Learning Opportunities

Expanding professional education

Mary Curtin, M.S.W. ’00, recently joined the School for Social Work as the manager of professional education, bringing with her a wealth of social work experience. She has worked in residential treatment, outpatient treatment, inpatient psychiatric services, vocational rehabilitation and disability services. She’s also a surveyor for the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) and travels across the country assessing employment and community services organizations. However, even across such different roles and environments, a theme emerged: creating and providing trainings has been her favorite part of the work.

“I was drawn to the position to be able to create training and education programs that would help social workers deepen and diversify their skills,” said Curtin. “As a professional in the field for almost 20 years, I understand how quickly regulations and requirements can change and I understand the importance of staying current with emerging ideas and best practices.”

Curtin sees opportunities to provide training and education in social justice and anti-racism leadership, as well as up-to-date practical information that can be directly applied in a variety of social work settings.

“One of the great things about social work is the diversity of work,” said Curtin. “However, I also understand how it is easy to become tracked in one area of social work, so I believe the programs we design will also be able to help social workers become familiar with a different aspect of social work that they may later want to pursue.”

Outside of work, Curtin spends time with her family traveling, going to puzzle rooms and the theater. They are heavily involved with their synagogue and, as Curtin puts it, “have spent more time marching [for political reasons] in recent years than I ever thought possible.” She also sits on the boards of the Northampton Education Foundation and the Human Service Forum.—Dane Kuttler