The Wednesday Series was initiated by Dean Jeanette C. Takamura in 2002 to foster explorations of interdisciplinary scholarship, policy, and practice and to highlight diverse social justice issues in the social work profession. The Series features Distinguished Visiting Alumni (DVA), Distinguished Visiting Scholar (DVS), Clinical and Community Practice Grand Rounds, Open Society Institute @ CUSSW, and additional events.

Unless otherwise noted, all events are held at Columbia University School of Social Work. Travel directions.

Providing Mental Health Aid after a Disaster

Sander Koyfman, MD
Disaster Psychiatry Outreach and Director of Inpatient Psychiatry at New York Methodist Hospital

Dr. Koyfman will examine the goals, objectives, and core skills in addressing trauma among community members subsequent to a disaster.  Drawing upon examples of the work of Disaster Psychiatry Outreach, He will discuss essential tasks of mental health providers.

Disaster Psychiatry Outreach brings psychiatric care to victims at disaster sites.  The organization trains and manages volunteer psychiatrists who can provide comprehensive, high quality care, such as emergency assessments, short-term pharmacologic and psychotherapeutic treatments and referrals to long-term care through the existing mental health system in the aftermath of a disaster.

Room C03
12:30 - 1:30pm
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Internalized Oppression and Self Care

Willie Tolliver, PhD
Associate Professor, Hunter College School of Social Work

Dr. Willie Tolliver is an associate professor of Hunter College School of Social Work (HCSSW) and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York teaching organizational design in the Social Welfare PhD program.  In the MSW program he teaches in the social welfare policy and the social work practice lab sequences.  Author of books on leadership in the public and non-profit sector, Dr. Tolliver is also the co-convener of the HCSSW faculty committee on “Undoing Racism.”

Dr. Tolliver has kept his lifetime commitment to children through on-going work with New York’s lead child welfare agency, the Administration of Children Services (ACS) in New York City.  His most recent work involves collaboration with the Research Center for Leadership in Action at NYU Robert E. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service to develop The ACS Leadership Academy for Child Safety.

Room C03
6:30 - 8:00pm
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Social Work and Religious Diversity: Problems and Possibilities

Paul Knitter, PhD
Professor of Theology, World Religions and Culture
Union Theological Seminary, New York

Dr. Knitter will explore the need for social workers to engage in their clients' diverse religious visions and values.This will include how a social worker's personal religious beliefs can influence their practice, the implications of a client's religious beliefs in relation to fatalism, abandonment of responsibility, exploitability, sexism or homophobia, and how religion can provide a reminder to either religious or non-believing social workers to maintain "inner resources" for the hard labor of social work.

Dr. Knitter is the Paul Tillich Professor of Theology, World Religions, and Culture at Union Theological Seminary, New York. Previously, for some 30 years, he taught theology at Xavier University in Cincinnati, OH. He received a Licentiate in theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome (1966) and a doctorate from the University of Marburg, Germany (1972). Most of his research and publications have dealt with religious pluralism and interreligious dialogue.

Room C03
12:15 - 1:45pm
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GOD GIVES, GOD TAKES: Theologies of Disaster

Mary Ragan, PhD
Area Director, Trinity Church Counseling Center
Psychotherapy & Sprituality Institute

While the psychological symptoms of trauma in the aftermath of disaster are well known to social workers, the role of theology and the function of religion may be territory that is less familiar. This presentation will address what social workers need to think about when dealing with disaster, religion and the role of the faith community; it will focus especially on New York City after 9/11 and New Orleans after Katrina to draw lessons for community work in Haiti.

Room C03
12:30-1:30pm
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The Lonely Soldier: The Plight of Military Women In and Out of War

Helen Benedict
Professor, Columbia University School of Journalism

Professor Helen Benedict, author of The Lonely Soldier: The Private War of Women Serving in Iraq, will be speaking about military women who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, their experiences at war, their treatment at the hands of the military and their male comrades, and their needs and problems when they come home.

Room C05
1:00-2:00pm
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