Social Hall of Distinction Committee

Hall of Distinction Committee

Co-chairs: David Foster and Virginia Rondero Hernandez

A Force for Positive Social Change

The California Social Work Hall of Distinction is a committee of the California Social Welfare Archives, which maintains its permanent collection at the USC libraries. Formed in 1979, the CSWA obtains and preserves materials reflecting the development of social welfare programs in California and conducts and publishes oral history interviews with social work leaders. This unique collection of California social welfare history, supported by the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work and USC Special Collections, is housed in the Doheny Memorial Library at the University of Southern California and has been visited by scholars from throughout the country. The digital library of recorded interviews and presentations is online and available to all at The CSWA Digital Library.

The CSWA operates under a set of bylaws that governs the processes and procedure of HOD.

You’re invited to our 2025 Archives Award!

Click the link in the image above to register

Excited for our 2024 inductees?? Re-live the magic of 2023 to get ready for what’s to come this year!

A selection of video from the 2021 Hall of Distinction ceremony

A selection of video from the 2020 Hall of Distinction ceremony

Auction Announcement!

We are so excited to announce that due to an influx of new auction items, we will be extending our auction to November 22nd! Don’t miss out!

Congratulations to our Inductee Class of 2024

  • Merris Obie

    Merris D. Obie is a highly respected Child Welfare Operations Administrator for the Karuk Tribe of northwestern California, with over two decades of extensive experience in program management, grant writing, and policy development, primarily with local tribal governments.

  • Mark E. Courtney

    Mark E. Courtney, an esteemed scholar in the field of social welfare, has dedicated his career to enhancing the lives of children and youth, particularly those in the foster care system.

  • Kris Perry

    An accomplished senior executive and influential advocate in both government and nonprofit sectors, Kris Perry has dedicated her career to significantly improving lives through heightened investments in early childhood education.

  • Christina Wong

    Christina Wong established herself as a highly accomplished and dedicated Licensed Clinical Social Worker, a practitioner and policy change agent with over three decades of experience, primarily in mental health services and social work education.

  • Gustavo Rangel

    Gustavo Rangel is a distinguished social worker and former United States Marine who has dedicated his career to serving his community and country with unwavering dedication and compassion.

  • Alan Wong (Posthumous Induction)

    Alan Wong was the epitome of a professional social worker who engaged in mission and vision through his roles as social justice champion, change agent, policy advocate, educator, and practitioner. His lifetime of work met all considerations for induction into the Hall of Distinction.

  • Dac Viet Vu (Posthumous Induction)

    Dac Viet Vu is a distinguished social worker whose impactful career began in the early 1970s in San Francisco’s Chinatown. Following a period of political asylum in Japan, Vu relocated to San Francisco, where his contributions to the community and value to the City’s Community Mental Health Department earned him a lifetime achievement award.

Notable inductees

Biddy Mason was born a slave on August 15, 1818.  She eventually became one of the first pioneers of Los Angeles, as well as a successful real estate entrepreneur, midwife, nurse, and philanthropist.   She also founded the First African Methodist Episcopal Church (F.A.M.E.) in Los Angeles. 

 As a slave, she walked from Mississippi to Utah, then to Los Angeles, herding animals and tending to the needs of her slave master, all while caring for her three small children, Ellen, Anne, and Harriet.  After arriving in California, she successfully fought for and won her freedom through the court system in 1856. After winning her freedom, she worked for Dr. John S. Griffin (as depicted in the UC San Francisco murals to the right) as a nurse and midwife. She saved her money and eventually amassed great wealth by the time of her death in 1891. 

Despite all of her wealth, she continued to serve the community, treating anyone in need, black or white,  as well as those no one else wanted to help, such as prisoners. She gave shelter to the homeless and fed the hungry. Because of her work and philanthropy, she was inducted into the California Social Work Hall of Distinction in 2002.

Biddy Mason

The Social Work Leaders Assignment

We encourage social work faculty to incorporate the Social Work Leaders Assignment into the leadership and policy curriculum. This simple yet powerful assignment prompts students to visit the Social Work Hall of Distinction and speak or write briefly about an inductee in a field or community of particular interest to them. While presenting at our 2017 Hall of Distinction induction, Dr. Fernando Torres-Gil prefaced his remarks with observations about the California Social Welfare Archives (CSWA), its Hall of Distinction, and using the Social Work Leaders Assignment every year at UCLA. Please view this 1-minute perspective and consider where this type of student experience might fit into your plans.

Please click here to view and download a sample assignment and more information.

Instructors at social work programs in both northern and southern California have found the assignment to be a great success; students identify and are inspired by role models who reflect their own values, backgrounds, and goals and witness the impact one person can have on policy, practice, and advocacy. From distributing bookmarks created with their hero’s quotes to creating videos like the one viewed here, students have been enthusiastic about sharing and hearing the results of the assignment.

Please share this idea and link with your colleagues.

It is our goal to track where the assignment has been adopted and incorporate your feedback; your plans and reactions will be gratefully received.

Please “sign our guest book” – just enter a few words about what organization you are with and feedback on the assignment and/or your plans to use it.

Email us at cswa@swarchive.org with any input or questions.