Greenstone Lecture Rescheduled for April 11, 2025
Greenstone Lecture Rescheduled for April 11, 2025
Loyola University Chicago’s School of Social Work will welcome Kimberly Leary, Ph.D., MPA on April 11, 2025 as the speaker for the 2024-25 Greenstone Lecture. Dr. Leary's lecture is titled “When We Reckon," and is presented jointly with Loyola’s Parkinson School of Public Health and the Institute for Clinical Social Work. Register here.
"Change is rarely linear. It is shaped by tensions between progress and resistance, innovation and tradition, urgency, and hesitation," Dr. Leary said of her lecture topic. "This talk explores the dynamics of systemic change, particularly how institutions adapt—or struggle to adapt—when confronted with the need for transformation. Drawing on historical patterns and contemporary shifts, the discussion highlights the challenges of implementing large-scale reforms, the forces that drive retrenchment, and the strategies that sustain progress over time."
"At the heart of lasting change are local changemakers—community leaders, advocates, and engaged community members —who shape outcomes through persistence, creativity, and collective effort. Change is not only driven by policies and institutions but also by the everyday choices individuals make to challenge exclusion, foster belonging, and create opportunities within their own spheres of influence. This session invites reflection on the cycles of change, the role of expertise in navigating complex systems, and the pathways that enable organizations and individuals alike to move forward with intention and impact."
The lecture will be held in-person at Loyola’s Schreiber Center Room 908 (Water Tower Campus) on April 11 from 9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Admission is free, though social workers who wish to earn three Continuing Education Units will be charged $75. CEUs earned at the Greenstone Lecture will satisfy cultural competency requirements for licensure renewal.
About Kimberlyn Leary, Ph.D., MPA
Dr. Leary is an Associate Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health and a part-time Associate Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. She is an award-winning educator and writer, focusing on government innovation, adaptive leadership, collaboration, and equity. Among her many awards and honors, Dr. Leary won the Hans Loewald Memorial Award in 2020 at the International Forum for Psychoanalytic Education.
Outside of academia, Dr. Leary served as Executive Vice President of The Urban Institute, as well as an advisor to the White House Council on Women and Girls under President Obama. She was also an advisor to the health division at White House Office of Management and budget and senior policy advisor to the Office of National Drug Control Policy.
About the Greenstone Lecture
Each year Loyola University Chicago's School of Social Work and the Institute for Clinical Social Work collaborate to bring a distinguished speaker to their audiences.
Joan F. Greenstone, Ph.D., for whom this annual lecture series is named, was a highly valued colleague on the faculty at both Loyola University Chicago's School of Social Work and the Institute for Clinical Social Work, prior to her untimely death in 1996.
She and her commitment to excellence in teaching, ethics, and clinical practice have been greatly missed. These lectures are funded through the generosity of Joan’s family.
