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Constance and Martin Silver

In the largest private donation to a school of social work in the United States, Constance and Martin Silver have pledged $50 million to the New York University School of Social Work. The gift will be used to support the Constance McCatherin-Silver Fellowship, which provides financial aid to M.S.W. students in need who are dedicated to helping minority populations; to establish an endowed professorship for a junior faculty member researching poverty; and to promote other new initiatives dedicated to the study of poverty and to better allocate funding, administration, and services.

"This gift marks a new chapter in the life of our school, and in a larger sense, it is an unprecedented moment for social work education,” said Suzanne England, dean of the School of Social Work at NYU. “The research, learning, and policy work sustained by the Silvers’ generosity will help deepen our knowledge about systemic poverty, and identify effective policies to lessen or eliminate its causes.”

The poverty-focused Institute and professorship in poverty research are both deeply resonant with Constance Silver’s life story. She grew up poor in rural Maine and occasionally visited New York City through the generosity of a wealthy family who lived in the city but spent summer vacations near her home. After graduating high school, she moved to New York, met her future husband her first week in Manhattan, and went to work in sales for a New York-based airline. It was not until she was in her mid-thirties that, at the urging of a neighbor, a social worker 30 years her senior, she decided to study social work.

In recognition of this historic gift, the NYU Board of Trustees has renamed the School as the Silver School of Social Work.

Posted by Gary Holden at December 31, 2007 8:13 PM