University of Connecticut |Meet the Staff
Daniela Giordano
Daniela Giordano is an Advanced Standing student who received her BSW from Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven, CT. Daniela was born and raised in Germany, in a small town near the city of Dresden in the eastern part of the country, and came to the United States at the age of 19 as an au-pair to take care of 1-year old twins of a family in Wallingford. This, originally, one-year, arrangement turned into living with and working this second family for 8 years. At that point, Daniela chose to start a new chapter in her life and has lived and worked in Connecticut since.
In her undergraduate internship, Daniela worked with youth in the juvenile justice system and with adults in community mental health. She worked for Gilead Community Services, a community-based mental health agency in Middlesex County, for the past four years as a case manager and as a senior case manager, providing direct services to clients in group homes and supported living programs and coordination daily staff tasks. She also engaged in policy work participating on the agency’s Policy and Practice committee. Daniela is now working part-time for this agency.
Daniela enjoys being a volunteer for Casey Family Services in their Bridgeport branch having been a mentor for youth in foster and adoption care in the past and participating in special projects at this time. Daniela is particularly interested in women, children and families and in foster care and adoption.
Daniela’s assignments in the Institute include working with the National Board of Advisors for the Institute and updating and editing the Institute’s website. Daniela, furthermore, will be the liaison for the Connecticut chapter of the NASW and the Woman’s Campaign School at Yale University.
Alejandro Pedreira
Alejandro Pedreira is a second year policy practice student interning. Alejandro was born in Venezuela and moved to New Jersey when he was 4. He lived in New Jersey until he was 12 when he moved back to Venezuela for two years. After which Alejandro moved back to the U.S. but moved to Connecticut in 1998 and has been in Connecticut ever since.
Alejandro graduated from Pace University in May of 2007 with a B.A. in psychology with a minor in political science. During his undergraduate education, Alejandro was involved with Pace’s Model United Nations team. He won several national competitions amongst various colleges and universities and held two elected cabinet positions. After graduating from Pace, Alejandro worked for a nonprofit twenty-four-hour crisis shelter, where he was a counselor for at risk youths. Alejandro worked there for a year and the experience gained helped him realize that he wanted to become a social worker but on a macro scale.
His first year placement was at the office of Congressman Christopher Murphy. His assignments included casework with constituents, coordinating the Congressional Art Competition, staffing the Congressman at Congress on Your Corners and researching constituent policy issues.
While interning for NAHIPSW, Alejandro will be responsible for several projects. Alejandro will be assisting in publishing the new Social Workers Guide to the LOB, spearheading the institutes’ voter registration and get out the vote initiatives, running the 13th annual campaign school, representing the institute and policy practice concentration at the annual MSW recruitment night, and he will be updating the annotated political social work bibliography. He will serve as the institutes’ liaison for Hartford Votes, CT Secretary of State, and the Village for families and children.
Stacy Rogers
Stacy Rogers is a second-year Policy Practice student. Originally from Indianapolis, Indiana, she moved to Connecticut in 2000. She graduated summa cum laude in 2005 from UConn with a dual major, receiving a BS in Human Development & Family Studies and a BA in Sociology. During her undergraduate education, Stacy pursued her interest in theater while working backstage at UConn’s Jorgenson Theater; she also worked as a Resident Assistant and as a surveyor the Institute for Survey Research on the Storrs campus. She helped to form the UConn Choice Action Network, a pro-choice student organization that disseminated information to the student body and brought speakers to campus to discuss current events and issues relevant to the pro-choice community. Since graduating she has worked with abused and neglected children at Wheeler Clinic SAFE Home. Her professional interests include international social work, feminist issues, and child welfare.
Stacy’s first-year field placement was at the Aetna Foundation Children’s Center, a Children’s Advocacy Center in Hartford that provides services to children and families who have experienced child sexual abuse. There her responsibilities included providing family advocacy services, preparing the Center for its reaccreditation process, and re-writing the Center’s in-house policy manual. In her placement this year at the Nancy A. Humphreys Institute for Political Social Work, Stacy will be publishing the Institute’s Annual Report, coordinating presentations to the School of Social Work’s Macro Foundation Practice classes, organizing a lunch-time program at the School of Social Work, coordinating projects with Yerevan State University in Armenia, and serving as a liaison to the Connecticut League of Women Voters and the Coalition for Choice. She will also be assisting with the Institute’s Legislative Scoop Sheet, voter registration and GOTV activities, the Annual Campaign School, and the Institute’s webpage.