Dean's Corner | August 2026 Issue: The necessity of hope in a new season
Dear CSSW Community,
Welcome back to a new school year! And a very special welcome to our new students. We are delighted and grateful that you have chosen to join our community. This is a notable day for me – my last day as Dean of the Columbia School of Social Work (CSSW).
When I said yes seven years ago to becoming dean of CSSW, I was determined to use my 30 years of experience at Columbia University to be of service to this very special community. It has been the highlight of my professional life to partner with faculty and staff to support our students, all of whom have chosen social work because of their deep commitment to do good in the world.
I have found so much joy in meeting and hiring new faculty and staff colleagues committed to advancing the mission of social work. With our new and continuing members, the CSSW faculty is second to none! And I am honored to have worked alongside social work researchers, educators, practitioners, and staff who grapple daily with some of the most pressing issues our society faces. In the background, I have focused intently on bolstering our infrastructure, doing the work that can often get pushed to the side because it won’t make headlines – yet which is critical in order to support the transformative work that we do.
For the last few years, we have worked together to ensure we were advancing our mission and vision in the midst of unprecedented turmoil. We have leaned heavily on NASW’s core values of social work to chart a path forward. In particular, I have felt compelled over and again to emphasize two of these core values: the importance of human relationships and the dignity and worth of every person. These principles have served as our anchor and our mainstay during times of extreme polarization and divisiveness, which challenged our ability to stay in community with one another. A sharpened focus on the core values of social work gave us the tools we needed to hold space for difficult conversations in ways that offered our best hope of avoiding further fracture in an already-fragile community. The core values have served us well.
As I reflect on the last seven years as your Dean, the word “service” surfaces as the cornerstone of my time here. I have observed countless examples of how you have shown up in myriad ways for each other, for our students, and for our local and global communities. I have been humbled by your willingness to show up everyday, despite personal and shared challenges and the great uncertainties and ongoing suffering in our world. I see this as clear proof of your desire to be of service. With all this in mind, it makes sense for us to center the core value of service in the coming academic year.
How do we actualize the principle of service? The social work way is not defined as having all the answers, but instead, as working in partnership with clients and communities. Perhaps Lilla Watson captured it best when she said: If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together. To pursue service effectively requires humility, openness, and hope.
Though it may seem counterintuitive to talk about hope when we are confronting the ills of the world, hope is an essential strength in the work. Some even call it a superpower. Because without hope, there cannot be change. I’m reminded again of the beautiful words of Bryan Stevenson: Injustice prevails where hopelessness persists. And if I’ve inherited anything from the generation who came before me, I have inherited their wisdom about the necessity of hope. Effecting positive change requires hope, and how we contribute to that change will shift and change shape over a lifetime. I have learned to be open to different ways of being of service as my own story evolves.
Stepping down at this moment to make room for new leadership is my final act of service as your dean. Tomorrow, I rejoin our community as a faculty member, and I look forward to being of service in new ways. Professor Julien Teitler has already beautifully exemplified what it looks like to be of service to all of us, by saying yes to the role of Interim Dean. I have the utmost confidence in his ability to lead our school in this season and our ability to fully support him. I am so incredibly grateful to Julien and to all of you for partnering with grace, wisdom, and strength as we pursued the most important work imaginable.
Most of you know by now my love of a good quote – because talented beings have said things so much better than I ever could. In this, my final “dean’s corner” message, I feel enormous pressure to conclude with a great quote. Here is a new one from Rabindranath Tagore that I haven’t shared before. I hope you find it as surprising and inspiring as I do: I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.
See you around campus!
In community, gratitude, and hope –
Melissa