Social Worker Leaders Selected for Induction into Hall of Distinction

Members of the Hall of Distinction Committee at the 2016 induction celebration.  

Left to right front row Janlee Wong, Benjamin Cuellar, Suzanne Dworak-Peck, Nancy Lim-Yee, Esther Gillies

Back row: Joseph Nunn, Catharine Ralph, Colleen Friend

Not pictured: Frances Caple, Kim Gaghagen, Anita Harbert, Jim Kelly

PHOTO CREDIT: Amy Tierney/Thrive Images

The California Social Work Hall of Distinction Committee has announced the social work leaders selected for induction in 2017. From a vast array of extraordinary nomination submissions, this year’s inductees will be:

Doreen Der-McLeod, model-establishing leader in elder health care center program management; Dr. Bernice Catherine Harper, clinician, educator and researcher who transformed social work and hospice and palliative care; Dr. Rebecca Alicia Lopez (posthumously), academic and community leader with extraordinary impact on Latino empowerment, social justice and the profession; Ken Kaoru Nakamura, distinguished educator and practitioner who has promoted social change; Dr. Barbara Needell, innovator in improving child welfare system policy and practice with data-driven research; and Benny Max Parrish, (posthumously) staunch client advocate and ethical hero.

This distinguished group will be recognized at an induction ceremony and reception beginning at 3:00 on October 21, 2017 at the San Mateo Marriot San Francisco Airport. The ceremony is held in conjunction with the NASW-CA Annual Conference. Everyone is invited to attend and to place a tribute message in the commemorative program. Email cswa@usc.edu to request to be on the invitation list. NASW-CA Annual Conference participants can make reservations during their online registration.

Since its inception in 2002, the mission of the California Social Work Hall of Distinction has been to recognize individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the advancement of the social work profession and/or social work practice in California. CSU Los Angeles’ Dr. Colleen Friend chairs the committee which is comprised of social work leaders from universities and social work organizations throughout the state.  The California Social Work Hall of Distinction operates as a committee of the California Social Welfare Archives, which, with support from the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work, maintains oral histories of social work leaders and collections of some of the most historically significant documents in the development of social welfare in the state. Find more information and view videos of recent induction events at www.socialworkhallofdistinction.usc.edu and www.usc.edu/cswadigital