C.W. Post Graduating Senior Named “Social Work Student of the Year”
Nassau County chapter of NASW honors mom, cancer survivor set to graduate on Sunday

Brookville, NY – Becoming a social worker wasn’t necessarily in the plans for C.W. Post student Melissa Morrissey. An office manager for a busy psychological practice in Great Neck, Morrissey was looking to earn her Pys.D. when she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

“It pulled the rug out from under me,” the 44-year-old Plainview resident said. It also changed the course of her life. Once the cancer went into remission, Morrissey decided to go back to school and earn her Master of Social Work. The decision turned out to be a good one as Morrissey, who will graduate from the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University on Mother’s Day, May 13, 2007, was chosen by Nassau County’s regional division of National Association of Social Workers (NASW) as Student of the Year, the third time in five years a C.W. Post student has been chosen.

“I feel incredibly honored,” Morrissey said. “It was a long road for me, going back to school and at times I struggled. This is very special.”    

A student in the gerontology track of the M.S.W. program, for her second-year internship, Morrissey worked at Double Day Babcock Senior Center, a multi-purpose, community-based senior center serving the wide and increasingly diverse needs and interests of those over 60. She participates in the center’s outreach program and visits homebound seniors on a weekly basis to assess their psychosocial functioning. She also co-facilitates several groups, one being a Care Givers Support Group for individuals caring for loved ones living with Alzheimer’s and other dementia-related disorders.

“Melissa has brought her enthusiasm and dedication for learning into the M.S.W. program,” said Orly Calderon, Psy.D., assistant professor in the C.W. Post Department of Social Work. “During her two years of study in our program, she has demonstrated extraordinary growth both as a social worker and as a scholar. Her interest in geriatric Social Work has culminated in an original and insightful capstone project about the relationship between organizational structures and staff burnout in a senior citizen center.” 

Upon graduation, Morrissey, who has a son and a daughter, plans to take the New York State Nursing Home Administrators Exam.

Morrissey is a member of the Golden Key National Honor Society, Psi-Chi Honor Society and Phi Alpha Honor Society. On Awards Day, held the day before Commencement, she will be awarded the Dean’s Award for Academic Excellence and the Dean’s Award for Outstanding Contribution to the department of Social Work. At commencement, Morrissey will represent all of the candidates from the College of Management when she is awarded her degree.

The Class of 2007 includes 964 baccalaureate degree candidates, 1,832 master’s degree candidates, 14 graduates receiving the Psy.D. in clinical psychology and 5 receiving the Ph.D. in information studies. This year, C.W. Post’s commencement ceremonies also include graduates from Southampton College and the Southampton Graduate Campus of Long Island University.

For more information call the C.W. Post Commencement Hotline at 516-299-3242 or visit www.liu.edu/cwpcommencement

Posted: May 11, 2007