Hana Staub, a Warren Wilson College senior from Philadelphia, has been awarded the 2008 Summer Policy Fellowship by the national Association of Baccalaureate Social Work Program Directors. Members of the association include program administrators, faculty, field directors and others dedicated to promoting excellence in baccalaureate social work (BSW) education.

Since 2001, the association has competitively selected one BSW student from across the nation to serve as a Summer Policy Fellow in Washington, D.C., under the leadership of Joan Levy Zlotnik, Ph.D., executive director of the Institute for the Advancement of Social Work Research. Through this fellowship, students have the opportunity to learn about research and policy and their implications upon the social work profession.

Staub, who will graduate in May with a double major in social work and psychology, is currently completing her social work field placement with the Homeless Initiative of Asheville and Buncombe County. Through her field placement, she has been involved with a variety of projects, including collection and analysis of data pertaining to homelessness in Asheville; planning and facilitation of different task groups working to prevent and end homelessness; creating a sustainable manner in which to include the voice of those actually experiencing homelessness within the Homeless Initiative; and policy advocacy on local and federal levels.

She has also been working to learn more about the Spanish-speaking homeless population in Asheville and helping to create ways to better serve this population. Staub has completed extensive service learning projects with the Swannanoa Community Council Advisory Board and First At Blue Ridge, a drug rehabilitation program. She has been a residence hall director at Warren Wilson, an Urban Mitzvah Corps member and a student at Universidad de Buenos Aires in Argentina.

Staub is an "outstanding student who approaches her work with maturity, passion, critical thinking, seriousness and a strong commitment to excellence," said Miriam Freeman, Ph.D., interim social work program director at Warren Wilson, in recommending her for the fellowship. Staub attributes her strong commitment to social justice and public policy advocacy to her "amazing parents, siblings, friends, professors, mentors, coworkers, and all of the other incredible people with whom I have been so fortunate to connect." She will present a summary of her fellowship work at the social work association's conference in Phoenix in March 2009.