Sumiko Hennessy, PhD

Always interested in both foreign service and social work, Sumiko Hennessy attended school in Belgium before receiving a social work degree in New York and a doctorate from the University of Denver. She was a founding board member and executive director of the Asian Pacific Development Center in Denver, which provides outpatient mental health services, information and referrals, drug and alcohol abuse counseling, and domestic abuse assistance to the Asian immigrant and Asian-American population. Sumi also served on the board of the Women’s Foundation of Colorado, the Women’s Economic Development Council, the Asian Advisory Council for the Mayor, and the board of governors of Nine Who Care. Internationally recognized for her dedication to Asians living in the United States, Hennessy recently worked in Japan as the associate dean of field instruction at a newly established school of social work.