This story appeared in the Fall 2020 Letters & Science magazine.
Joel Berman’s love for his wife, Sandra Rosenbaum, has transformed the School of Social Work at UW-Madison.
Three years ago, Berman, a member of the Letters & Science Board of Visitors, approached the school’s leadership to fulfill a promise he’d made to his wife of 27 years. Sandra, who received her graduate degree in social work from UW-Madison in 1976, wanted him to donate to the school to put dedicated, well-trained social workers into the field quickly while reducing the financial barriers to earning the degree. When Sandra passed away that summer, Berman created a scholarship in her name and that of her mother, Harriet, a New York social worker who had inspired Sandra’s love of the field. Harriet also graduated from UW-Madison.
He wasn’t done. In June, Berman fulfilled his promise to his wife and then some, donating $25 million to rename the school the Sandra Rosenbaum School of Social Work. It’s the largest gift in the school’s history and makes it one of the only named schools of social work in the country.
“This generous gift will support us in continuing our reputation for excellence by allowing us to further enhance our research, teaching and service missions,” says Stephanie Robert, professor of social work and the former director of the Sandra Rosenbaum School of Social Work.
Berman’s gift will support doctoral programs, help create named professorships and scholarships, and provide funds to allow the school to further diversify its student body, support an inclusive environment and expand importantl work around issues of racial and social justice.
“I felt I wanted to do more,” says Berman. “It makes me feel good to say to the world, ‘I love my wife, and I wanted her name to have a home in a place she loved.’”
Berman, a gregarious and humble storyteller, grew up outside Philadelphia. After graduating from the University of New Hampshire with degrees in physics and earth science and completing a master’s degree in earth and planetary science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he founded Iatric Systems, a healthcare technology systems company he sold in 2018, a year after Sandra’s death. The company had around 300 employees, nearly all of whom worked remotely, long before the global pandemic made this commonplace.
“It gave me the ability to hire good people and not care where they lived,” says Berman. “People always tell me I accomplished a lot. I just hired good people and got out of the way.”
Berman first met Sandra Rosenbaum while at MIT. Berman and Rosenbaum’s then-husband were both part of the same graduate student study group. Joel and Sandra married in 1989 in a park following a Milwaukee Brewers game.
Though she only spent a few years as a social worker, Rosenbaum never lost her love for the profession—or for Madison, a place she and Berman visited frequently, in addition to the couple’s international travels. Rosenbaum nursed a penchant for Babcock Hall’s orange custard with chocolate chips and sunsets on the Terrace at Memorial Union.
“Every time we came to Madison, she’d have us drive around campus, and she’d say, ‘Can we make just one more loop in the car?’ It was literally like sacred ground to her.”
Berman’s attachment to the school, which began with his wife, remains strong. He makes a point of reading every student essay submitted in application to the Harriet & Sandra Rosenbaum Scholarship he created and meets the winners each year at a celebratory event for awardees. Now that the school bears his wife’s name, he relishes the opportunity to be part of making a difference for future generations of social workers.
“Sandy and I were both alarmed by the current environment of ‘What’s in it for me?’ That sort of me-first thinking ignores the guy who’s sleeping in the street,” Berman says. “The values of helping people will be forwarded by this money.”