The above quote is from one of several Boston-area African-American women living with HIV, subjects of a new documentary film they helped produce along with Connell School of Nursing faculty members Assoc. Prof. Anne Norris and Asst. Prof. Rosanna DeMarco and filmmaker Chad Minnich. The film will be previewed on Thursday, April 3, from 5-7 p.m. in Cushing 001.
The film tells these women's stories: Tona, who felt "like a dented can"; Catherine, who found that "people kick you to the curb, just because you know what HIV stands for"; Sandra, whose "penthouse became the fan room in the Park Street station"; and Quennel, who had her tonsils removed "for the simple fact that I couldn't swallow these pills." They will be present for a panel discussion to share their experiences in making the film and their recommendations to future and current care providers as to how best meet the needs of HIV-positive people, especially women.
With President Bush's announcement of plans to combat AIDS in Africa raising hopes for a strong broad-based effort against the disease, the Graduate School of Social Work is continuing its own long-running campaign to battle AIDS and HIV.
This year will mark the 15th national conference on social work and HIV/AIDS, an event founded by GSSW and now regarded as a major locus of research, information and activity for social work and related professions.
The conference, to be held in Albuquerque, NM, from May 29-June 1, is largely the brainchild of GSSW Continuing Education Director Vincent Lynch, who has co-organized the event each year since it was first hosted by GSSW in 1988.
The conference, which recently received federal funding worth $100,000, has attracted support from both the private and public sectors. Drawing more than 500 representatives from social work and related professions annually, the conference has spawned four books worth of material and received numerous national honors for its programs on HIV and AIDS. One outgrowth was the establishment in 1997 of the National Research and Training Center on Social Work and HIV/AIDS, headquartered at GSSW.
"At this year's conference, we will address the complex challenges confronting families who are affected by HIV disease," said Lynch. "Family members are often important partners with social workers in HIV/AIDS service delivery. This is the case both for those who are family members of origin, as well as those who are family members of choice. This is especially true today as youth, older persons, and women of color are becoming infected at alarming rates in this country.
"New demands, roles, and opportunities exist for family-based caregiving today, and social work is playing a crucial role in this area. The 2003 conference will recognize, celebrate, and honor this important present day reality during many conference sessions and social activities."
The controversial issue of slavery reparations will be the subject of a symposium to be held at the Law School on March 14 in Stuart 411. The Boston College Third World Law Journal is organizing the event, titled "Healing the Wounds of Slavery: Can Present Legal Remedies Cure Past Wrongs?"
The goal of the symposium, organizer and third-year law student Wasana Pusynana said, "is to address in moral, historical and legal terms, whether current legal efforts to obligate the granting of reparations from private corporations can remedy the contemporary realities of slavery's effects on the African American community."
Harvard Professor Charles Ogletree Jr. and Boston University Law Professor Keith Hylton will provide keynotes for the event. The respondents will be George Washington University Law School Dean Alfreda Robinson, University of Alabama Law School Professor Alfred Brophy, University of California Hastings College of Law Professor Calvin Massey and BU Law Professor David Lyson. Northeastern University Law School Professor David Hall will serve as moderator.
Prof. Ruth-Arlene Howe was honored for her contributions to the legal profession and the Law School community at a portrait unveiling ceremony and reception held Jan. 30.
The reception, sponsored by the Office of Affirmative Action in collaboration with the Council of Black Faculty, celebrated Howe's career as a legal scholar, and honored her as the first African-American woman faculty member to achieve the rank of full professor in the Law School's history.
"Professor Howe has contributed immensely to the success of this school," said BC Law Dean John H. Garvey. "We are particularly proud that she is also a graduate of Boston College Law School. She represents the best that we have to offer."
Howe, considered one of the country's foremost experts on adoption and social services, has written extensively on family law, foster care, adoption and social services and co-authored Child Neglect Laws in America. She teaches courses in family and elder law, as well as Legal Interviewing and Counseling.
The Carnegie Corporation has invited the Lynch School to join six other leading teacher education programs in applying for a grant as part of Carnegie's "Teachers for a New Era" program.
If accepted into the program, LSOE would receive $5 million over five years from Carnegie, matched by University funds, to undertake new programs in teacher education. The Lynch School, in its initial proposal, said it would present "a plan to bring the quality, stature, and depth of our teacher education program to a new level of excellence."
LSOE Dean Mary Brabeck said, "This invitation is a great tribute to the creativity and hard work of the Lynch School faculty. Our teacher education program is one of the best in the nation and I am thrilled to have a chance to be part of the select group chosen to submit an application to the Teachers for a New Era program.
"The partnerships we are building with schools, our collaborations with colleagues in the College of Arts and Sciences, and the time faculty members from all parts of the University are giving to help children and youth in schools are very exciting" she added.
A recently launched Lynch School initiative seeks to help teachers better serve students with limited English proficiency, whose numbers in mainstream classrooms in Massachusetts and elsewhere are increasing.
Prof. Maria Brisk is principal investigator for Project ALL, which aims to equip all pre- and in-service teachers with content knowledge, instructional strategies, and practical experience to serve English language learners. The project is funded through a $1.5 million grant from the United States Department of Education.
Project ALL will prepare teachers to acquire additional licensure in English as a Second Language and increase the capacity of the Lynch School to prepare teachers to work with English language learners.
Project Director Anne Homza said scholarships for the program will be available for full-time graduate students and teachers working in designated Boston public schools.
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