Associate Professor Martha Gabriel Named 2011 Recipient of the Day-Garett Award

Smith College School for Social Work has honored Associate Professor Martha Gabriel with the 2011 Day-Garrett Award. A two-time alumna of Smith (MSW and PhD), Gabriel has been a member of the NYU Silver School of Social Work faculty since 1987. Twice the recipient of the Silver School's teaching award, Gabriel's areas of interest include health (HIV), mental health (trauma), and gay lesbian and transgender issues. She received the NASW Diego Lopez Memorial AIDS Service Award in 1997.

The annual award named in honor of Florence Day and Annette Garrett is given to members of the Smith community who have made outstanding contributions to the social work profession or who have been significant members of the Smith College School for Social Work educational community. In choosing Gabriel, the Day-Garrett Award committee cited her work related to AIDS and with the GLBT community as making "great contributions to the field of clinical social work."

Gabriel's book and journal articles focus on trauma, AIDS, adaptive and maladaptive vengeance, group therapy, and the utilization of psychotherapy by gay and lesbian clients. Through her classroom work, she has served as a teacher and mentor to countless students. Gabriel also volunteers her time with several organizations, including the American Red Cross and she is a founding member of the NYU Association of Lesbian and Gay Faculty, Administrators, and Staff.

Prior to coming to the Silver School, Gabriel held the positions of senior clinical group supervisor at the Gay Men's Health Crisis in New York and director of the Social Work Department at the Bronx Municipal Hospital Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

"I am deeply honored to have received this award from Smith College School for Social work. I consider myself extremely fortunate to have attended Smith, a preeminent clinical social work school, and to teach at another, NYU, for past 24 years," said Gabriel. "I thank students, colleagues, and clients who have passed my path and made social work education and clinical practice a very gratifying and challenging life experience."

The Day-Garrett Award was presented to Gabriel on July 22 as part of the 2011 Smith College School for Social Work Annual Conference.