Dear Silberman Community,
At a time when so many of our democratic ideals are yet again being violently desecrated, a global pandemic has taken nearly two million lives, and the need for racial justice is far too long overdue, we, as Social Workers, remain steadfast in our resolve to defend the values and ideals of our profession. As we begin the New Year with hope, we recommit ourselves to our core values in confronting social injustice, and respecting and valuing the dignity and worth of all individuals.
The International Education (PIE) Award program honors the contribution of US social work faculty members, social work students, and organizations as partners in advancing education for international social work. The PIE Award is given in recognition of conceptual, curricular, and programmatic innovations in education for international social work. 
The members of the Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College stand in solidarity with people throughout the United States and around the world in mourning the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and Atatiana Jefferson. This senseless loss of life at a time when the official COVID-19 death toll in the U.S. has reached 100,000 defies our understanding.
MSW student Fatmata Britton and BSW student Shannon Lubin did their field placements this year with Silberman’s 
Earning a master’s from Hunter College and a doctorate in social welfare from CUNY, Georgianna Glose studied institutional racism facing African-American Catholic nuns. She applied that learning to running a social services nonprofit—one that stayed open during the pandemic to aid vulnerable Brooklynites. She died at age 73 from complications of COVID-19.