Angela Jamison

Student Speaker, December 2023

Angela Jamison is graduating from UK College of Social Work’s online Master of Social Work (MSW) program. 

A nontraditional student, Jamison worked in early childhood education for several years before enrolling at UK. As a foster and adoptive parent to five children (including four teenagers and a 3-year-old), Jamison understood the unique challenges that foster and adoptive parents experience. She decided to pursue a MSW to help support and nurture these families, including her own.

Since 2019, Jamison has served as an adoptive parent liaison for Adoption Support for Kentucky (ASK), in which she conducts trainings and offers one-on-one support for other adoptive, foster and kinship families. She also supports newly-approved foster parents through the Foster Parent Mentor Program. Both programs are training resource centers based at UK. 

In 2021, Jamison was named Adoptive Parent of the Year.

“I am an introvert getting a degree in a people's profession and giving a speech to thousands. Quite contradictory, right?” Jamsion said. “We are only limited by what we tell ourselves we can't do. When I walk for my degree and speak on Friday, it is not just for me, but a reminder for my children — and maybe all people — you can do hard things.”