Taiwanese delegation embrace opportunity to visit LaSalle

On Tuesday, October 14th, Ronald W. Toseland, Ph.D, distinguished professor and director of the Institute of Gerontology at the State University of New York at Albany brought a delegation from Taiwan to visit our campus and learn about our programming – both residential and outpatient.

The delegation was comprised of seven academics and social workers. According to Professor Toseland, they are extremely interested in work related to trauma, domestic and sexual violence. They spent four hours in staff briefings, interacting with students, exchanging ideas, and touring our campus. They also observed a couple of Social Studies and World History classes. “Our students were open to answering all of the questions posed to them, and were quite engaging,” said Dina McManus, LaSalle’s clinical supervisor for specialized treatment services. “Each class had clearly taken time prior to [our guests] arrival learning about Taiwan and coming up with very thoughtful questions.”

“They embraced these opportunities with enthusiasm, and displayed genuine excitement about their experience today,” said LaSalle’s Associate Executive Director Anne Moscinski. “Nothing is more powerful than the connections shared values allows us to make.”

Before coming to Albany, the group was in New York City making a number of visits to child welfare organizations. They spent the morning meeting with administrators from the NYS Office of Family and Children Services in Albany before coming to LaSalle.

“It was apparent to me that the challenges we face and the urgency we feel about needing to do the very best we can with every child and family is what made the connection to this group of human service professionals so meaningful today,” Moscinski said. “Our students were amazing, and handled the visit with these child caring professionals from the other side of the globe wonderfully!”

A result of University at Albany and board assisted visitations, this delegation was the most recent in a flurry of meetings we have had with international professionals, clinicians, translators from countries including Singapore, the United Kingdom, Turkmenistan, and Paraguay.