Wayne State University's School of Social Work will honor Representative Derrick F. Hale as Citizen of the Year and Loren J. Hoffman as Social Worker of the Year on March 21, 2002 at the school's annual alumni Iuncheon.

The featured speaker will be Judge Frances Pitts, a graduate of the Wayne State Law School. The theme of Pitts' speech will be "Celebrating the American Dream of Excellence in Education and American Services." Pitts, who is a probate judge assigned to the Wayne County Third Judicial Circuit Court, is also a social worker.

Hale, a lifetime resident of Detroit, received a B.A. degree from Wayne in1995. Hale, who represents the 14th district, was elected to his first term in the Michigan House of Representatives in 1996, and was re-elected in 1998 and 2000. He has been an advocate of nursing home reform' smaller class sizes for public schools, affordable access to health care and economic empowerment.

Hoffman, of Grosse Ile, received his M.S.W. from Wayne in 1992. He is a faculty member in the School of Social Work, and a clinical social worker in marriage and family therapy. He has been a major innovator in the provision of Employee Assistance Programs and family-based mental health care as well as alcohol and substance abuse treatment.

Wayne State University is a premier institution offering more than 350 academic programs through 14 schools and colleges to more than 31,000 students in metropolitan Detroit.