Jose Berrios ’72 recently retired from counseling and teaching and is now volunteering at an assisted living facility and ushering at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida. Tahiti is on his bucket list for March, 2023.

Norman White ’72 is retired and living in White Plains, NY. He is active in Rotary and is part of the NYC and Westchester County District Committee which presents on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Presentations range from issues surrounding discrimination to understanding various and diverse life styles. In the White Plains chapter, Norman is chair of the Social Justice Committee. Norman tells us, “The people of color in our community asked our help in navigating the banking system, including people who are undocumented. Next issue will be housing. In my church, we ‘adopted’ a church in Puerto Rico (years before the hurricane). We have gone there to help rebuild, raised money for generators and much more. They also reciprocated by helping us have a bi-lingual summer program for children here.”

Susan Siegeltuch ’76 conducted forensic evaluations of asylum seekers at a detention center in Texas in 2018 and 2019. She won a writing award for her paper, Out From Behind the Couch: The Case of a Mother and Her Suicidal Teen Daughter in Detention, and was recently appointed North Amercian co-chair of Psychoanalytic Assistance in Crisis and Emergencies in the World (PACE), a new committee of the International Psychoanalytic Association (IPA). They are networking with therapists to step in and provide pro-bono trauma work with people from Ukraine.

Mark Laster ’78 was featured in the Queen’s Gazette in April, 2022.

Cassaundra Williams-Anderson ’78 created various four-session online workshops titled, “Sankofa: The Roots of Healing.” The workshops define trauma, using the intersection of genealogy and the history of slavery. Participants learn the definition of trauma and epigenetics and how it shows up in their bodies. The workshops are taught by trauma-informed professionals and include breathing exercises, grounding modalities, meditation, dance and music. “Sankofa: The Roots of Healing” continues today and has developed into a community of people who are seeking to heal their unfinished history. Her next workshops are scheduled for September 2022 via Zoom. For more information and to receive her free short guide to beginning their family research, Ready to Get Started Creating Your Family Tree?, please join her mailing list.

Donald Miles ’79 retired on December 31, 2020, as a New York State Supreme Justice. He says, “The training that I received at Columbia University School of Social Work enabled my success. Thanks for all you have done to make this possible.”