Azadeh “Azi” Block’s American story is the confluence of many.
On her maternal side, Block is a descendant of Stephen Hopkins, a Mayflower passenger and one of the people who signed the Mayflower Compact.
Her Southwestern Pennsylvanian roots trace back to 1799, when Roger Geer, an ancestor who served in the Revolutionary War, returned from military service.
Her father is Ali Masalehdan, who immigrated to the U.S. from Iran in 1965 for higher education. At graduate school in Boston University in the 1970s, he met a descendant of Roger Geer — Audrey Geer — and they married.
The plan was to raise a family in Iran, but the Iranian Revolution in 1979 changed that. They moved to New Castle, where Block was born, and on to Squirrel Hill when she was 3. Block lives in Squirrel Hill today with her husband, Ethan, and children.
“I am where I am because of the people here before me,” Block said. “Every opportunity I’ve had is impactful to me. I stand on the shoulders of these ancestors, and I appreciate everything they did to get me to where I am.”
Growing up, weekend visits would be spent in New Castle with her grandfather, Frank Densmore Geer. At the time, Geer was the only psychiatrist in New Castle. He had a deep love for helping others, Block remembers.
“He was a person who wanted to ensure everybody was getting effective treatment,” Block said. “I was drawn to social work because I believe my life’s work is to help people who are oppressed.”
At a young age, Block learned family history is more intricate than people assume. In grade school, she failed a paper because her teacher did not believe her ancestors came over on the Mayflower.
“Stereotypes exist because we are consistently being presented with new information and we need to make quick decisions,” Block said. “I see the world as I am. My lived experience impacts how I see other people.”
That led to a career in the social sciences field, with a focus on issues related to cultural humility, competence and work with immigrant and refugee populations.
Block worked at the Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic from 1997 to 2007, and her post-master’s of social work clinical training was at what’s now called Wesley Family Services.
Block held faculty teaching positions at Slippery Rock University, the University of Pittsburgh and Youngstown State University, and currently is a professor of social work at Pennsylvania Western University’s California campus. Her teaching focuses on social work with groups, cultural diversity and social work interviewing skills.
The promise of America remains powerful, Block said, but citizens can and should expect more. As America celebrates its 250th anniversary, she said, the Founding Fathers would be pleased with where things have come — but they’d be disgusted by disproportionate and extreme amounts of wealth while others struggle to make ends meet. She said education is important yet increasingly expensive.
Block is writing a book titled “Journeys in Cultural Humility: Social Work Edition.”
“These are stories of people who have a social work educational background, who may be practicing social workers or someone who was practicing, and how their social work education and cultural humility influenced who they are today,” Block said.
She looks to Erik Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development, particularly generativity versus stagnation, the conflict between making a lasting impact on the world and feeling a lack of purpose.
“The idea is the book helps people engage in their generativity,” Block said, “and not fall to stagnation.”