Dr. Sonja Lenz-Rashid Received Excellence in Service Award
Sonja Lenz-Rashid, Ph.D., LCSW, has been awarded the CHSS Excellence in Service Award for her dedication to service activities that impact student success and enhance the SF State community.
Lenz-Rashid is a professor in the School of Social Work and a co-founder, faculty research evaluator and clinical supervisor for the SF State Guardian Scholars Program (GSP). Launched in 2005, the GSP serves more than 100 current and former foster care youth on campus annually and has an annual budget of over $1.3 million. The program boasts a 70 percent graduation rate, a 95 percent retention rate, and an 80 percent overall persistence rate. Lenz-Rashid works countless hours on the Guardian Scholars Program each year and has studied the outcomes of, and best practice models for, former foster care youth at the national, state and Bay Area levels. Her research and publications have provided valuable feedback to child welfare administrators, legislators, and program developers on how best to serve these disenfranchised young people using evidence-based practice. She has more than 25 years of experience serving vulnerable youth in the San Francisco Bay Area and has been at SF State since 2003.
The College of Health & Social Sciences is deeply committed to excellence in service and will offer one Excellence in Service Award each academic year. This award recognizes either a tenure-track, tenured or lecturer faculty member who has performed outstanding service that benefits the department, College and University. Eligibility for this award includes a minimum of five years on the College of Health & Social Sciences faculty and at least a .40 time base. Although not an absolute requirement, service activities that involve and promote student success are highly desirable in selecting a winner.
Criteria for Excellence in Service Award
- Service that has an impact on student success
- Service activities that promote and enhance the SF State community
- Variety, depth and leadership of service activities
- Innovations in service
- Exemplary quality and impact of the service activity