School of Social Work News

Assistant Professor Kristin Seefeldt gave several interviews about her new book, "Abandoned Families: Social Isolation in the 21st Century":

• cited in the National Mortgage Professional Magazine article, “New Book Details Homeownership Challenges in Detroit”
• interviewed with Indiana based Lakeshore Public Radio

Her book is scheduled to be published on December 25, 2016.  

Professors Robert Taylor and Linda Chatters' article, "Reciprocal Family, Friendship and Church Support Networks of African Americans: Findings from the National Survey of American Life" was published in Race and Social Problems.  

In addition, their article, "Extended Family and Friendship Support and Suicidality Among African Americans" was published in Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology.

Three School of Social Work alumni were presented Distinguished Alumni Awards at the SSW All Class Reunion Lunch on Friday, October 21, 2016.

The Distinguished Alumni Award recognizes School of Social Work alumni whose achievements exemplify the values of the School of Social Work and who have made an exceptional impact on the profession, the community and/or Social Work education.

Kathy Wade,Director of Social Work and Associate Hospital Administrator, U-M Health Operations, and Assistant Dean of Hospital Social Work Services, School of Social Work, was selected as the Ida M. Cannon award recipient for 2016. This award honors a national figure for outstanding contributions to the leadership of social work in a healthcare setting and to the Society for Social Work Leadership in Healthcare. Recipients are widely recognized leaders in the field and demonstrate the qualities that made Ida Cannon successful as the first social work leader in healthcare.

Na Youn Lee successfully defended her dissertation, “Understanding Interracial Closeness, Racial Policy Attitudes, and Children’s Academic Achievement through the Prism of Racial Frameworks” and obtained her PhD in Social Work and Political Science. Professors Andrew Grogan-Kaylor and Kathleen Faller were on her committee. 

John Mathias, PhD candidate in social work and anthropology, has received the Outstanding Doctoral Student Award from the  Association for Community Organization and Social Administration. He is conducting outstanding scholarly work in the area of community organizing as evidenced by his dissertation and his other writing.  His research is focused on community/village political action in India, and has been funded by a Fulbright IE fellowship and a Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Fellowship.

Professor Emerita Kathleen Coulburn Faller presented “Forty Years of Child Sexual Abuse Assessment: We’ve Come a Long Way” at the 35th Michigan Statewide Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect.

Assistant Professor Mat Despard’s paper, "Do Tax-Time Savings Deposits Reduce Hardship Among Low-Income Filers? A Propensity Score Analysis," was published in the Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research.