Lorraine Gutierrez, Ph.D., receives prestigious Richard Lodge Prize at Alumni and Friends Day
by Cecil Harris
| Dean Andrew Safyer, Ph.D., with Richard Lodge Prize recipient and University of Michigan Professor Lorraine Guti茅rrez |
Displaying the perseverance that has elevated her to prominence in the social work profession, University of Michigan Professor听, gracefully withstood a 20-minute interruption caused by a fire alarm and continued to deliver her impactful keynote address as the 2013 recipient of the Richard Lodge Prize at听 on May 3.
Fortunately, the fire alarm was false. The unplanned interlude gave the audience at the Thomas Dixon Lovely Ballroom more time to reflect on Dr. Guti茅rrez鈥檚 speech, 鈥淎n Empowerment Perspective on Natural and Unnatural Disasters.鈥� An example of a natural disaster would be Hurricane Sandy; an unnatural disaster would be the fatal shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.
Dr. Guti茅rrez, who regards social work pioneer Jane Addams as a role model, urged the audience of social work educators, social workers and students to become truly engaged with their local communities as opposed to practicing what she called 鈥渄rive-by helping.鈥� She asked audience members to write down one goal that would improve their empowerment practice. She also implored educators to set the right example for students.
鈥淚f you are the type of educator who laments that students are not interested in talking to politicians to lobby on a particular issue and you鈥檙e not doing that as a faculty member, then what type of behavior are you modeling?鈥� she asked.
Dr. Guti茅rrez also drew a sharp distinction between the way people and institutions react to certain unnatural tragedies, comparing the Sandy Hook shootings to the frequent acts of gun violence across America.
鈥淲e tend to be outraged by what happened at Sandy Hook or the Boston Marathon bombings, but not outraged that there are seven gun fatalities affecting children in America every day,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hat is because we don鈥檛 see [the daily violence] as readily and it doesn鈥檛 happen in the same place. But that doesn鈥檛 make the daily violence any less outrageous.鈥�
Dr. Guti茅rrez has done pioneering work in the area of empowerment theory and its application to social work. She has a joint appointment with the and at the University of Michigan and is an associate professor in American culture. She is the editor-in-chief of the . Her teaching and scholarship focus on multicultural and community organization practice and methods for multicultural education in higher education.
Before presenting the Lodge Prize, Andrew Safyer, Ph.D., dean of the听School of Social Work, told the audience, 鈥淭here are two things I particularly admire about Dr. Guti茅rrez: (1) her ability to have very difficult conversations respectfully, and (2) her generosity as a mentor to students, practitioners and colleagues.鈥�
Dr. Guti茅rrez鈥檚 visit to Adelphi was a homecoming of sorts. From 1978 to 1984, she was a social worker in New York City. As a caseworker in the Bronx, she conducted education and training workshops around domestic violence and developed and managed an emergency shelter program in the Bronx, Queens and Staten Island.
鈥淒r. Guti茅rrez has had such a great impact on the profession and she鈥檚 a seminal thinker in the area of empowerment theory and practice, which is core to the work we do as social workers,鈥� Peter Chernack, D.S.W., associate dean of the School of Social Work, said. 鈥淚t was wonderful to have her here at Adelphi.鈥�
The Lodge Prize is named for the late Richard Lodge, Ph.D., who was a leading social work educator and 茄子视频 professor. Dr. Lodge had a distinguished career that included service as executive director of the dean of the and professor at the .
鈥淚 believe Dick Lodge would be pleased to know that this year鈥檚 prize was given to Dr. Guti茅rrez,鈥� Dean Safyer said.
For further information, please contact:
Todd Wilson
Strategic Communications Director听
p 鈥� 516.237.8634
e 鈥� twilson@adelphi.edu