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Alumni Spotlight #9: Donna Bender, '09

Today’s Alumni Spotlight flashes onto 2009 Communication Studies graduate Donna Bender (can you tell I am running out of synonyms for “shines”?).  Donna is currently a graduate student enrolled in the Dual Degree program at the University of Pennsylvania, completing a Master’s in Social Work and a Master’s of Science in Criminology (that’s right, one Master’s degree wasn’t enough for Donna, she has to have two!).  Let’s catch up with her!

While at USF, Donna volunteered at San Quentin State Prison, and she loved her work there so much that she continued going after she graduated.  Also after graduation, she got a full-time job working as a counselor at a group home for teenage girls on probation.  According to Donna, “the job wasn’t as fulfilling as I would have liked, but I still knew that working with currently and formerly incarcerated people was something that I wanted to go into.  I soon found out that in order to go further in this field, I needed to learn more of the specifics of it all.”

Donna is currently doing clinical social work at a women’s prison in Philadelphia.  There she is responsible for doing intakes and counseling with inmates who suffer from mental illnesses.  She also leads a sleep education group for the women, and she is in the process of starting a self-esteem group.

I asked Donna to let us know how graduate school was treating her.  “One of the best things about graduate school for me has been being surrounded by so many like-minded people, who have a strong desire to fight racism, and make our world a better place.  I love the balance in grad school, between getting to actually work in the field three days a week, but then taking classes on the other two days, and having it all relate back to each other.  The biggest challenge for me personally would have to be the research aspect.  I was never a fan of literature reviews, and who can read 1,000 pages a week!?”  I think that Donna must have mis-typed here, and what she actually meant to write was that she “has always been a big fan of literature reviews.”  Strange…

Other than her academic pursuits, Donna has spent a good part of her time digging herself out of the snowstorms in the East.  I think Donna has figured out that Katy Perry may be right (“nothing comes close to the golden co-o-ast”).  She is set to graduate in 2012 (Donna, not Katy) and her dream job is to work with the ACLU.  Congratulations to Donna on her important work! 

Check out the picture of Donna below, with who she describes as “her favorite man!” 

'09 grad Donna with her fave man, Ben

I bet you didn’t see that coming, right?  Are you an alum up to something interesting or fun?  Contact me at edoohan@usfca.edu to be profiled in an upcoming Alumni Spotlight.

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One Comment

  1. Great work Donna! You look like you’ve found your calling! Keep up the important work!

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