BUSSW Announces Winners of 2021 Alumni Association Awards

On October 2, 2021, BU School of Social Work will hold a virtual ceremony for its Alumni Association Awards, an annual event honoring BUSSW community members for their extraordinary contributions to the School and the field of social work.

BUSSW is proud to announce the 2021 award recipients:

Sonia Mee (‘97) and Professor Dawn Belkin Martinez, recipients of the Outstanding Contributions to the School of Social Work Award
Laura Wagner (‘06), recipient of the Outstanding Contributions to the Field of Social Work Award
Professor Suk-hee Kim (‘01), recipient of the Outstanding Career in Social Work Award
Reginald Harris (‘16), recipient of the Hubie Jones Urban Service Award
Ken Schulman, recipient of the Outstanding Contributions to the Alumni Association Award

Professor Dawn Belkin Martinez

Outstanding Contributions to the School of Social Work Award

Dawn Belkin Martinez, clinical associate professor and associate dean for Equity & Inclusion at BUSSW, is a social work educator, activist and scholar with a focus on anti-oppressive social work practice. She has more than 30 years’ experience in family therapy, trauma, and liberation health practice with marginalized communities. Dawn’s work as co-chair of the Equity & Inclusion committee has led to numerous initiatives that prioritize social and racial justice, including community learning circles, the Equity & Inclusion Speaker Series, an online module on structural and institutional racism, and a microsite for equity and inclusion resources. A founding member of the Boston Liberation Health Group, Belkin Martinez’s work as a scholar, educator, and social action leader spans community, national, and international arenas.

Sonia Mee (‘97)

Outstanding Contributions to the School of Social Work Award

Sonia Mee, LICSW, received her MSW from BUSSW in 1997 as a part-time student on the Charles River Campus. Mee is now assistant director of the Online MSW Program and a lecturer who has taught across all the School’s MSW programs. Mee began her post-student career with BUSSW as a field instructor in 1998, and has since served as a faculty advisor and director of the Fall River campus in addition to her current roles. Following the onset of the pandemic in 2020, Mee served alongside Dean Jorge Delva as one of the School’s liaisons to the University on Covid-19 and played an essential role in supporting the School’s transition to remote teaching. Prior to BU, Mee served as the director of Counseling and Community Services at the Joseph M. Smith Community Health Center, board chair of the Allston-Brighton Healthy Boston Coalition and member of the Allston-Brighton Substance Abuse Task Force.

Laura Wagner (‘06)

Outstanding Contributions to the Field of Social Work Award

Laura Wagner is an alumna of the Off-Campus Program in Tyngsboro, Mass. – now located in Bedford – where she graduated with an MSW in clinical social work in 2006. Wagner now splits her time between two leadership roles: she is a City Councilor in Marlborough, Mass., and Executive Director of Unitarian Universalist Mass Action (UU Mass Action), a state action network that organizes and mobilizes Unitarian Universalist congregations and individuals in support of racial and social justice campaigns. UU Mass Action’s work is grounded in racial justice and builds relationships with and centers the leadership of those who are most impacted by forms of oppression and injustice. UU Mass Action’s current campaigns include ending solitary confinement; environmental justice and climate; and immigrant, Indigenous and economic justice. Prior to working at UU Mass Action full-time, Wagner operated a private clinical social work practice and was clinical director at the Kathleen Burns Preparatory School.

Professor Suk-hee Kim (‘01)

Outstanding Career in Social Work Award

Suk-hee Kim, PhD, is a tenured associate professor at the Northern Kentucky University (NKU) School of Social Work at the College of Health and Human Services, and faculty fellow for the Institute for Health Innovation. An expert not only in gerontological social work education, Kim also specializes in opioid use, addiction, and social work education. Kim brought her specialty to NKU by developing the school’s first ever gerontology curriculum. With support and collaboration across the campus community, Kim played a significant role in helping her institution earn the Age-Friendly University designation in 2020, making NKU the first university in the region to join the international effort to increase accessibility and support services for students of all ages. Her initiative, Rising Hope for Aging, enlists social work students to work at a public housing community providing critical assistance for its low-income senior population. Kim’s innovations in elevating the field of gerontology and responding to the needs of older adults have earned her the prestigious CSWE Distinguished Recent Contributions to Social Work Education Award. She has also been selected for NKU’s Excellence in Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity Award; NKU’s Inclusive Excellence Faculty Leadership Award; CSWE’s Commission for Diversity and Social & Economic Justice Community Partnership Action Inaugural Award; the Korean American Social Work Educators Association Middle Career Achievement Award, and CSWE’s Council on the Role and Status of Women in Social Work Education Community Impact Award.

Reginald Harris (‘15)

Hubie Jones Urban Service Award

Reginald “Reggie” Harris, a clinical social worker and current candidate for Cincinnati City Council, received his MSW from BUSSW in 2015. Harris is the director of community life at The Community Builders, a nonprofit affordable real estate developer, and serves as board chair for Equality Ohio, board member for the Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority, and precinct executive for the Hamilton County Democratic Party. He is an active member of the National Association of Social Workers Ohio Chapter, a certified trauma practitioner, an arts educator, and a therapist. Before entering the social work field, Harris worked as a professional ballet dancer for ten years. He was recently named one of fifteen Champions of Change by the United Way of Greater Cincinnati.

Ken Schulman

Outstanding Contributions to the Alumni Association Award

Ken Schulman joined the School as an adjunct faculty member in 1979. After several years teaching and leading a travel program in Cuba, Schulman assumed the position of director of Admissions & Financial Aid in 1986. He was promoted to assistant dean for Enrollment Services & Alumni Relations in 1989, and to associate dean for Enrollment Services & External Relations in 1992. As the School’s liaison to the Alumni Association, its board, and steering committee, Schulman created an active and engaged Alumni Association Board and alumni networks across the US, and in Canada and Europe. These relationships resulted in more than $15 million in philanthropic support for the School, while his work in enrollment services increased the percentage of students of color and expanded the populations in advanced standing, dual degree programs, and macro practice. A scholarship fund is named in honor of Schulman and his wife, retired faculty member Betty J. Ruth.

In honor of Ken Schulman’s extensive and impactful work with BUSSW alumni, the Alumni Association has renamed this award the Ken Schulman Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Alumni Association.