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Ashley E. Cureton

Assistant Professor of Social Work, School of Social Work, and Assistant Professor of Educational Studies, Marsal Family School of Education

Ashley E. Cureton

Dr. Ashley E. Cureton is an assistant professor in the School of Social Work and School of Education at the University of Michigan. She also serves as a faculty affiliate in the Center for Equitable Family & Community Well-Being. Prior to her current role, Cureton was a Provost’s Postdoctoral Fellow and lecturer in the School of Education and the Department of Sociology at Johns Hopkins University. Cureton explores the educational and mental health needs and outcomes of refugee and migrant children and youth and their families. She seeks to understand how displacement and exploitation impact their overall academic and social development, sense of belonging and cultural identity. Her research builds on over a decade of research and practice focusing on child and adolescent development among migrant and refugee populations and other marginalized groups in global contexts like South Africa, Morocco, Peru and Ecuador, to name a few. Prior to attending graduate school Cureton worked as a research associate at Northwestern University’s Institute for Policy Research. She also served as a research fellow for the U.S. Department of State in Istanbul, Turkey, working with Iraqi and Syrian refugee youth in school and community settings. Cureton received a PhD and master’s degree from the Crown School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice at the University of Chicago. She also received graduate certificates in forced migration and refugee mental health from Harvard University, the University of Oxford, and Northwestern University.

Research Interests/Focus

Arts-based programs; Children & adolescents; Community-engaged research; Global social work & health; Immigration; Intervention research; Out-of-school time programs; Refugee policy & resettlement; Qualitative research methods; School-based Interventions; Urban education

Education

Year Degree   School
2019 PhD Global Social Work University of Chicago, Chicago, IL
2010 MSW Internatl Social Work & Community Schools University of Chicago, Chicago, IL
2008 BA Anthropology DePaul University, Chicago, IL
Year Description
2024 Cureton, A. (2024, June) Making a Change! Exploring Refugee Youth's Civic Engagement in Out-of-School Programs to Cultivate Critical Consciousness, Oral presentation through Global Possibility Network, University of Pennsylvania School of Education
2024 Cureton, A. (2024, April). Human Rights and Social Justice: Experience-Based Approaches in Global Social Work Education. Oral presentation at the Joint World Conference on Social Work, Education and Social Development, Panama City, Panama.
2024 Cureton, A. (2024, April). Developing an MSW Specialization that Recognizes the Global Dimension of Social Work. Oral presentation at the Joint World Conference on Social Work, Education and Social Development, Panama City, Panama.
2024 Cureton, A. (Jan 2024). "We are living from a lack of death": An exploration of the mental health needs of Syrian refugee women in Lebanon. Oral presentation at the Society for Social Work and Research, Washington, D.C.
2024 Cureton, A. (Jan 2024). Welcome to the Great Lakes and Automotive State (Michigan): Exploring how Refugee Resettlement Workers Supported Afghan Evacuees in Michigan. Oral presentation at the Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR) Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C.
2023 After High School, What's Next? Exploring Refugee Youths' Perceptions and Preparations around College Choice and Transition (2023, October) Michigan Pre-College and Youth Outreach Conference, Wayne State University
2023 Welcome to the Great Lakes and Automotive State (Michigan): Exploring how Refugee Resettlement Workers and Agencies Supported Afghan Parolees in Michigan. Oral presentation at the Refugee Resettlement Symposium, Switchboard and Arizona State University, Phoenix, AR
2023 “What’s at Stake?” An Exploration of the Merits and Drawbacks of the Welcome Corps Program. Oral presentation at the Refugee Resettlement Symposium, Switchboard and Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ
2023 After High School, What’s Next? Exploring Refugee Youths’ Perceptions and Preparations around College Choice and Transition. Oral presentation at the Possibility Summit 2023, Global Possibility Network, University of Pennsylvania (Virtual).
2023 Welcoming Afghan Evacuees: A National Discussion of Rapid Response, Emerging Needs, and Jan. 2023 Mechanisms for Support Roundtable Discussion at the Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR) Annual Meeting, Phoenix, AZ
2023 Making a Change! Refugee Youths’ Involvement in Out-of-School (OST) Programs to Cultivate Critical Consciousness. Oral presentation at the Comparative & International Education Society (CIES) Annual Meeting, Washington, DC
2023 Implementing a Classroom Drama Therapy Intervention among Refugee Students to Promote Adolescents' Mental Health and Social Well-Being (2023, November) Oral presentation at the Global Mental Health Masterclass, Harvard Program on Refugee Trauma
2022 Exploring Refugee Youths’ Engagement in After-School Programs. Oral presentation at the Michigan Pre-College & Youth Outreach Conference, Grand Rapids, MI
2022 Aiming for Critical, Reflexive and Transformative Global Social Work Pedagogy: Insights on Curriculum Development Panel discussion at the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) Annual Meeting, Anaheim, CA.
2022 “After the School Day, What’s Next?”: Exploring Syrian and Iraqi Refugee Youths’ Participation in U.S.-based After School Programs. Oral presentation at the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA
2022 “After the School Day, What’s Next?”: Exploring Syrian and Iraqi Refugee Youths’ Participation in U.S.-based After School Programs. Oral presentation at the Comparative & International Education Society (CIES) Annual Meeting, Minneapolis, MN
2022 Beyond the School Day: Exploring Syrian and Iraqi Refugee Youths’ Perception and Participation in Out-of-School (OST) Activities. Poster presentation at the Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR) Annual Meeting, Washington, DC
2021 Strangers in the School: Facilitators and Barriers Regarding Muslim Refugee Parental Involvement. Chair & Oral presentation 17th International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, Virtual Conference
2021 Cureton, A. (2021, January). Strangers in the School: Facilitators and Barriers Regarding Refugee Parental Involvement. Oral virtual presentation at the Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR) Annual Meeting, Virtual Conference.
2020 Cureton, A. (2020, January). Beyond the School Day: Exploring Refugee Youths’ Perceptions and Participation in Out-of-School Activities. Oral presentation at the IAFOR International Conference on Education, Honolulu, HI.
2020 Cureton, A. (2020, January). I Want to Feel Safe at My School. I Want to Feel like I Belong: Muslim Refugee Students' Levels of Engagement in Schools. Oral presentation at the Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR) Annual Meeting, Washington, DC.
2020 Cureton, A. (2020, March). Beyond the School Day: Exploring Refugee Youths’ Perceptions and Participation in Out-of-School Activities. Oral virtual presentation at the Comparative & International Education Society (CIES) 2020 Virtual Conference, Miami, FL.
2019 Cureton, A. (2019, January). Patterns of Student Engagement among Muslim Refugee Youth and their Families: The Role of Schools in a Trump Era. Oral presentation at the Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR) Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA.
2019 Cureton, A. (2019, July). How can I get involved – does it even matter?: Facilitators and Barriers around Refugee Parent Involvement in Schools. Oral presentation at the International Consortium for Social Development’s 21st Biennial International Conference, Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

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