Horace Mann - Winter 2012 - (Page 16)

celebrating 125 years: preparing great and giving lives Prof. nicole Lamb Ives ’86: Translating academics into action, on behalf of refugees and Indigenous peoples unteered at the rehabilitation and research centre for Torture victims, and witnessed, first-hand, the harrowing stories of so many refugee lives. Since then, she has combined a passion for studying issues affecting immigrant and refugee populations with her pursuit of social justice and societal change. Today, prof. ives also includes her own background as an impetus for her work. “i have always been interested in migration because my maternal grandfather was born in Germany but fought with the allies in WWii. i grew up watching his acculturation, his transition from life in Germany to life in new Jersey. i have native ancestry on my father’s side (Seminole and cherokee). That’s not the reason that i started work with indigenous communities, but i feel that it is what is keeping me in it now,” she explained. as an academician, prof. ives is a qualitative researcher who focuses on refugee resettlement, congregational sponsorship of refugees, refugee family reunification, indigenous social work education, and indigenous social and educational policies. as an educator, an assistant professor at the McGill University School of Social Work in Montreal, prof. ives has taught History and philosophy of Social Work, and policy and practice with refugees to undergraduates, and Qualitative research Methods and Migration and Social Work at the graduate level. She also teaches anti-oppression Social Work practice, among other courses. results from reseArch Dr. ives is a member or a fellow at the centre for research on children and families (crcf) at McGill, the Montreal consortium for Human rights advocacy Training, the Quebec Metropolis centre/ immigration and Metropolis, and the program for religion and Social policy research at the University of pennsylvania. She has conducted research on immigrant integration and faith-based social service delivery with the black communities Demographic project in Montreal. among her findings is how important is the “lived experience” of refugees, because it provides data on “what works” in refugee resettlement— an issue communities around the world grapple with. “in the case of refugees who are sponsored by church groups and other religious communities the results prove how significant it is for their long-term integration for refugees to connect with individuals and community members in an organized way,” prof. ives explained. “i saw that in my study on bosnians. people who had been sponsored by a community—a church group—ended up in more stable jobs. Some owned homes, whereas, many who were not sponsored were still going from job to job, at lower wages, years later. i saw success, for instance, with a presbyterian church that sponsored bosnian Muslims. There was no proselytizing to the refugees. it was just a congregation giving support. This is a very resource-intensive thing for a congregation to take on, but it can have a great outcome.” Translating the results of these findings for public policy-makers to consider is a goal of Dr. ives’ research. after barnard prof. ives went to the School of Social Work at the University of pennsylvania, and focused on social and economic development. after completing her MSW she returned to copenhagen to work with the Danish refugee council and the Danish red cross, teaching english to asylum seekers. She then returned to the University of pennsylvania to pursue her ph.D. at the School of Social Work, writing a comparative study of refugee integration in different countries. prof. ives’ contributions to this increasingly critical field are significant, as reflected in her dozens of publications and presentations at conferences around the world on topics ranging from sexual exploitation of children, the religious congregation as a community partner in refugee resettlement, and “building bridges with indigenous communities”—a current T he Un High commissioner for refugees (UnHcr) estimates that nearly 44 million people internationally are today displaced from their homes because of war and political repression. The figure represents a jump of 400,000 from 2010, bringing the number of refugees worldwide to its highest in 15 years. Just over half of the world’s refugees are under age 18. The international community adheres to a precise definition of the causes of refugee status. “persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, and being outside the country of nationality” are primary, with a growing consensus to include climate change resulting in displacement from floods or draught-induced famine. Whatever the cause, Dr. nicole lamb ives ’86 has interacted with numerous forcibly displaced persons firsthand, and has dedicated her professional life, as a researcher and educator, to refugees and to other marginalized people—primarily first nations, Métis and inuit populations—and has turned her academic experiences and personal background into a driving force for work she hopes will engage students with a mission to address the complex issues refugees face, and help break down barriers for marginalized people. it was while pursuing a b.a. in foreign-area studies at barnard college that prof. ives first confronted issues refugees face. During a year at copenhagen University in Denmark she vol- 16 Horace mann magazine Winter 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Horace Mann - Winter 2012

Horace Mann - Winter 2012
Contents
Letters
Greetings from Dr. Tom Kelly
Greetings from Melissa Parento ’90
Horace Mann School’s 125th Anniversary Observances Begin
Strategic Thinking
New Initiatives in Institutional Research and Admissions
HM's New Director of College Counseling
Timothy HO and Monica Merlo are 2011 Tina and Dave Bellet Teaching Excellence Award Winners
Langfan Oratorical Contest, 2011
Horace Mann School Graduates 178 in June, 2011
Alumni Council Corner
Bookshelf
Class Notes
Memorials
Philanthropy and You

Horace Mann - Winter 2012