Stephen F. Austin State University

A retirement reception for Dr. Linda Morales, associate dean and director of the Stephen F. Austin State University School of Social Work, is scheduled from 3 to 5 p.m. Tuesday, May 8, in Regents Suites A and B in the University Center.

Morales' colleague in the School of Social Work, Dr. Sharon Templeman, said Morales has enjoyed her work at SFA while inspiring others to find pleasure in their own endeavors.

"First as a new educator, then as the director of field education, and most recently during the past five year as associate dean and director of the school of social work, Linda has motivated students and colleagues to see vitality in and laugh loudest at themselves," Templeman said.

While extremely competent and effective as a social worker, teacher and leader, Morales has just enough irreverence and humanness to keep her real, she added.

"This approachable humanness is blended with integrity and compassion and respect for others, whatever their path in life," Templeman said. "Linda has been, and will no doubt continue to be in this new chapter of her life, a genuine 'bridge over troubled waters' for individuals facing hardships, families struggling to survive, agencies besieged with challenges, and communities recovering from man-made and natural disasters."

Templeman said Morales has taken the social work school from a three-person program to a nationally recognized leader in undergraduate and graduate-level rural social work education.

She said the reception is an opportunity for students, faculty, staff, alumnae and the community to wish Morales well in her retirement.