Distinguished Alumni Service Award

Suzin Bartley ’80 is the executive director of the Children’s Trust, a non-profit organization with a mission to stop child abuse in Massachusetts. Bartley and her team are nationally known for developing, implementing, and supporting evidence-based programs that partner with parents to help them make sure kids have safe and healthy childhoods.

In her role as executive director, Bartley has established the Children’s Trust as a multimillion dollar organization that supports more than 100 community-based organizations throughout Massachusetts. She has created and led one of the most successful home-based parent coaching programs in the country, a network of eight center-based family support programs reaching 40 Massachusetts communities, a robust statewide collection of group-based parenting education and support programs, and a nationally recognized fatherhood initiative.

In addition to her work at the Children’s Trust, Bartley serves as an adjunct faculty member at Boston College. She is also co-chair of the Massachusetts Legislative Task Force on the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse, serves on the board of the Boston Center for Blind Children, and is the vice president of the board for Friends for Children.

After completing a bachelor’s degree in urban community services at UMass Amherst, Bartley trained at the Yale Child Study Center and earned a master’s in social work from Smith College. She was an International Fellow at Tufts University’s Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Development. In addition, she was awarded an honorary doctorate degree in public administration from Curry College and an honorary doctorate degree in public service from Tufts University.

Bartley has received numerous awards in recognition of her work, including the Day-Garrett Award from the Smith College School of Social Work and the Outstanding Child Advocacy Award from the National Association of Counsel for Children. In 2015 and 2016, Bartley and the Children’s Trust were named among the Top 100 Women-Led Businesses in Massachusetts by the Commonwealth Institute and Boston Globe Magazine. She credits a world-class education at UMass Amherst for planting the seeds that grew into her strength-based approach to child abuse prevention and family support efforts.