The West Virginia University Division of Social Work in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences is celebrating the power of social work this month.

Chuck Fluharty, director of the Rural Policy Research Institute (RUPRI), will speak Wednesday, March 10, at 7 p.m. in the Lugar Courtroom of the College of Law aboutCrafting a Community-Based National Rural Policy: Implications for Human Services.A reception will follow at 8:30 p.m. The Graduate Social Work Organization and School of Applied Social Sciences/Division of Social Work are sponsoring this event, which is free and open to the public.

Fluharty is a native of a fifth generation family farm in the Appalachian foothills of eastern Ohio. After graduating from Yale Divinity School, he decided to center his career upon service to rural people, primarily within the public policy arena. Currently he is the director of RUPRI , the only national policy institute in our country solely dedicated to assessing the rural impacts of public policies.

He is the recipient of numerous awards including the 2002 recipient of the Distinguished Service to Rural Life Award from the Rural Sociological Society and the 2002 USDA Secretary’s Honor Award for Superior Service (jointly to RUPRI ). He has also been the keynote speaker at national meetings on social work and human services in rural areas.

WVU ’s celebration of Social Work Month began with a Family Art Night at Cass Elementary School on March 2.

The Division of Social Work is one of three divisions of the WVU School of Applied Social Sciences, a unit of the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences. The division offers nationally accredited bachelor’s and master’s degrees in social work. For more information, visit the Division of Social Work on the Web athttp://sw.as.wvu.edu, or call (304) 293-3501.