The University of Southern California School of Social Work will host its annual black-tie fundraising dinner, 'A Celebration of the Heart, 85th Anniversary Gala,' on Sunday, Mar. 6, at The Beverly Hills Hotel in Beverly Hills. This year's theme, 'Honoring the Past, Inventing the Future,' commemorates the university's 125th anniversary, as well as the school's own 85-year legacy of helping solve important social problems while attracting the best faculty and students for educating tomorrow's leaders.

The event honors individual contributions to social work practice and research in the community and throughout the world. Proceeds from the evening will help launch the John Bryant Scholarship in Urban Social Development for students pursuing graduate study and careers in social work at the USC School of Social Work.

"This event is unique in the United States for a school of social work," said Dean Marilyn Flynn. "It brings together at one time recognition for a scholar whose work has changed society and honor for a distinguished community leader whose actions have transformed lives. All who attend this event agree that there is nothing quite like it elsewhere."

This year's Crystal Heart, the school's highest honor for community service, will pay tribute to John Bryant, chairman and CEO of Operation HOPE. The non-profit organization is America's first social investment banking and national self-help provider of economic empowerment tools and services for the underserved. Selected by Time magazine as one of America's most promising leaders of the future, Bryant has been cited by the past four U.S. presidents for his work to empower low-wealth communities and is a past recipient of the President's Volunteer Service Award for Lifetime Achievement for his charitable activities.

Richard Barth, Ph.D., Frank A. Daniels Professor of Human Services at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, will receive the Flynn Prize for Research. This award honors research that has achieved high social impact and carries a $10,000 honorarium and gold medallion. Author and co-author of 10 scholarly books and more than 170 articles and book chapters, Professor Barth is perhaps the single most well-known scholar in the United States on child welfare and foster care. A recipient of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Research from the National Association of Social Workers, he has been named lecturer at several research universities, including USC. His work was influential in shaping the Multi-Ethnic Placement Act, Adoption and Safe Families Act, Chafee Foster Care Independence Act and the revised Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act.

The school will also present Tena Nelson and Festus Webley the W. June Simmons Distinguished Alumna and Alumnus awards for their professional contributions to the field of social work and to the southern California community of Riverside.