SPO. TLIGHT. Advocacy: Fulfilling our mission. Jenny Rae Tompulis '83. We had another successful. Advocacy Day at the Ca
Summer 2017 STUDENT SPOTLIGHT Chancey Sturgeon ’18 Chancey Sturgeon ’18 is an excellent student, leader and mentor at MacMurray College, and she is a member of Phi Alpha Honor Society (2016). In addition to being a great student, she is also a strong leader on campus and in the community. She regularly assists her peers in the classroom and she is a great resource to the program. In the past, she has coordinated food drives, fidget blankets for memory care elders and most recently created a professional closet for students to be able to access donated professional dress clothes for interviews and internships in the field. This past spring, she was a Social Work Program intern and has been integral in assisting with research, projects and class work for lower level students. She has three jobs and is a full-time student! She works at Hobby Horse, Educational Day Care Center and a local dance studio. She also volunteers at Royal Neighbors, Lake Springfield Baptist Camp, the Community Outreach Center and is a leader at her church. She just finished her officer term as secretary of Social Work Club. She will be doing her practicum in spring 2018 at Catholic Children’s Home in Alton, Ill.
Social Work News
DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE Higher education in the United States is at a crossroads. There is a “perfect storm” of lower state investments, decreasing enrollments at state universities, continuing segregation of socioeconomic populations in education, and many are questioning the value and its return on the investment of a college education. As director of the Social Work Program, I can assure you MacMurray College and your Social Work Program are working ceaselessly to ensure high standards of quality education and the value of that education are part of the continuing Mac tradition. As our Phi Alpha motto states: “Through knowledge – the challenge to serve.” Our new Provost, Dr. Beverly Rodgers, and President Mark Tierno, are working across the college and beyond to advance our strategic priorities. For example, 90 percent of our 2017 social work graduates were employed or accepted into graduate school prior to graduation. Social work graduates are developing basic technology skills through the development of their e-portfolios, of which many of our alumni review for potential hires. We thank you, alumni! We started a new podcasting series that will continue into 2017-2018. We have a growing presence in the surrounding communities through research project partnerships and
through our graduates becoming leaders in local agencies. We are launching a new junior year practicum course this fall that will focus on interdisciplinary workforce development. I was humbled to receive the Dewey Wilkins Award for Teaching Excellence from MacMurray College this past May. While honored, I, of course, will pass that honor on to my students, for my greatest excitement as a professor comes from the talent of our students who, with great hearts and minds, deepen my commitment to education. In them, I recognize that social work is not something just to be learned … but to be lived. We are grateful for your continued support and ask you to join us in our excitement for MacMurray’s continued growth! Have an enjoyable summer,
Dr. Joseph Squillace, MSW Director, Social Work BSW Program
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Spiritual Retreat The spiritual retreat this year was a success. Students were able to reflect on their journey at MacMurray along with their journey through life, share stories with one another and just get away for a bit.
Bottom row from left to right: Courtney Pearson, Kaydee Fletcher, Chancey Sturgeon, Melanie Johnson and Rickayla Wilson. Middle row from left to right: Professor Christina Anozie, Alexia Mitchell, Hannah DeSpain, Megan Gillis, Alexis Mills and Professor Jodi Pupillo ’09. Top row from left to row: John Troxell, Faythe Newberry, Dr. Joseph Squillace and Dr. Tamara O’Hearn.
Salvation Army and Mac gardening partnership Social work students and faculty assisted Wayne Landess, master gardener for the Salvation Army, in planting 60 seedlings of broccoli, collards and cabbage in the Salvation Army Community Garden. Through this partnership with the Salvation Army, the seedlings were grown and nurtured in the MacMurray Hall Greenhouse over the winter months and then transferred to the Salvation Army. The garden harvest is either given directly to low income individuals for cooking or used in the Salvation Army kitchen to help feed low income and working families.
ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT
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Social Work students deliver figdet quilts to Cedarhurst
Jenny Rae Tompulis ’83 After graduating, Jenny Tompulis ’83 worked as a counselor at LaSalle County Juvenile Detention Center in Ottawa, Ill. Later, she worked as a counselor for Vision Quest in a wilderness survival environment where she worked with troubled teenage young women. After her time at Vision Quest she moved to Escalante, Utah where she worked in a private outdoor program called Turn-About Ranch, again working with troubled teenagers. While thoroughly enjoying working with teens in wilderness/outdoor programs, she decided to venture into massage therapy, a field she has now been working in for 23 years. Urban Oasis, ranked as the number one massage spa in Chicago, is her “second home,” and she considers herself very fortunate to do what she absolutely loves. Jenny recalls that most of her “sacred relationships” were formed while she attended MacMurray, recalling the intimate environment which fostered a more profound connection with fellow students and professors. To this day, she still maintains a close relationship with the director of Social Work at the time, Susan Rentle, and her classmates who she considers her MacFam.
Five Social Work Club students, along with Dr. Joseph Squillace, assistant professor of social work, and Samantha Milnes, administrative assistant to the social work department, delivered 16 fidget quilts to the Cedarhurst Assisted Living and Memory Care Center of Jacksonville. Fidget quilts are used by persons living with Alzheimer’s
or Dementia who commonly have restless fingers which allows them to touch or play with the items on the quilt. Executive Director Becky Quigg ’93 Woiwode hosted the group. During the visit the students talked with the residents of the facility and shared the quilts with them. The students selected this activity in March as part of National Social Work Month.
Advocacy: Fulfilling our mission
We had another successful Advocacy Day at the Capitol in Springfield this past March. Students met with legislators to discuss veterans’ health care,
child abuse, foster care issues and teenage suicide. Many thanks to the Illinois Environmental Council for hosting us again!
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Phi Alpha National Social Work Honor Society
Congratulations to our ten graduates who were pinned the evening before Commencement!
Six MacMurray College social work students were inducted into the national Phi Alpha Social Work Honor Society: Kacy Anderson, Hannah DeSpain, Rachel Elledge, Kayla Horlacher, Darin Michael and Crystal Román.
Top row from left to right: Dr. Joseph Squillace, Andy Alvarez, Kylie Hagaman, Russel Stuebinger, Antwon Willis and Professor Jodi Pupillo ’09. Bottom row from left to right: Hannah DeSpain, Kacy Anderson, Kadie Ellner, Brittonia McKenzie, Michala Swanger and Samantha Milnes.
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Pictured: Andy Alvarez, Kadie Ellner, Kacy Anderson, Antwon Willis, Hannah DeSpain, Michala Swanger, Dr. Joseph Squillace, Brittonia McKenzie, Kylie Hagaman and Russel Stuebinger.
