Delores Varner Receives School of Social Work’s Distinguished Alumni Award

ATLANTA — School of Social Work Director Y. Joon Choi presented Delores Varner, LMSW, MATS (B.S.W.  ’96, M.S.W. ’01) the 2023 Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award at a reception for the 69^th Annual Program Meeting of the Council on Social Work Education recently held in Atlanta.

SSW alumna Delores Varner

“Delores dedicated an impressive 29-plus years to a distinguished career in public service with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, specifically with the Administration for Children and Families,” Choi said. “We honored her for her remarkable achievements and commitment to improving outcomes for at-risk children and their families that inspire future generations of social workers.”

During her remarks, Varner reflected on her career path and her commitment to supporting future social work students through the scholarship she has endowed in the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, home of the School of Social Work.

Varner’s service to children and families began early in her almost 30-year career with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, where she served 13 years as a Federal Head Start Project Officer and 16 years as a Child and Family Program Specialist for the Children’s Bureau. She says her life journey growing up in rural Miccosukee, Fla., her experiences in improving outcomes for at-risk children and the opportunities afforded to states by the Family First Prevention Services Act of 2018 (FFPSA) inspired her to establish the scholarship.

“I am one of 12 children and my parents divorced when I was 12 years of age,” she said. “But for the grace of God and strong off-the-grid, nontraditional kinship care, my 11 siblings and I would have experienced the foster care system.”

The Delores A. Varner Social Work Scholarship made its first award fall semester 2023 to Keisha Freeman, a second-year student who worked as a secondary school teacher prior to entering Georgia State’s MSW program.

The scholarship provides financial support to selected students in the undergraduate and graduate levels who declare a social work major, maintain a minimum 3.0 grade point average and demonstrate financial need. Preference is given to students with lived experience in foster care, and those awarded the scholarship may receive it for multiple years if they remain in good standing.

The financial support offered by the scholarship increases access and can help lead to successful degree completion rather than an inability to finish the program based on financial hardship.

“This scholarship was among the first endowed awards supporting students in the School of Social Work,” said Amanda Puché, director of development for the Andrew Young School. “We are all grateful for Delores Varner’s generosity that will continue, year to year, to move our social work students forward in their chosen field thanks to her commitment and investment.”