School for
Social Work: 85 Years Young
By Trinity Peacock-Broyles
'03
Newly renovated 117-year-old Lilly Hall
is once again home to the Smith College School for Social
Work and the Graduate Studies Office. The school will be celebrating
its return to
Lilly as well as its 85th Anniversary from June 27 to 29.
As a part of the activities, the school will hold a conference titled “From
Shell Shock to PTSD: The Evolutionary Context of the School
for Social Work,” which will examine the school’s history
of responding to such traumas as the effects of war and poverty, racism,
domestic violence
and homophobia.
Carolyn Jacobs, the newly named dean of
the school, will oversee the celebration. Jacobs was appointed
by the Smith
College Board of Trustees in February. A member
of the school’s faculty since 1980, she holds the Elizabeth Marting Treuhaft
Chair as full professor. She has been acting dean since July 2000 and during
her tenure, she increased the school’s financial stability, reconfigured
the admission process and assisted in planning the Lilly Hall renovation.
The
$3 million renovation project, completed this spring, restored the building
to its distinctive 19th-century character and high Victorian Gothic architectural
style. Although a pesky resident squirrel chewed through some equipment lines
during the winter construction, and unforeseen structural problems arose as
well,
the bond-financed project was completed on schedule. The many upgrades included
installing an elevator, making the building fully accessible to persons with
disabilities; replacing the roof; and cleaning the building facade. New mechanical
systems replaced outdated ones and interior spaces were reconfigured.
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