Joleen Grolemund of Kane received the Pamela J. Cousins Excellence in Social Work Award, presented by the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford Master of Social Work program. The award was given during a reception following a workshop on youth suicide with Kelsey Johnson of Western Psychiatric Institute’s S.T.A.R. Center.

The Excellence in Social Work Award is given each year to a graduate of the MSW program at Pitt-Bradford who has made meaningful contributions to social work through consistent excellence.

Grolemund is a 2011 graduate of the Pitt School of Social Work at the Bradford campus. She is a forensic social worker with Dickinson Inc. in Ridgway, working with inmates at the Elk County Jail.

Colleague and fellow alumna Cassie Kreckel ’15 of St. Marys nominated Grolemund, citing her fierce, compassionate advocacy for those she serves and describing how Grolemund “works very hard to prevent recidivism as well as promote personal growth and well-being.”

Cousins was an alumna of the program as well as an instructor. She was a long-time member of the Pennsylvania Children and Youth Administration and director of Children and Youth Services for Elk County. She died in 2012 as the result of an automobile accident.

The Pitt MSW program at Pitt-Bradford is fully accredited by the Council on Social Work Education and provides interested students in the region with the opportunity to earn a graduate degree in social work on a part-time, structured basis.

The program is now recruiting for its next cohort of graduate students. Those accepted into the Pitt School of Social Work will start classes in the fall of 2020. An information session will be held at 6 p.m. Dec. 4 in Room 162 of Swarts Hall at Pitt-Bradford.

For more information, contact Stephanie Eckstrom at sae102@pitt.edu or 814-362-7527.