Ph.D. Student Annie Perepezko Receives CSWE Doctoral Student Policy Fellowship

Annie Perepezko, a second-year doctoral student at Bryn Mawr’s Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research (GSSWSR), has received the CSWE Doctoral Student Policy Fellowship for the 2023-2024 academic year. The Fellowship is awarded by the Council on Social Work Education, the Society for Social Work and Research, and the Group for the Advancement of Doctoral Education in Social Work. Perepezko is one of 10 students nationwide to receive this fellowship. 

In the following Q&A, Perepezko shares with us what she hopes to gain from this fellowship and why she chose to pursue a Ph.D. in Social Work at the GSSWSR. 

Can you tell me a bit about this fellowship and why you applied for it?

政策奖学金是一个为期一年的项目，我将与一位在政府部门工作的导师配对, and I will work alongside them and learn how to engage in policy advocacy. 我还将与其他研究员一起参加网络研讨会和两次面对面会议:10月底的CSWE 2023年度项目会议和2024年春季的政策论坛.

I applied for this fellowship because macro-level work is the missing piece of my social work experience. I had a clinical focus in my M.S.W. 通过这个项目和工作经验，我意识到我真的很喜欢从宏观的角度思考问题，我认为很多问题都应该在这个更高的层面上解决. That kind of work was something that I had always been thinking about, 所以当这个机会来临时，我可以和那个世界的导师一起工作，他可以教我如何撰写政策简报，并在政府中倡导不同的问题, I knew I wanted to apply. 你想让那些与客户有过接触的人，那些了解基层情况的人参与制定政策，思考系统性变革, 我很喜欢这个项目，它试图让社会工作者更多地参与到这个过程中来，通过提供培训，让社会工作者参与到政策制定中来. 

What was your first job after receiving your M.S.W?

我完成硕士学位后的第一份工作是儿童权益社会工作者，我在这个职位上工作了大约三年. That was honestly my first exposure to how problematic things are at a systemic level. 我与很多客户一起工作，当时费城的儿童福利系统发生了转变，最初它更集中在人类服务部(DHS)，然后社区伞形机构开始承担更多的调查和案件管理. 在儿童福利系统工作让我意识到这个系统有很多需要改进的地方，不幸的是，很多孩子都受到了这个系统的设计方式的负面影响. My first job really showed me that I wanted to learn how to make change at the macro level.

What is your current job? 

我目前在费城儿童医院的罗伯茨中心工作，在整个费城做以学校为基础的研究，担任学校干预教练. In this role, 我指导学校辅导员和老师为四年级和五年级的学生实施一项防止攻击的计划. 我们目前已经进入临床试验的第五年了，这真的很棒，因为我可以在全市的学校里见到人们，和不同的孩子一起工作. We also have a parent workshop component, so we get to work with parents as well. 做这种工作让我意识到，我最终想自己做研究，这就是我开始攻读博士学位的原因.D. program. 

What research interests do you hope to pursue as a doctoral student?

I’m generally interested in looking at the gaps between policies and practices at the systemic level, 我认为这在很大程度上与政策的制定方式有关，也与实地执行政策的人的判断力有关, which I think could result in innovative practices, but it could also lead to clients and students being treated differently. Specifically, 我一直对社交情感学习很感兴趣，也对从纪律转向恢复性干预很感兴趣. I’m looking to focus my research on differences in school policies and practices.

What do you hope to gain from this fellowship?

I hope to gain the practical experience of working with somebody who is in the policy world and has that expertise. 我曾经为我所在地区的一名代表在选民服务部门工作过，这非常棒，因为我能够了解到倾听邻居的意见是什么样子的，以及他们提出的所有问题，以及州代表或市议会成员可以做什么，并且更多地了解官僚主义，为什么事情需要这么长时间才能完成. 我真的很想得到指导和实践技能培训，我认为这太棒了，因为将会有其他9个人也对这类工作感兴趣. 我希望从其他研究员和他们的经验中学习，并理想地用这些新发现的知识写一篇更强的论文. 

How has the GSSWSR supported you in applying for this fellowship?

Dr. Sousa had sent out information about the fellowship last year, so she was the reason that I even knew it existed, 然后我一直在关注申请开放的时间，因为我知道我想在今年申请. The application didn’t open until the end of July or early August and the deadline was also in August, so I had to quickly reach out to Dr. Bressi and Dr. Vartanian for recommendations because I needed two recommendations. If they hadn’t been able to do that efficiently I wouldn’t have been able to complete the application, so I really appreciated their swift responsiveness during the application process. 参加必修的社会政策基础课程也给了我更多的背景知识，并提醒我，我对政策有兴趣，这是我想要追求的. 

You mentioned you were on the clinical track in your M.S.W. program. Can you tell me more about that experience?

Yes, so I was in the Advanced Standing program at Penn and my undergraduate degree was also in social work at NYU. I learned a bit about macro social work in the program but almost everyone there wanted to do therapy, 所以我想我只是有了不同的经历，才意识到这并不是我真正想要的职业. I like working with people and I think it’s so important to have that connection, but I knew therapy wasn’t the way I wanted to work with people. 我在宾夕法尼亚大学做了临床研究，因为只有一年的时间，我想我在那里上了第一堂政策课后意识到也许我应该考虑宏观问题, but it was too late to make the switch. 我毕业后的第一次面试是在威斯康辛州儿童和家庭部门，面试的是一个政策分析师的职位，那是一次很好的面试, but I remember the interviewer calling me after and saying you seem like a great candidate, but I think it’s important for you to get a few years of direct service experience before you work in policy. I think that’s the best professional advice I’ve ever received.

What have you appreciated about the Ph.D. program so far?

It’s blowing me away how tight-knit the community is at the GSSWSR and how supportive everyone is. First-year Ph.D. students take classes with students who are further along in the program, 这很好，因为我们班的人已经知道他们在做什么，可以给新学生建议. I think Bryn Mawr tries to be non-competitive with the Ph.D. students and it really feels like that, which is awesome. I’ve really liked every professor I’ve had, and it has been great having the opportunity to work with some of them. I’m currently working with Dr. Sousa, Dr. Gusak, and Dr. Martin 他们在乌克兰的工作，看到他们的过程以及他们如何作为一个团队工作真是太酷了，因为学术界有时是有毒的，是孤立的, so it’s nice to have a model of how it can instead be a collaborative and supportive environment. I also have an amazing cohort mate, Kal Skye, who has been a phenomenal research collaborator, study partner, and friend throughout the program.

Can you tell me more about the work you’re doing in Ukraine with these professors?

I am working with two other Ph.D. students on coding the interviews that Dr. Gusak通过从访谈中提取主题并帮助团队围绕这些主题进行演示，完成了与乌克兰社会工作者的合作. 通过这些采访听到他们的故事，让我看到了这些人在战争时期作为社会工作者的韧性, and learning about the general differences between social work in the Ukraine and the U.S. has been fascinating.