Dewberry Rooney receives 2022 SSW Alumna of the Year Award
Each year the School of Social Work recognizes an alum who has practiced with distinction since graduation and exemplified the absolute best of the social work profession. This year, Dr. Glenda Dewberry Rooney (PhD ’94) received the 2022 Alumna of the Year Award. She was nominated by SSW’s Dr. Priscilla Gibson.
Dr. Dewberry Rooney received the award at the School of Social Work’s Annual Field Instructor Luncheon on April 28, 2022, presented by SSW Interim Director Dr. Joseph Merighi (both pictured left).
Throughout her career, Dr. Dewberry Rooney has been influential in shaping social work practice and education in the United States and abroad. She has worked with children, adults, and families providing mental health and child welfare services. In addition, she served as a professor at Minnesota State University, Mankato, as the Assistant Dean of Students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and as the Social Work Department Chair at Augsburg University. Dr. Dewberry Rooney is credited with hosting the first conference on disproportionality and disparities for children of color in Minnesota. Dr. Gibson noted in her nomination how this particular conference was instrumental in pushing issues of disproportionality and disparities for children of color to the forefront.
Dr. Dewberry Rooney has authored several books, worked as a trainer and consultant in the U.S. Taiwan, Ghana, The Netherlands and Korea, and volunteered her time with local and national organizations. She served as a member and the Vice Chair of the Minnesota Board of Social Work, as the Chair of the American Association of Social Work Boards Exam Committee, and as an editorial board member for the Journal of Research on Social Work Practice.
The School of Social Work community is truly grateful for the important role Dr. Dewberry Rooney has played in the lives of so many social work students and for her sterling contributions to the social work profession, both as a practitioner and as an educator.