In 2017, Kelly Maycumber joined the School of Social Work as a field liaison, and soon became a field program coordinator in 2018, focusing primarily on placing undergraduate students into internships as part of the social work major.
“Kelly consistently moves above and beyond in her work while being an exceptionally compassionate, caring, kind, trustworthy, and person-centered employee,” said Field Education Program Director Liz Davis.
“The 2020-21 school year brought unprecedented challenges due to the pandemic,” Davis said. “Kelly was able to exceed in not only completing her work, but in taking on a number of additional projects and responsibilities, while managing all elements of her life during the course of the pandemic year.”
“She supported students and agency partners, managing questions and concerns as we needed to pivot to remote field placements during the pandemic,” said Davis. “Graduating seniors have commented specifically that Kelly was supportive and made the internship placement process easier and clear for them.”
Learn more about what makes Kelly Maycumber a valued member of the School of Social Work in our Q&A interview.
How did you arrive at your current position in the School of Social Work at Colorado State University?
After I received my Masters in Social Work from CSU, I embarked on some career exploration, and in addition became a field liaison for the School of Social Work. Field liaisons serve as a bridge between the practice community and school, to ensure a valuable field experience for students. With this, I realized I was most passionate about fulfilling the needs of students. This self-knowledge served as the tipping point toward working with students on a more permanent basis and I love my role in the School of Social Work! Awesome team, awesome students, awesome campus.
What are your interests?
My interests are field education, international social work, healthcare in human services, and HIV/AIDS. I also served as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Philippines and found this to be one of the most rewarding and challenging parts of my career so far. While in the Philippines, I worked for a non-government unit and served on a HIV/AIDS committee that created and launched a mobile sexual education program for youth. When I returned home, I continued on a similar path through working as Health Insurance Program Manager for Northern Colorado Health Network (NCHN). This ignited my interest in affordable and equitable healthcare for all. At NCHN, I had the opportunity to work with CSU social work students in varying degrees. This led to my passion for field education and providing students with the support needed to create a truly meaningful internship experience.
When did you first become interested in social work?
In college, I was unsure what major I wanted to pursue. I changed my major six times: elementary education, interior design, liberal arts, business, and marketing. I enjoyed pieces of each one, but there was still something missing. I liked working with people, and I wanted to do something that included being creative, teaching, problem-solving, celebrating diversity, tracking data, social justice, connecting, mentoring, collaborating, working for something bigger than myself, and giving back to my community. While I’d like to say I had this life-altering moment that drove me to social work, that was not the case. It was a process of elimination, plus some great advice from my dearest friend, who said, ‘duh, you would be a great social worker!’
Did you have a mentor? How did you let that person guide you?
I have had so many awesome folks support me along the way. Since moving to Fort Collins in 2008, I have been lucky enough to continue to partner with such incredible social workers that add so much value to my life both professionally and personally. My go-to folks are those who understand the inevitability of change and adapt to it, accept there is always room for growth, demonstrate resilience, withhold judgement, and share a like-mindedness regarding social work values. Being surrounded by folks like that help to guide my social work journey and challenge me to be better.
What do you do in your spare time?
I love to hang out with my awesome family: Ian my partner, our two kids, Finn and Juniper, and our sweet and spicy mini schnauzer Lola. I love being active and really enjoy running, soccer, pickleball, yoga, spikeball, and bike rides with the family. I’m obsessed with strategy board games, Splendor, El Grande, Carcassonne and Duel being some of my favorites. But I can’t rule out great classics like Cranium, Rummikub, Charades of Death and Euchre! Right now, my family is obsessed with watching Kids Baking Championship and then working to create our own special desserts! I also enjoy attempting to cut hair, my own included, and I’m lucky enough my family lets me practice on them too!
The School of Social Work is part of CSU’s College of Health and Human Sciences.
