Class Notes
Alumni News and Notes
Pitt School of Social Work grads do amazing things!
1980s
Dave Feehan (MSW ’81) was appointed to the Montgomery County, Maryland Community Reinvestment and Repair Fund Commission, which was founded with the purpose to provide funds to community-based organizations that serve communities determined by the Office of Social Equity, in consultation with the Office of the Attorney General, to have been the most impacted by disproportionate enforcement of the cannabis prohibition before July 1, 2022.
2000s
Stephanie Lutz (BASW ’01) was named 2025 City & State 40 In Their Forties.
Michael Lindsey (PhD ’02), Dean of the New York University Silver School of Social Work, was named by City & State New York as a Trailblazer in Health Care.
Kathi Elliott (MSW ’08), a psychiatric nurse practitioner and CEO of Gwen’s Girls, a nonprofit serving girls in the region who face racism, poverty, and violence, was appointed to the Allegheny County’s new Juvenile Detention Advisory Board.
2010s
Two School of Social Work alumna were named to Pittsburgh Magazine’s 2025 40 Under 40 list: Jessica Gurley (BASW ’10; MSW ’12) and Rhonda Strozier (BASW ’17; MSW ’19).
Jasmine Wilson-Bryant (MSW ’11) was nominated by her coworkers and won Social Worker of the Year 2025 for the Washington, DC Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
Democratic Allegheny County lawmakers chose Pittsburgh House member Aerion Abney (MSW ’12) to chair their delegation at the Capitol.
Mark Ruffalo (MSW ’12), Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Central Florida, published a review paper in the journal Psychodynamic Psychiatry, marking 50 years since John Gunderson’s critical paper on borderline personality disorder.
David Newman (MSW ’13), Assistant Professor of Creative and Professional Writing at Pitt-Greensburg, was awarded a Pushcart Prize for his story “The Last Thing That Happened Before I Became a Med Tech.”
2020s
Priya Gupta (BASW ’24) was nominated and selected by faculty and students for the Solomon O. Lichter Memorial Prize at the University of Chicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice. This award is given to graduating master’s degree students for high scholarship and professional leadership.
2025 Social Worker Appreciation of Greatness Award (S.W.A.G. Awards) honored alumnae:
- Janiece Anderson (MSW ’09)
- Vanessa Beck (MSW ’10)
- Detria Dixon (MSW ’13)
- Dana Warren (MSW ’05)
- Michelle McMurray (MSW ’07)
- Khavah Murray (MSW ’08)
- Sheila Gillespie Roth (BASW ’83; MSW ’84)
- Rosalie Smiley (BASW ’79; MSW ’80; PhD ’99) LaToya Hamm Wilson (MSW ’16)
We want to hear about your accomplishments! Email sswalums@pitt.edu with your updates.