The March 17 Forum included a tribute to Loretta (Hilty ‘61) Baumgartner and was sponsored by members of the class of 1961.

MEDIA RELEASE__As a recent Bluffton University Forum speaker, alumn Malissa Takacs ’01 challenged students to consider how purpose, relationships and service shape both career paths and lifelong impact.

 Drawing from more than two decades of professional experience in counseling, admissions and international education, Takacs reflected on her own journey and the broader question at the heart of social work. “Do we change individuals, or do we change systems?” she asked the audience. “Do we work to save one person at a time, or do we work to save the world?” 

Takacs explained that this tension, first introduced to her as a student, has guided her career across multiple roles and continents. She emphasized that both approaches are necessary.

“But which solution? The macro-dream of eradicating homelessness, which is what I wanted to do when I was nine years old, or the micro-reality of sitting with one person and lighting just enough of their path to the next guy?” she stated. “The answer, I've learned for 25 years, is yes to both.”

Throughout her talk, Takacs returned to her time as a Bluffton student, describing a path that was anything but linear. “My Bluffton story is that Bluffton found me at a time when I truly was not looking.”

Takacs recalled a journal entry she had made as a senior in high school at the start of her college search: “I have no clue what I'm doing.” And yet, in just a short time, a later entry reflected her decision to come to Bluffton. She noted “the people there seem kind of nerdy,” but those people turned into relationships that still stick with her today. 

She credited Bluffton faculty and relationships with shaping her personal and professional direction. “What I learned, and you've heard it many times, is that it's all about relationships.”

Her career began in school-based therapy but evolved as she encountered systemic barriers affecting her students. This led her to reimagine how social work values could be applied beyond traditional roles. “My work in admissions quickly showed me that something was happening. That guiding young people toward the future was life-changing,” she stated.

Takacs now works globally with students and professionals, emphasizing that meaningful impact often happens through individual connections. “Helping one person breathe easier, that is success,” she stated. “That is changing the world.”

She encouraged students of all majors to embrace core social work values—service, justice, dignity and relationships—as guiding principles in any field. “These are not exclusively social work values, nor should they be. These are human values.”

Closing her remarks, Takacs reframed a common phrase to emphasize the long-term nature of purpose and growth. “Life is long,” she stated, emphasizing the length of time we have to make an impact, to make career changes and to shed a little bit of light on the next step of someone else’s path.