Alumni
Development and Alumni News
Read about the news from VanKirk Career Center and some of the distinguished Pitt Social Work alumni.
From the VanKirk Career Center
The VanKirk Career Center at the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work officially opened its doors to our social work students and alumni in October 2015, and the response has been outstanding.
At the center, we do our best to help our students hear these two words: “You’re hired.”
We offer a variety of career development work- shops devoted to topics such as résumé writing, effective interviewing, salary negotiation, and licensure preparation. We provide video mock interviews for students and alumni as well as individual career consultations as requested.
As the director of career services, I ask you, our alumni, to e-mail us any social work job opportunities that you may know about. We can then add those to current job listings on our Web site and tweet them to our Twitter followers. Also, many of our graduates relocate to other cities and states. I would ask that they let us know of opportunities in their cities or regions and also consider networking with current students or other graduates who might be considering the same path. Being able to communicate with fellow alumni can be a critical part of the job search process.
Our students receive a first-rate education at the School of Social Work, and it falls on all of us to help them move forward so that they, too, can help to bring about change in our society. Please e-mail job descriptions, names of agencies, and any job-related information to me at bobby@pitt.edu. You also can feel free to call me at 412-624-6354.
Thank you in advance for your assistance, and I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Hail to Pitt!
Bobby Simmons
Director of Career Services
School Honors Distinguished Alumni
The 2016 Distinguished Alumni recognition program was held on October 5, 2016, at the School of Social Work. The following awards were presented at the luncheon: Distinguished Alumni Award in Social Work Education, Michael Lindsey (MSW ’01, PhD ’02), McSilver Associate Professor of Poverty Studies, New York University; Distinguished Alumni Award in Social Work Practice, James Bernardo (MSW ’76), executive vice president and chief operating officer, Presbyterian Senior Living; Outstanding Alumni Award, Rodney Rutkowski (BASW ’75, MSW ’80), director of health management, UPMC St. Margaret; Outstanding Field Instructor Award, Carol Brackett (MSW ’79), prevention division chief, Allegheny County Department of Human Services/Area Agency on Aging; and Rising Star Award, Benjamin Bishop (BASW ’10, MSW ’11), founder and coordinator, nature-related programming, Pittsburgh Mercy Health System. For more information on the Distinguished Alumni awards program and to submit nominations for the 2017 awards, please visit socialwork.pitt.edu/alumni/distinguished-alumni.