Dr. Sherwood joined the faculty in 1979. He was an Associate Professor at the Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College and has worked with military personnel, veterans, and student veterans for over 30 years. He has published in the areas of veterans and PTSD and was a clinical consultant at the VA Hudson Valley Health Care System-Montrose Campus from 1986 to 2016 where he treated veterans with PTSD. He is the initial organizer for the annual conference on The Hidden Client: Veterans and their Loved Ones, which began in 1983 and was held each year until 2010. He was a social work officer at Fort Polk, LA, from 1971 to 1973 and was in the Army Reserve from 1973 to 1978.
Leora is the Project Director for Return and Opportunity in Veterans Education (PROVE) at Silberman School of Social Work (SSSW). She started at PROVE in 2008. Ms. Shudofsky received her master’s degree in Social Work from Hunter College School of Social Work (now Silberman) in 1990 majoring in Group Work. She has been a teaching adjunct at both SSSW and Columbia University School of Social Work since 1999. She developed the curriculum for and has been teaching the “Social Work with Veterans and Service Members” course at SSSW since 2013. In May 2017, she received The Cecile B Insdorf Award for Excellence in Teaching for Part-Time Faculty. In August 2017 Ms. Shudofsky co-authored an article for a special edition of the peer-reviewed Clinical Social Work Journal entitled “PROVE: An Innovative Clinical Social Work Field Education Model.” Working with veterans has become a true passion for her and she plans to continue working with PROVE and training up the new generation of social workers to learn more about working with veterans and service members.
Nancy Magidson joined PROVE in 2017. She earned her MSW in group work from Hunter College in 2006. Prior to working at PROVE, Nancy worked at Silberman as both a field advisor and an academic advisor. Nancy has worked with older adults and those facing life-threatening illness, providing support to the families as well as providing bereavement counseling. For many years Nancy worked specifically with Holocaust survivors. She received a master’s in U.S. History from San Francisco State University, a bachelor’s in Women’s Studies from UC Santa Cruz, and has a background in film and video. She is also the daughter of a World War Two Navy veteran.
Alyssa Nelson is the current Administrative Assistant and a recent graduate from Queen Community College. She is newly enrolled at John Jay College of Criminal Justice where she will pursue her bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice. Alyssa Nelson also manages PROVE social media accounts such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
PROVE Financial Coach
Rhonda Sherwin, AFC®
Email: Rhonda.Sherwin@hunter.cuny.edu
Rhonda Sherwin is the Financial Coach for PROVE. She has an BS and MBA from NYU and is an Accredited Financial Counselor (AFC®). Rhonda began her financial career as a banking officer with a large Japanese bank based in NYC, continuing on to senior positions with Merrill Lynch, Guardian Life Insurance and Franklin Templeton. Her primary specialty was an expertise in Retirement Plans. While having an active career on “Wall Street”, Rhonda was a volunteer for several organizations that offered free personal finance education to NYC public school students, adults in community centers, and social service organizations helping those in need of financial assistance. Four years ago she took a new turn in her life and became a full time Veterans Financial Coach, representing NYC through a federal program funded by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Through that program, she developed and still maintains strong partnerships with providers throughout NYC servicing veterans and their families. Currently, Rhonda is a Financial Liaison at Services for the Underserved under a new program to increase housing stability for veterans receiving federal assistance. She is dedicated to passing on her knowledge gained through academic, work and life experiences so all veterans can build confidence to make informed financial decisions.
