A Message from the Dean
In this issue
- Cover
- Dean's Message
- Cross-Disciplinary Team Pilots Violence Screening Instrument for University of Utah Students
- Alumni News
- Innovation Matters Snapshot
- "Repowering" Indigenous Perspectives Through Mentorship
- New Faculty
- New Leadership Roles
- MSWSA Does the Math Amid SNAP Suspension
- New Navigate Hub for Education & Social Work
- Your Therapist Wants You to Go Outside
- Innovative Training, Real-World Impact: New Center Elevates Workforce Skills for Human Services and Beyond
- Pushing Limits, Fueling Hope
- Earning While Learning: Jumpstarting a Career as a Substance Use Disorder Counselor with a Paid Apprenticeship
- Hope on the Other Side of Tragedy: A Social Worker's Role in Organ Transplant Services
- Kudos
- News
- Culturally Grounded, Clinically Informed: How Social Work Researchers Are Advancing the Field of Psychedelics and Mental Health
- Creative Partnership Means Opportunities for Students with Justice System Lived Experience
- Donor Honor Roll
- Message to Our Donors
- PhD Candidate Accepts PIE Student Award at the CSWE Annual Conference
- Credits
Access is a privilege in many ways—plenty of which we take for granted. In many cases, our access is conferred or limited by factors over which we have little control. Sometimes our access depends on others who may choose to hold open a door, or close a gate. But sometimes, especially in social work and higher education, we use our access to blaze new pathways, build infrastructure, set up navigation tools, and lift others as we climb.
In this issue, you’ll learn how our MSW students stepped up to help provide access to food during the suspension of SNAP benefits. You’ll read about how our Virtual Skills & Workforce Trainer team is helping human services professionals access virtual training spaces where it’s safe to make mistakes. You’ll find out how matching the right mentor with the right mentee opens up possibilities for both. And you might feel a little tug at your heartstrings when you realize how the generosity of our donors is helping our students access life-changing degrees.
If you are reading this, chances are that you are already using your privilege to help someone else access knowledge and resources. What else can you do to help build a bridge or break down a barrier? How might granting access to someone else end up addressing a challenge you’ve been working to resolve?
I am resisting the urge to quote Peter Parker’s Uncle Ben. But I warmly invite you to read on and be inspired by the many ways our colleagues, students, and graduates are leveraging their privilege to help others access their full potential.
Philip Osteen, PhD, MSW
Dean & Professor, College of Social Work
Chief Behavioral Health Officer for Academic Affairs