Irene Becker has been an integral part of our Academy team for over 25 years. She retired from her role as a full time Academy employee with the CWDS program in 2016 (back when we were called “PCWTA” or the Public Child Welfare Training Academy) but she stayed on as a service provider and is getting ready to actually and fully retire (for real this time!). Irene’s extensive experience and expertise with workforce development are matched by her genuine passion for this work and a deep commitment to creating truly transformative learning experiences. We did not have our Academy motto about creating learning experiences that transform hearts, minds and practices back when Irene worked with our team full time, but if there is anyone I have ever partnered with who truly embodies this motto, it is Irene. 

Irene shared her talents in the areas of curriculum design, training facilitation, distance learning, trainer development, leadership, and implementation planning in the Southern region and across the state for many years. She has developed our region’s trainers by writing and delivering nearly every training for trainer series we have offered in the past decade. She played a pivotal role in the early development of our distance learning and assisted with writing some of our very first eLearnings. She helped write and revise a few versions of line worker core. She served as a planner and facilitator of the West Coast Trainers Conference for several years, helping to build capacity and skills in others. She helped us develop and pilot our Spectrum of Learning model which responded to research about the value of spaced learning that included multiple modalities. This spectrum model went on to form the foundation of the current version of line worker core in California, which includes eLearnings that act as pre-work and set the stage for classes, classroom-based training, and field based training activities to practice skills after classes are completed. Irene never stopped innovating in her time at the Academy, always pushing the team to act upon new research and challenge ourselves to be creative and think outside of the box.  

Irene joined the Academy team in 1998 and worked as a Training and Curriculum Specialist, County Consultant, Curriculum Consultant. Once she left her full time position she continued on as a service provider. As Irene steps back from her work with the Academy, we could not miss this opportunity to highlight her contributions and the incredible impact she has had on our organization and the child welfare community. You will be truly missed, Irene. Thank you for your partnership all of these years! 

Dawn Schoonhoven Scott, MSW
CWDS Program Director