SSW Offers Interdisciplinary Course on Anti-Violence Work

The SSW is offering a course on anti-violence work this spring that features collaboration with a national organization and interdisciplinary student involvement. The graduate course,
“Leadership development in anti-violence work: The Susan Schechter social action seminar,” was first introduced last spring, with support from the Schechter Fellowship of the Family Violence Prevention Fund (FVPF) and the Casey Foundation.

The course is designed to teach a model of social action and leadership focused on the effort to end violence against women and children. Because of FVPF’s prior collaborative work with SSW faculty, Simmons was chosen to develop and pilot the course, which is featured on the home page of the fund’s website, www.endabuse.org. “This collaboration with FVPF brings many benefits to Simmons students and faculty,” said Professor Ann Fleck- Henderson, who will teach the course with Isa Woldeguiorguis, director of policy and planning at Jane Doe Inc.: the Massachusetts Coalition Against Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence. “For example, the SSW will have access to national leaders in the field who can serve as guest lecturers in the classroom and as consultants to students. This past year we also had funding for a few students to attend and present their work at two national conferences.”

Last year’s course included students from the SSW’s master’s and doctoral programs, as well as Simmons nursing, GSLIS, women’s studies, and social justice students. “It is important
that the course include students from different disciplines,” said Fleck-Henderson. “Working across the silos that define our disciplines and service systems is one of the challenges that students must address to be effective professionals, activists, and change agents.” Fleck-Henderson said the course demands a high level of independent field and library research, in which students develop an action project that is the “deliverable” at the end of the class. Past projects include the creation of an information sharing blog for professionals in the criminal justice system who work with domestic violence survivors who are in prison.