected to be a part of the student conference within the larger BPD conference, was entitled “Welcome Home: Current Military Pre and Post Separation and Transition Protocol.”  This poster provided an overview of current practices that are followed as men and women leave the armed services. As Thompson discussed the poster with conference attendees, he noted areas where policies should be reviewed as well as areas where social work expertise could be utilized to provide more effective services to new veterans.   Thompson, drawing on his social work education as well as his experience in the military, summed it up this way:  “Compassion and caring are not substitutes for action and advocacy.”

Assistant Professor of Social Work Julie Hunt and Associate Professor of Social Work Sabrina Sullenberger also presented at the BPD conference.  Sullenberger co-presented a workshop entitled “High-impact Educational Practices in Teaching Social Work Research” with colleagues from Indiana University.   Hunt’s roundtable presentation was entitled ““Integrating Spiritual Sensitivity into Cultural Competence Education for our Changing World.”

Reflecting on her work at the conference, Hunt said, “It was an honor to lead a roundtable discussion with a diverse group of colleagues from universities around the country on ways to integrate spiritually sensitive content in their social work curriculum. We had a productive and meaningful sharing of ideas, and their interest in this conversation has continued as we have been corresponding since the meeting, sharing syllabi, and ideas for readings and course assignments.”

Social work juniors in Dr. Jennifer Crowell’s Policy II class recently participated in Social Work Day on the Hill at the Tennessee Legislative Plaza.  They met with legislators, observed committee meetings and participated in a policy presentation and poster competition. Prior to the Day on the Hill, students worked in class to identify bills under consideration at the state level, and analyze the bills in the context of social work values, ethics and populations served, and then made recommendations on how to improve the bills they had studied.  This collective work led the class to identify one topic to focus on for the policy presentation, the issue of Human Trafficking in Tennessee.  At Day on the Hill, junior Christi Sidwell was selected as Belmont’s representative to speak in front of a crowd of students, faculty and social workers from across the state about Senate Bill 1655 and House Bill 1870. Christi spoke passionately about the issue in Tennessee and also about how the bills as proposed could be strengthened to ultimately provide better services and seek justice for people in Tennessee who have been trafficked.  The hard work of all the students was recognized when Belmont University was announced the winner of the undergraduate competition.

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Matthew Thompson, a senior Social Work student at Belmont University, recently was honored as the undergraduate Student of the Year by the Middle Tennessee branch of the National Association of Social Workers.  The award honors a student who has created a positive influence on classmates for the profession, and maintained academic achievement.

“Matt has demonstrated a tremendous aptitude for scholarship and scholastic activity,” said Dr. Sabrina Sullenberger, Social Work Department Chairperson.  She adds, “He is also a dedicated and courageous individual, respected and valued by his colleagues and peers.”

Thompson is a decorated Army veteran and a bronze star recipient who served honorably in the Middle East and Persian Gulf in 2002 and then was again deployed in Iraq in 2007.   He was the recipient of a competitive national fellowship through The Mission Continues, in which he was awarded a 10 month grant designed to provide a stipend for veterans working in social service fields.  He was one of 80 grantees from a field of just under 2200.

Thompson has deep and abiding commitment to the needs of veterans in the community.  Continue reading →

Over 60 student, faculty and staff from the social work department recently celebrated the 30th annual departmental chili supper. The event began as a way to get to know students outside of the classroom, and has evolved into one of the main events that students look forward to each spring, often bringing their roommates, significant others, and even, on occasion, a pet or two. This year’s supper was held in the home of Dr. Jenny Crowell. Continue reading →