Lauren Davis, Assistant Director of the School of Social Work DEI Program has been selected as a member of the U-M Voices of the Staff Advancing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion team.
Assistant Professor Shanna Kattari and Postdoctoral Research Fellow Ashley Lacombe-Duncan talk about their studies on transgender experiences with health professionals on Michigan Minds. They discuss their goal of creating easily accessible information for healthcare providers to help better care for transgender patients.
The SSW DEI Office established a new award to recognize individuals and groups in the School of Social Work who have made significant contributions to advancing diversity, equity and inclusion in the School or in the community. Congratulations to the following individuals and groups selected as the 2018 recipients of the Impact Award in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: Staff Member, Randall Bilby; Student, Cuauhtemoc Salinas Martell; Faculty Member, Shanna Kattari and Organization, Association of Black Social Work Students. Awardees were recognized at an awards ceremony at the School on December 10. Lauren Davis, Assistant Director of SSW DEI Program, said about the awards: “While there is still much work to be done to advance the efforts of the DEI strategic plan, we wanted to take a moment to celebrate the incredible work that members of the SSW community have made to advance diversity, equity and inclusion, and to acknowledge the commitment and progress we have made as a School.”
Associate Professor Sandra Momper was featured in SSW Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Office's November faculty highlight, in honor of Native American Heritage Month. Her article, “OxyContin Use on a Rural Midwest American Indian Reservation: Demographic Correlates and Reasons for Using” was the piece of research selected.
Professor Barry Checkoway led the 15th annual Youth Dialogues program this week here at the University of Michigan. "Youth Dialogues on Race and Ethnicity in Metropolitan Detroit" challenges racial discrimination and segregation through the processes of intergroup dialogue and social action planning; the program creates community among metro Detroit high school students.
Professor Barry Checkoway, Director of Undergraduate Minor Programs and Assistant Professor Katie Richards-Schuster, Intergroup Relations Associate Director Roger Fisher, and Administrative Coordinator Bridget Christian led the Grosse Pointe Public School System's diversity initiative, as core members of SSW’s youth and community program. They worked closely with the high school students, helping them assess student perceptions on diversity, equity and inclusion at both Grosse Pointe North and Grosse Pointe South.
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.
CASC Undergraduate Minor Program Manager Amber Williams was appointed by President Schlissel to the Voices of the Staff Program’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion network team for a two-year term.
On October 5, 2016 the School publicly published its Strategic Plan for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. The plan will requires a strong leader, therefore, Professor Lorraine Gutiérrez will serve as the inaugural Director of SSW's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Initiative. Lorraine has been a national leader in diversity and social justice in social work. Her scholarship is core reading in most BS and MSW programs. She is the recipient of the 2016 distinguished faculty award at SSW, she is ranked as a high impact female social work scholar and received the "Blue Flame" lifetime achievement award from the Organization of Latino American Social Workers. Lorraine is currently serving as Chair of the Personality and Social Contexts Psychology Program and the Arthur F Thurnau Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychology. She is already working together with key faculty and the dean's office in advancing the plan this semester and will assume the role's full responsibilities in January.
University of Michigan
School of Social Work
1080 South University Avenue
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1106