The Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis awarded one Distinguished Faculty Award and five Distinguished Alumni Awards during its annual alumni awards celebration April 5 at Steinberg Hall Auditorium.
A reception followed at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum. Two of the alumni were also selected as an outstanding Graduate of the Last Decade (GOLD).
The honorees:
Distinguished Alumni Awards
Courtney Berg (MSW ’05, GOLD awardee). Since 2006, Berg has served as the director of Catholic Charities Community Services Southside in St. Louis. She oversees the development and implementation of culturally competent programs and services at a community center serving more than 400 clients a month. Much of her work focuses on meeting the needs of immigrant and refugee populations, and responsibilities range from providing bilingual therapy to victims of human trafficking to implementing training programs for graduate students to develop culturally competent mental health skills.
Berg also contributes to the St. Louis community in numerous ways. She has served as an adjunct professor at the School of Social Work at Saint Louis University, as a community liaison for the Brown School, as a Spanish instructor at St. Louis Community College, and as a member of the State Board of Directors of Missouri Immigrant and Refugee Advocates.
Barbara Flory (MSW ’96). Flory spent many years working in St. Louis to develop public/private collaborative partnerships focused upon the well-being of children. Through her work with Provident Counseling, she developed, implemented and managed Heritage House, the first supervised visitation program in Missouri.
As project manager at the International Institute of St. Louis, her work to reduce gang violence was recognized by the National Crime Prevention Council. She was subsequently appointed to the advisory board for the Office of Violence Against Women through the U.S. Department of Justice.
Rebecca Kousky (MSW ’06, GOLD awardee). Shortly after graduating from the Brown School, Kousky founded Nest, an organization that raises funds, offers mentoring, and provides microcredit loans to women artisans in developing nations. Nest continues to expand its global reach, and now supports women in nine foreign countries.
Betul Ozmat (MSW ’87). Ozmat has had a profound impact upon the growth and development of the Brown School, going above and beyond the call of duty to extend the school’s reach into the community.
She has played an indispensible role in the management and operations of virtually all aspects of the school. Ozmat has helped shape the school’s long-range plan and building relationships with external constituents. She also has held several community service positions, including director of The Gateway to Giving Coalition and the Metropolitan Association for Philanthropy.
Sister Antoinette Temporiti (MSW ’88). Temporiti is a Catholic nun, a psychotherapist in private practice and the founder and executive director of Microfinancing Partners in Africa (MPA).
She helped MPA partner with the Jamii Bora Project in Nairobi, which offers microloans for people to begin small businesses, receive education and professional training, in addition to providing health and disaster insurance. Her work with the Uganda Cow Project allows families to purchase a cow and consume and sell its milk to support themselves.
She has served on the board of the Family Development Center at Saint Louis University, the Recreational Council for Persons with Disabilities, the Development Board for the Interfaith Committee on Latin America, as well as Partnerships for Global Justice.
Distinguished Faculty Award
Tonya E. Edmond, PhD, associate professor and associate dean for academic affairs, has provided exceptional leadership in all facets of academic and student life at the school.
Edmond was honored as an outstanding teacher and is a leader of the Brown School’s social work program.
She also serves as the co-investigator of a study titled “Violence Prevention for Adolescent Girls with Prior Maltreatment” with Wendy Auslander, PhD, the Barbara A. Bailey Professor of Social Work, in collaboration with the Missouri Children’s Division and the Children’s Advocacy Center.
A leader on campus, Edmond is active on numerous committees, including the Association for Women Faculty. She recently secured a diversity and inclusion grant to develop and teach a leadership and negotiation workshop for WUSTL women faculty.
To view a video honoring these honorees, visit youtube.com/WUSTLbrownschool.
For more information, visit brownschool.wustl.edu/newsroom/PressRelease/Pages/Brown-School-Announces-2011-Alumni-Award-Winners-.aspx.