At first, when Xiaojun Tong (MSW '99, PhD '05) told her Chinese friends that she has earned her degrees in social work, they were puzzled by what she meant. Now she's playing a key role in building her country's social work profession.
Since 1994, a unique partnership between GSSW and Beijing's China Youth University for the Political Sciences (CYUP) has been helping to build China's social work profession through faculty exchanges and joint research projects.
A lasting collaboration
The China Partnership began when China's government invited Dean Emeritus Jack Jones to share expertise gleaned from his previous position as director of social work studies and professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Numerous visits by GSSW deans, faculty members and students have followed ever since.
CYUP has also sent administrators and faculty members like Tong to Denver. Tong was appointed Vice Dean of CYUP upon her return to China in November, 2005.
"I am passionate about social work," she says, "and I hope this collaboration of our schools continues for a long time."
