Eight faculty of social work alumnae stand together side by side smiling.

Our alumni

About Helen Mann

In 1943, Helen Mann became the first lecturer hired at the University of Manitoba School of Social Work. Mann worked for the School for 31 years. Throughout her career, Mann made an enormous contribution to shaping the standards of social work practice in the Winnipeg community and across Canada. She also contributed to the development of social work in Canada and was renowned for the way in which she combined her skills as an educator and scholar with those of personal graciousness and sensitivity.

Mann’s wisdom and experience has had a profound effect on the Faculty of Social Work. In the Fall of 1992, the Faculty of Social Work created the Helen Mann 50th Anniversary Award to honour her memory. A Helen Mann award was also established to provide bursaries to students who are registered in fulltime studies in the BSW program at the William Norrie Centre or at Thompson, Manitoba, and who require financial assistance in order to continue their studies.

Honouring our community

  • A previous recipient of the Helen Mann 50th Anniversary Award.
  • The Helen Mann 50th Anniversary Award

    The Helen Mann 50th Anniversary Award recognizes a person or organization that has made an outstanding contribution to the social work profession and/or to the field of social work in Manitoba. The award is presented at our Homecoming events. Everyone is encouraged to nominate a social worker/activist or an organization.

The Helen Mann 50th Anniversary Award recipients to be honoured during our Homecoming 2023 reception:

Past award recipients

Homecoming 2023

Faculty of Social Work 80th Anniversary Homecoming 2023

The Honourable Anita R. Neville, Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba will be hosting a reception for this year’s Faculty of Social Work 80th Anniversary Homecoming 2023. 

During the reception, we will be presenting the Helen Mann 50th Anniversary Award to members of the community who have made outstanding contributions to the field of social work. 

UM Today story

If you did not receive a Homecoming e-vite, please update your contact information with Alumni Relations.

Mentoring our students

Are you interested in contributing to our students’ success working in the field? Our Field Education Program is always looking for field instructors and agencies. As part our undergraduate curriculum, students are required to gain field practicum experience in agencies across Canada and graduate.
 
If you are interested in becoming a field instructor, contact us.

As we are an accredited program, Field Instructors must possess a BSW, MSW or RSW with a minimum of two years' experience.

Make a difference

  • Thanks to your support, our students in financial needs are given opportunities to further their education and research through awards and bursaries. If you are interested in supporting Faculty of Social Work students, make a gift to social work fellowships and bursaries.

    Make a gift

    For specific funding opportunities, select “Social Work” under the fund search.

    Fund search

Visiting Dean Lecture

Dean

Dean Dr. Asher Ben-Arieh

The Faculty of Social Work welcomes Dr. Asher Ben-Arieh from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem to the University of Manitoba.

Topic: What We Can Learn from Children and Why We Should Listen to Them

About Lecture:

Dr. Ben-Arieh will be presenting on the major shifts and changes in the study of children’s well being. He will highlight the need to incorporate subjective perceptions of children in any effort to understand their lives, and will present findings from the International Survey of Children’s Well-Being (ISCWeB), the biggest ever survey of children. In this study they collected representative data on children’s lives, daily activities, perceptions, and evaluations of their lives in as many countries as possible. During the last decade, they conducted the study in more than 50 countries and asked more than 250,000 children about their lives. Special emphasis will be given to the implication of this new knowledge to child welfare, health, and social services.

About Dr. Asher Ben-Arieh:

Specializing in children's rights and child welfare, Dr. Ben-Arieh is a professor and Haruv Chair for the study of Child Maltreatment at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is also the Dean of the Paul Baerwald School of Social Work and Social Welfare and Director of the Haruv Institute in Jerusalem. He served for 20 years as the Associate Director of Israel’s National Council for the Child. Since 1990 and until 2011 he has been the founding Editor-in-Chief of the annual “State of the Child in Israel”.

Dr. Ben-Arieh has published extensively on children’s well-being, child maltreatment and indicators of children well being. Dr. Ben-Arieh is the founding Editor-in-Chief of the Child Indicators Research journal (CIR) and the Child Well Being: Indicators and research book series. Dr. Ben-Arieh is one of the leading international experts on social indicators, particularly as they relate to child well-being. He initiated and coordinated the International Project “Measuring and Monitoring Children Well-Being”, was among the founding members of the International Society for Children Indicators (ISCI) and elected to be its first co-chair. Currently, he is one of the PI’s of the multi-national, multi-million International Study of Children’s Well-being (ISCWeB) research project.

 

Distinguished Guest Lecture Series

Dr. Peter Simcock

Crossing the Divide between Ageing and Disability: A Workshop for Social Workers

In-Service Workshop for students and practitioners facilitated by:
UM Distinguished Guest Lecturer - Dr. Peter Simcock, Birmingham City University

About the Workshop
The majority of disabled people are over 65 years of age and the majority of those over the age of 75 are disabled in some way.  Nevertheless, despite this demographic fact, or perhaps because of it, older disabled people are rarely regarded as disabled in the same way as children or working age adults.  Older people’s voices have been absent in the disability movement, and gerontological research has failed to examine the experience of disability in later life, with limited debate between later life and disability studies.  In practice, there are reports of social services being ill equipped to meet the needs of disabled people in later life: disability services do not readily respond to ‘ageing matters’, while services for older people fail to respond to disability related needs or adopt medical models of disability. 

This interactive workshop invites participants to reflect on their experiences of social work practice in the disability and gerontological fields, to examine the commonalities and differences in experience and need amongst those ageing with disability and those ageing into disability, and to explore how a social model of disability might support social work practice in both fields.

About Distinguished Guest Lecturer
Dr. Peter Simcock is Senior Lecturer in Social Work at Birmingham City University, United Kingdom.  He has an academic background in law, social work, and gerontology, and has worked in social work education for over ten years. Prior to his academic career, Peter was a social worker, working predominantly in the physical and sensory disability field. Widely published in the field of deafblindness, he is also co-author of the Polity published text ‘Social Work and Disability’  and more recently published a chapter on disability in the text ‘Human Rights and Social Justice. Key Issues and Vulnerable Populations’ edited by Prof. Carole Cox and Prof. Tina Maschi.

Learn more

Ongoing projects and events

PCWC Conference 2024

Prairie Child Welfare Consortium (PCWC) is hosting their 12th biennial conference June 12-14, 2024, in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

The PCWC is a unique tri-provincial and northern, multi-sector and cross-cultural child welfare network in Canada. Partners include the prairie based social work programs, provincial ministries, and community agencies. Our goal is to build capacity, at the different levels of all systems that support children, families, and communities in the Prairie Provinces, while ensuring respect for needs for engagement of First Nations and Metis Communities in the delivery of child welfare services.

About the conference

National Forum on Education Equity for Children & Youth in Care

Child welfare and education professionals are independently and universally mandated to work in the best interests of children. Yet, despite the fact that collaboration is unequivocally endorsed as “best practice” for working with youth (Darlington & Feeney, 2008, p. 195), it has not yet emerged as an intuitive approach to practice for educators and child welfare workers, nor is it instituted in policies, practices, and structures. Given that both professions share collective responsibility for children in care, facilitating an interprofessional focus and dialogue around the needs of children in care can highlight a greater understanding of the value of working collaboratively, with a view toward improving children’s educational experiences. 

The objective of this national forum is to bring together an inter-professional group of researchers, academics, and practicing practitioners to highlight current research and works in progress on the policy, practices, and programs related to educational experiences and outcomes of children in care of child welfare systems. 

Please visit equityforkidsincare.net for more information and to register.
Twitter: twitter.com/EduEquityKids

  • A group of 4 people stand together at a Strangers in New Homelands Conference.
  • Strangers in New Homelands Conference

    www.strangersconference.com
    Conference chair: Dr. Michael Baffoe

    This conference has run through very critical times in world migration history: the unprecedented displacement and movements of people from their homes into other countries, especially to Europe seeking safety as well as better life conditions. 

    This year marks the 13th edition of the Strangers in New Homelands Conference and focuses on the challenges and opportunities in world migration and settlement in the continuous era of global conflicts and post-COVID-19 global pandemic.

    Presentations and workshops examine how migrants interact with potential oppressions and markers of identity such as race, gender, sexual orientation, immigration status, age, religion, language, and socioeconomic status.

    Registration is now open for the upcoming conference. To register, please visit: umanitoba.ca/social-work/strangers-conference

Contact us

Faculty of Social Work
Room 521 Tier Building
173 Dafoe Rd. W
University of Manitoba (Fort Garry campus)  
Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2 Canada

204-474-7050
204-474-7594