Ronnie Weiss Receives Field Supervisor of the Year Award

Please join us in congratulating Ronnie Weiss, TCC’s Director of Development, for being named Field Supervisor of the Year by the University of Denver’s Graduate School of Social Work!  Over 25 field supervisors were nominated by the students they supervised this academic year.  Ronnie was nominated by Marc Garstka, who will graduate from the University of Denver next month with his Master of Social Work degree.  Here are some excerpts from Marc’s nomination, and the full text of his nomination is provided at the bottom of this post.

• Ronnie excels at this because she is so kind, upbeat, and supportive. Any time that I have needed something she is always there, willing to stop what she is doing to talk. She challenges us with critical questions, and pushes us to really connect our learning in the classroom to what we do in the field.
• She embodies all of the social work values that the school instills in us. She makes sure we are following them, and provides us with examples and resources if we are unfamiliar or need helping reaching a competency.
• Working at The Conflict Center has been great, and I know Ronnie has a lot to do with it. It is like a second family here, starting with Ronnie. She invites us to eat lunch with her, to her holiday parties, and is always checking in to see if things are going well. Her dedication and hard work is easily seen, and her knowledge about social work is immense. She has been a successful supervisor for years, and knows what it takes to be a great social worker.

Full text of Marc’s nomination:

Dedicated, by definition means devoted to a task or purpose; having single-minded loyalty or integrity. The only thing missing from this definition is the name Ronnie Weiss. Ronnie embodies this word to the fullest. Ronnie has been an excellent supervisor this year, and has been since she started taking in students. Ronnie has been with The Conflict Center for 22 years, and has over 30 years of experience working in the nonprofit arena. She primarily works in resource development, and has guided us through the process of grant writing. She has even let us be part of the grant writing and take ownership of the work. Her experience in working with domestic violence perpetrators, and violence prevention has allowed her to bring a lot of insight to our supervision. Ronnie excels at this because she is so kind, upbeat, and supportive. Any time that I have needed something she is always there, willing to stop what she is doing to talk. She challenges us with critical questions, and pushes us to really connect our learning in the classroom to what we do in the field. We do a group supervision that allows us to all come together and bounce ideas off each other, and learn from each other. She encourages us to collaborate, and makes sure that we feel supported. During our individual supervision she takes notes diligently, and genuinely cares about what we are doing. She is always complementing us, and thanking us for our hard work and dedication. She embodies all of the social work values that the school instills in us. She makes sure we are following them, and provides us with examples and resources if we are unfamiliar or need helping reaching a competency. I have talked with her a lot about my assignments and capstones, and she has given me great resources and ideas to help me. She also told me to see this as an opportunity of growth and development, instead of looking at it like just another paper. She is a role model to me because of the great work she has done, and the way she supervises us. I want to be like her, and be able to motivate interns like she does. I am never nervous talking to her, and she is one of the most approachable people I know. Working at The Conflict Center has been great, and I know Ronnie has a lot to do with it. It is like a second family here, starting with Ronnie. She invites us to eat lunch with her, to her holiday parties, and is always checking in to see if things are going well. Her dedication and hard work is easily seen, and her knowledge about social work is immense. She has been a successful supervisor for years, and knows what it takes to be a great social worker. I believe she deserves this award because she is one of a kind, and has the best intentions with all her work. Thank you for your time and consideration.