Linking Passion with Purpose

Kyle T. Ganson is an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto, Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work. As part of his studies at Simmons, he created the course “Social Work Assessment and Treatment of Eating Disorders,” to be taught in Spring 2024. We spoke to Ganson about his doctoral experience at Simmons and the inspiration behind the course.

This fall, Sage Loyema Innerarity, a citizen of the Ione Band of Miwok Indians of California, began graduate studies at the Simmons School of Library and Information Science. Working in cooperation with Indigenous individuals, she builds and preserves tribal archives. Innerarity spoke with us about the importance of community, Native literature, and remembrance.

Deborah (Cheetham) Mattheus, MSN, PhD, APRN-Rx, CPNP, FAAN, is the Nancy Atmospera-Walch Endowed Professor in School Health at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Under her leadership, the Hawaii Keiki (child): Healthy and Ready to Learn program has expanded healthcare access to hundreds of K–12 public schools throughout the state.

Karen Pierre-Louis is a school social worker at the East Boston Early Education Center, a Boston Public School serving children in Pre-K through first grade. As the school’s first full-time social worker, Karen collaborates closely with the school psychologist, teachers, and administrators to support students’ social-emotional needs.

On October 1, 2023, Simmons School of Social Work doctoral candidate Erin Fraser became the first female Executive Director of Benilde Hall, a recovery center in Kansas City, Missouri. Fraser spoke with us about her reaction to this historic appointment, her enthusiasm for supporting underserved individuals, and her conception of leadership.

Karen Boss ’95 ’13MA earned a double Bachelor’s degree in Communications and Sociology and returned to Simmons twenty years later for her Master’s in Children’s Literature. She is a senior editor at Charlesbridge, where she works on fiction and nonfiction picture books, and middle-grade and young adult works.

In a letter to the community, President Lynn Perry Wooten reminds us of our responsibility to unequivocally condemn hate and violence, to ensure our community feels safe and respected, and to use our learning and leadership to build new pathways that further understanding.

Author Marivi Soliven shares how her work as a Filipino interpreter inspires her writing and philanthropy, and her motivates her to share the Filipino experience in her work.