May 18, 2023
Commencement Remarks by Shari E. Miller, PhD, MSW, Dean and Professor
On behalf of the faculty, staff, and alumni of the Stony Brook University School of Social Welfare, congratulations to the class of 2023!
Graduates, do you all remember a couple of years ago, when most of you were just beginning your social work education, and I talked with you at your orientation? I realize it’s a while ago!
I asked you then to stop and reflect for a moment, to close your eyes and to think about what, at that time drove you, motivated you, to do this hard and essential work, what brought you to social work, I asked you to think about your “why” or “whys”? Then I asked you to write it down.
Fast forward or maybe not so fast, to today. I’d like to ask you to pause again now, let’s bring it full circle. So, if you would then please, once again close your eyes for a moment, if you’re comfortable doing so, and reflect on that same question but from where you are now – what drives you to do this hard and essential work. What are your whys now? How have they changed, refined, evolved, been shaped, just as YOU have over the last year, two? What does that driving passion look like for you today? Take a minute. Okay, got it? You can open your eyes. I want you to hold onto that, tell yourself that story, mark it in time, associate it with this moment and all of these people, and then take it with you as a reminder as you move onto your next steps as social workers.
You brought your MOST genuine of selves to this hard work. You focused on your classes, on the people, communities, and organizations you served in your practicum internships, you participated as engaged citizens in the School of Social Welfare, you grounded yourselves solidly in YOUR communities, doing what you could to be part of something larger than yourselves. Some of you did all of this while also working in much needed jobs and taking care of family responsibilities.
Nothing says social work like THAT kind of force of will, grounded in an unwavering belief that change is possible, AND a passionate, willful commitment to making the world a better place.
Your graduation from the Stony Brook University School of Social Welfare is evidence of your strength, your substance, THAT force of will, and your remarkable accomplishments. But, if there’s one thing social workers know, it’s that we accomplish so much more together than alone, and in fact, NO SINGLE PERSON EVER STANDS ALONE. So, I’d like to acknowledge and celebrate some exceedingly important people here today.
First, I’d like to introduce the faculty of the School of Social Welfare – would the faculty all please rise as you are able. You may be seated.
I’d also like to introduce the staff of the School of Social Welfare. They’re all around doing important things. Would you all please rise or make yourselves visible as you are able.
Please join me in extending gratitude to this incredible group of humans for all that they do each and every day to support you, our students, to challenge you to grow and develop as social workers, and ALSO all that they do to nurture the community of the School of Social Welfare and its reach into our larger community beyond.
And I’d like to extend a specific thank you to the members of the staff and administration of the School, who worked tirelessly to make today’s convocation possible – it is no small feat to coordinate this kind of event, and the spirit with which you all did this is indominable. Thank you.
Now, there is no way ANY of this, your education OR your graduation, could have been possible without the support and care of your loved ones. I’d like to ask our graduating students and our faculty and staff to please rise as able, turn and look around you, and celebrate with gratitude the families and friends of our graduates who are here with us today.
Thank you all. Please be seated.
The world needs social workers NOW more than ever. I said the exact same thing last year, and I would have said it the year before that, five, six years ago, and on and on, and it would have been just as true then as it is now and will continue to be going forward. The world always needs social workers NOW!
Being educated as social workers during the current times in which we’re all living, indelibly marks the narrative of who you are as professionals and how you’ll practice. This 21st century world is full of epic and persistent challenges, and social workers are engaged to try to address those challenges on every front including: in mental and behavioral health, addictions, housing, health equity and access, trauma, forensics, disabilities, veteran services, immigration, child well-being, poverty, food insecurity, racial injustice, gender injustice, environmental and economic injustice, to name just some.
Social workers engage in these spaces with people across the lifespan, through direct service, clinical work, research, education, policy, advocacy, and community organizing. The work we do in all of these areas (and others), ultimately, IS to fight for justice, for human rights, for the well-being of people and the planet, and we work to dismantle the structural inequities that are threaded through our society locally and globally.
Our work is unremitting, sometimes painstaking. Sometimes, it's difficult to see change or progress, but we’re driven by a constant belief that it’s possible (remember, what drives you!). For social workers, hope is a POWERFUL form of resistance. Hope isn’t about pretending our world is any different than it is, but instead it’s about stepping into it, with eyes wide open and a practiced commitment to bringing that hope to life, through action.
We come together. We connect and WE DO THE WORK. And bit by bit, even as we make our way through the minimum spaces, we make change happen, collectively. In coming together, in CONNECTING, we have the most anchoring and defining responsibility to be inclusive, to look closely at ourselves, to confront, name and unravel our own biases, to acknowledge and embrace difference, and ALSO find ways to productively, openly, and with genuineness and empathy, CONNECT across differences. To be accountable to and for ourselves and our behavior, to engage with integrity, and meet people where they are with our most authentic and ethical selves, THIS is how social work happens. This is how change happens.
So, as you make your way out into the world graduates, whether your next steps are to continue your social work education or to begin your social work careers as part of our essential workforce, know that WE SEE YOU. You are, AND as our soon-to-be alumni, will always be, a part of the Stony Brook University School of Social Welfare community. Our social work profession is defined by connection. YES, our challenges are epic, BUT, we’re here together, connected to do the work to make change. Remember no single person ever stands alone. John Muir once said: “when we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe”. When I reflect on that idea, it always strikes me that this, in many ways, is where hope lies. THAT CONNECTEDNESS is what you ALL walk in and carry with you as you enter the next steps in your social work careers. Stay connected to the School of Social Welfare as part of our community of now nearly 8000 alumni. Stay connected to each other, to your networks, AND stay “hitched to everything else in the universe”. Catalyze that so it propels whatever it is that drives YOU forward on your social work journey. Congratulations School of Social Welfare class of 2023!!!
