MSW Student Roopa Raman Awarded the CSWE Carl A. Scott Book Scholarship

The Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) has awarded Roopa Raman, MSW '13, the Carl A. Scott Book Scholarship. This award was created in the legacy of Carl Anderson Scott, a social worker and CSWE staff member who was known for obtaining financial resources for minority faculty and students to enter social work programs.

One of two recipients of this year's scholarship, Raman's name was announced as a scholarship winner at the CSWE Annual Program Meeting in Washington, DC, earlier this month. Her biography has been posted on CSWE's website as part of the scholarship announcement, and she was named in CSWE's e-newsletter.

From 1966 to 1968, Scott was the director of admissions and an assistant professor at the NYU Silver School of Social Work. A critical component of Scott's advocacy was creating two CSWE minority fellowship programs in 1957 and 1979. His goal was to have more minorities enter the mental health profession. Former recipients of this award have comprised students from a diverse background who have become leaders in the social work field. Raman is an example of such a student, who has academically excelled and has demonstrated a commitment to social justice.

Raman says on the scholarship, "I thought it was really significant. I was an activist in college. I got involved in a labor movement to help service and maintenance workers unionize at UCLA." Raman states she is very committed to social justice. She became interested in international social work over a decade ago and participated in last year's Alternative Winter Break Trip in Cape Coast, Ghana. Before Raman went to NYU, she provided career counseling for unionized health care workers in Los Angeles, which led her to consider counseling, and eventually the Silver School. Her current field placement is with Bronx Community College Psychological Services.