The University of Chicago

School of Social Service Administration Magazine

A Challenge to SSA Alumni from Mary Winton Green, A.M. '49

 

Dear Alumni and Friends of SSA,

As a student at SSA, my field placement was an opportunity to experience first-hand the complicated nature of lives in an urban environment and to work with clients on solving issues that are layered and complex. Later, as a graduate of SSA and a social worker, I myself was a field instructor. Working with Bernece Simon, I was particularly interested in integrating students’ field work experiences with classroom learning.

And so, as a member of SSA’s Visiting Committee and the Excellence in Field Education Endowment Committee, I was excited to see how Karen Teigiser led the process to create the innovative conceptual framework for field education that SSA now employs. I’ve been impressed with Karen and her team’s development and integration of field work with the School’s curriculum, and I know the model is working extraordinarily well for our students.

My late husband David and I met at the University of Chicago, and we’ve been grateful to have had the opportunity to give back to SSA and the University. In addition to establishing three chairs for faculty at the University, we provided a gift to pilot and field test SSA’s new field work model as it was being created ten years ago. It’s a wonderful thing to have the means and opportunity to assist work that you know is innovative and important. 

SSA’s field education model is original and a best practice for the field of social work education. I have been happy and proud to have been a part of the effort to build field education at SSA, and I’m pleased to provide a new generation of resources to create permanent financial security for the program and to enable its continuous improvements in a changing profession. 

David and I always wanted to encourage progress and greatness with our giving. The Matching Gift Challenge is intended to encourage a community of supporters for SSA’s field education model. I will provide as much as $100,000 to match any new gift of any size (that is any gift beyond your typical annual gift), if you designate your second gift to the Endowment for Excellence in Field Education. I hope you will join me in ensuring that SSA continues to produce the most well-trained social workers in the world, and give as generously as your circumstances permit to the field education endowment.

Sincerely,
Mary Winton Green, AM ’49