Hubie Jones Lecture to Address Issues in Urban Health

 HIV and AIDS, neonatal problems for children born into poverty, health and aging, management of health care costs, and disparities in access to health care. These are all topics the School of Social Work hopes to address in its upcoming lecture series, the Hubie Jones Lecture in Urban Health.
   
To address how social work can be used in resolving urban health issues in the U.S. and globally, the School will invite prominent national and international leaders to present lectures on their area of expertise and to talk about current issues in health and social work.

“It is important that people be exposed to critical thinking in this area,” said School of Social Work Dean Gail Steketee, “Health is a very important problem.”

SSW students, faculty, staff and alumni will be invited, along with the Boston University community and the community-at-large, to attend the annual lecture, which will focus on the topic of health and social work.

Steketee believes the lecture series will inspire students to tackle pressing issues in urban health. The lecture, named after Dean Emeritus Hubie Jones, keeps with the School’s urban mission, which is rooted in Jones’ advocacy for people in need in urban settings.

Jones received his master’s degree in social work from Boston University in 1957 and served as School of Social Work dean from 1977 to 1993. Prior to his return to the School, Jones was executive director at Roxbury’s Multi-Service Center where he led the Task Force on Children Out of School. The task force’s report, The Way We Go to School: the Exclusion of Children in Boston, brought about groundbreaking legislation focused on bi-lingual and special education.

Funding for the series is not yet high enough to start planning the first lecture, but the School hopes to raise funds to complete the endowment during this school year.

“We are most grateful to the alumna who has provided the seed funding for the lecture,” said Associate Dean Ken Schulman. “[We] look forward to additional funding support from others as well as, of course, to holding the first lecture in fall 2011 or spring 2012.”

To make a donation in support of the fund, please send a check (payable to Boston University School of Social Work, with the notation “Hubie Jones Fund” on the memo line) to:

Ken Schulman, MSW
Associate Dean
Boston University School of Social Work
264 Bay State Road
Boston, MA 02215