News Archive
Alumni
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Since her transition in the late 1980s, Christina Munguia, MSW ’21, lived very privately as a transgender woman. When she decided to apply to the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work, the admissions requirements included the composition of an essay on why she wanted to become a social worker. In that moment, she decided to speak openly about who she was for the first time — a woman of transgender experience and refugee of war from El Salvador.
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In September 2023, nine weeks before he was due to complete the requirements for a Master of Social Work (MSW) degree at USC, Benjamin Roach, MSW ’24, lost his father. Over the previous four years, his father had been living with progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), a rare, Parkinson-plus syndrome that affects body movements such as walking, balance and eye function. In 2019, Roach and his older sister became the medical and financial power of attorney for their father.
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Since she was 15 years old, Mayra Zaragoza, MSW ’24, has been helping youth find connection and a sense of belonging. Born and raised in the North San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, where gang life was prevalent within her community and in her own family, she is now a graduate of the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work.
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In 2016, Oludara Adeeyo, MSW’19, embarked on a major life change to heal herself from traumatic experiences, and regain a sense of optimism for what she could offer to the world. Now, she is helping other Black women to do the same.
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Richard Kluckow, DSW ’18, made a trip to Washington, D.C. with his family during the final semester of his doctoral studies at the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work. It was the first time he visited the capitol since his eighth-grade class took a field trip, and the energy of the city excited him. He sensed that important things were happening and there were opportunities to make an impact on the world. In 2020, Kluckow landed a position with the U.S.
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One morning in 2018, Alejandra Cuevas was coming off her 12-hour night shift as a nurse in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Keck Hospital of USC when she met fellow nurse Jacob Spruill. As Spruill was starting his 12-hour day shift, Cuevas was giving report on a patient she had been caring for overnight. The patient was about to be put on dialysis and Cuevas offered to stay and help. Spruill was struck by her extraordinary offer to stay on following a 12-hour shift.
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For USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work alumna María E. Garay-Serratos, MSW ’92, PhD ’03, a career in service has come full circle with a quest to uncover the connection between domestic violence, traumatic brain injury and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a progressive and fatal brain disease associated with repeated sub-concussive brain injury.
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Each year, the National Association of Social Workers Foundation (NASWF) selects social workers who have explored new territories and built outposts for human services on many frontiers to be distinguished as NASW Social Work Pioneers®. They are recognized as thought leaders, mentors and luminaries whose work transformed communities and often influenced nationwide improvements.
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October 11 is National Coming Out Day, celebrated on the anniversary of the first National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights in 1987. For many in the LGBTQ+ community it serves as a reminder of the power of coming out. For social work alumna Kristen Kavanaugh, sharing her story in service to others is what resonates for her on this day.
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The experiences, accomplishments and goals of Tyler Titus, who received his Doctorate of Social Work (DSW) from the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work in 2020, share a common theme: expansion. As the first openly transgender elected official in Pennsylvania, Titus (they/them) expanded the idea of who could be included in government. They also incorporated a social work lens into who government should serve and how.