Equity, Justice, and Inclusion Lecture and Distinguished Alumni Award Celebration

Equity, Justice, and Inclusion Lecture and Distinguished Alumni Award Celebration


The Equity, Justice, and Inclusion Lecture is one in a series of events the School of Social Work offers each year.听Following the lecture, the school honors the recipients of that year's Distinguished Alumni Awards, which recognize 男女操逼视频软件SSW MSW or PhD alumni who have made significant contributions to the social work profession.

Nominate an Alum

听Nominations for the 2025 event are now closed. The deadline was September 8, 2025.听

Monday, November 10, 2025

Gasson 100
6:00鈥8:30 p.m. ET

Directions and Parking

Validated parking will be offered in the on-campus parking garages.

2025 Alumni Award Winners


Copy of Circular headshots - template - 2

Jennifer Lemmerman, MSW '08
Chief Policy Officer
Project Bread

Distinguished Alumni Award Winner

Jennifer Lemmerman, MSW 鈥08, is Chief Policy Officer at Project Bread, where she leads statewide efforts to address the root causes of hunger through policy, advocacy, and coalition-building. Under her leadership, Project Bread secured permanent universal free school meals in Massachusetts and launched Make Hunger History, a first-of-its-kind statewide coalition strategy to permanently end hunger. Jennifer鈥檚 career spans local, state, and national advocacy, including roles at Community Catalyst and the National Brain Tumor Society, where she built grassroots movements and advanced federal health policy, such as the Affordable Care Act. She also served six years on the Melrose City Council, including as Council President. A proud social worker, Jennifer integrates her training in community organizing and policy practice into every aspect of her leadership. She continues to support the next generation of social workers as a field advisor at the Boston University School of Social Work. She lives in Andover with her husband and two children.

Copy of Circular headshots - template - 3

Jooyoung Kong, PhD '16
Associate Professor, Sandra Rosenbaum School of Social Work
University of Wisconsin-Madison

Recent Alumni Award Winner

Jooyoung Kong (She, Her) is an Associate Professor at the Sandra Rosenbaum School of Social Work, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Jooyoung鈥檚 research takes a life course approach to examining the long-term effects of adverse childhood experiences on later-life outcomes, including health, intergenerational caregiving, and elder abuse victimization. She currently employs mixed methods to examine how childhood trauma shapes adult children鈥檚 caregiving for aging parents. Her research has been supported by the National Institute on Aging (NIA) and published in leading journals such as The Journals of Gerontology: Series B and Journal of Marriage and Family. She also contributes to the fields of trauma and gerontological social work through editorial board service and professional engagement.

Keynote Speaker


Cristiano Casalini, Ph.D.

Cristiano Casalini, Ph.D.

Endowed Chair, Jesuit Pedagogy and Educational History
Research Scholar, Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies
Professor

Event Archive


Distinguished Alumni Awards


Distinguished Alumni Award Criteria

Each year the 男女操逼视频软件SSW Alumni Board solicits nominations for the annual Distinguished Alumni Awards. These awards recognize the significant contributions to the field of social work made by a 男女操逼视频软件SSW alumni. Two awards are given each year, one to a recent graduate (5-10 years) and the other to an alumnus or alumna 10+ years from graduation.

Criteria for this award can include:

  • Significant contributions that enhance the profession of social work in the larger community.
  • Significant contributions made to social work education.
  • Significant contributions made in the area of public service.
  • Significant contributions to practice issues within the profession.
  • Significant contributions to social policy and change.
  • Significant contributions to the 男女操逼视频软件SSW students and alumni.
  • A lifetime achievement in the profession of social work.


Nominees must be alumni of the Boston College School of Social Work (MSW or PhD). Current 男女操逼视频软件SSW Alumni Association Board members and 男女操逼视频软件SSW employees are not eligible. Both the award winner and the person who nominates the award winner will be invited to attend the annual award ceremony.

Questions? Contact the Alumni Board at听sswalumni@bc.edu.听

Award Recipients

2024 (October)

Sheilah M. Gauch, BA '96, MSW '01
Rebecca Camargo MSW '15

2024 (January)

Scune Carrington, MSW '09
Anne Day Leong, PhD '17

2023

Sarah B. Coughlin, MSW '07
Ngozi Enelamah, MSW '18, PhD '20

2022

Leslie Dominguez-Santos, MSW鈥01
Keith Chan, MSW鈥06 and PhD鈥13

2021

Charlene Luma 鈥03, MSW 鈥05
Charu Stokes-Williams, PhD 鈥11

2020

LCDR Monique Worrell-Oriola 鈥03, MSW 鈥06
Michael Grinnell, MSW 鈥16, LCSW
Marvin Toliver, MSW 鈥16, LSW
Josh McNeil, MSW 鈥15, LCSW
Jesse Wiltey, MSW 鈥16

2019

Tanya Sharpe, PhD 鈥07
Lamar Polk, MSW 鈥09

2018

Mitzi Peterson, MSW 鈥97
Najwa Sado Safadi, Ph.D. 鈥12

2017

Debra Sosin, MSW 鈥77
Nick Teich, MSW 鈥09

2016

Daniel Gill, MSW '06
Judith S. Willison, MSW '87

2015

Colleen Fitzgerald, MSW '11
James A. Martin, MSW '70

2014

Erin McAleer, MSW '05
Amy Vosburg-Casey, MSW/JD '01

BLI retreat - image of cohort 2022

Equity, Justice, and Inclusion

The mission of our Equity, Justice, and Inclusion (EJI) Initiatives is to develop policies and practices that promote a caring, respectful, and inclusive community. EJI promotes open and honest conversations, fosters interdisciplinary collaborations, and expands access to opportunities for historically marginalized groups, including women, racial and ethnic populations, and the LGBTQ+ community.听

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