New York University School of Social Work alumna Constance Silver is continuing her support of the School with a second $1 million gift to be equally allocated between the existing Constance McCatherin Silver Fellowship Fund and a new fund to support the advancement of field learning in the NYU School of Social Work. Dr. Silver established the fellowship fund with an initial $1 million gift in 2002.
Social Work Dean Suzanne England said, “Dr. Silver is one of the most supportive and perceptive contributors giving to social work education today. She has an unerring eye for down-to-earth gifts that meet real needs. Every year, she provides fellowship assistance that makes a real difference in the lives of the committed students who are named as Fellows. Her gift for the development of new models of field learning is surely one of the largest to be offered in support of social work field education in the United States. It will help to advance the development of best practices at the School — and beyond — as what we do here provides leadership in social work higher education.”
Dr. Silver, who earned a B.S. in social work in 1978 and an M.S.W. in 1979 from NYU, also received a Ph.D. from the Union Institute. Her many professional interests include work with the Indian Creek Village Public Service Department, a precinct of the Miami Beach police, and she has trained with the International Association of Chiefs of Police and with international undercover drug operatives. As part of her work in Florida, she has taught asset forfeiture, risk of undercover drug operations, the technical aspects of search warrants, and profiling (specifically how to profile stalkers of celebrities). She continues with her work in forensic profiling and is currently working with the Department in hostage negotiation techniques.
Dr. Silver also works in a more traditional mode with law enforcement, counseling police officers, and looking at how a police department handles police suicide. Besides NYU, she has taught at the Training Institute for Mental Health, where she instructs students from Smith College, NYU, Fordham, Adelphi, and Columbia universities. She also has a private clinical practice. Her clinical work, she said, marries psychoanalytic theory with her social work training.
Dr. Silver was appointed to the NYU Board of Trustees in 2003.