School of Social Work News

Ed-Dee Williams (PhD student) along with mentor Jamie Mitchell received a grant from Rackham Graduate School to conduct analyses on data related to the mental health communication patterns of African American boys and men. Findings will contribute to improving mental health services, clinical practice and social support for African American adolescent males.

Kunal Namballa, Gabrielle Fitzsimmons, and Joshua Horning (MSW students) along with mentor Julie Cushman (LEO lecturer) and the Critical Intersectionality Learning Community received an Innovation Grant from the U-M Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion to create an experiential learning game, “Power: A Game of Positionality and Intersectionality” which can be used in courses and other settings.

The Technical Assistance Center was awarded a Knight Cities Challenge Grant. “Better Buildings, Better Blocks” which will implement a community-based education program to empower residents of Detroit, Hamtramck, and Highland Park to execute small-scale, residential and commercial real estate projects in their neighborhoods. The Center will provide the team with technical assistance and program evaluation support.

Joint Doctoral Program Director and Associate Professor Daphne Watkins’ article, “A qualitative comparison of DSM depression criteria to language used by older church-going African-Americans” was published in Aging and Mental Health.

Associate Dean for Research and Professor Joe Himle’s article, “A long-term follow-up of group behavioral therapy for obsessive-compulsive disorder in a general outpatient clinic in Norway” was published in the Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders.

Sallie Foley, LEO Lecturer and Director of the Sexual Health Certificate Program, will be recognized with the Professional Standard of Excellence Award this weekend at the annual conference of the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors, and Therapists (AASECT) in Las Vegas. She is being recognized by her peers as a competent and accomplished colleague, an expert in his/her field, and an exemplary bearer of the standards of professional and personal ethics.

Associate Professor Daphne Watkins is on the Internal Advisory Committee and serves as a Faculty Mentor for the School of Public Health's Center for Research on Ethnicity, Culture, and Health. She and Professor Linda Chatters, program director, participated in the NIH Site Visit for the training grant renewal this week. 

Professor Richard Tolman's article, "Gender matters: Experiences and consequences of digital dating abuse victimization in adolescent dating relationships" was published in the Journal of Adolescence.