Faculty News

Professor Joseph Himle has been awarded the 2025 Distinguished Faculty Award. This highly esteemed peer award recognizes governing faculty members who demonstrate excellence in domains including longevity of service to the School, national recognition in scholarship and service, excellence in teaching and mentoring, outstanding service to the School and the university, and contribution to the professional community.

Himle is the Howard V. Brabson Collegiate Professor of Social Work and a professor of psychiatry at the U-M Medical School.

Field Faculty and Lecturer Zaynab Boussi has received the 2025 Distinguished Lecturer Award. This highly esteemed peer award recognizes excellence in teaching and mentoring of students and the very highest ideal of a School of Social Work Lecturer.

Professor Matthew Smith has received the 2025 DSO Faculty Award. Awarded by the Doctoral Student Organization, this award honors a faculty mentor who has demonstrated exceptional commitment to mentoring, developing and supporting doctoral students.

Smith is also the School's Associate Dean of Research.

The IMPACT Awards honor outstanding students, faculty, staff, groups and student organizations who have demonstrated a strong commitment to enhancing our community and advancing the School’s mission.

IMPACT Awards 2025 Recipients

Student Impact Award: Daniella Acosta

Daniella Acosta is an MSW student on the Management and Leadership Pathway, a Flourish office student learner, the SSW Student Government Association In-Person Representative, a member of the Global Scholars Program and the Student Engagement Coordinator at the Center for Campus Involvement.

Acosta is dedicated to creating positive change and fostering inclusivity within diverse communities and proactively seeks opportunities to engage with underrepresented groups. She helped co-create the SSW Student Government Advocacy Committee, amplifying the voices of diverse students. She regularly pursues research opportunities to drive meaningful change and has a passion for practical solutions that directly benefit marginalized communities. Her ability to connect with people from all backgrounds and her commitment to listening and learning have made her a trusted leader in programming efforts. 

Staff Impact Award: Cerise Carrington

As Assistant Director of Financial Aid, Cerise Carrington consistently goes above and beyond her job responsibilities to ensure all students are supported and educated about financial aid and have opportunities to succeed. Her role in hosting webinars on financial aid addresses an often overlooked aspect of student equity—access to financial resources. Additionally, she supports the School’s Association of Black Social Work student organization and plays a crucial role in the school’s relationship with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to ensure our student body is diverse and helps create pathways for students to come to the MSW program. 

Her impact goes far beyond Ann Arbor. She also works with the Office of Global Activities and will serve as a co-lead for the upcoming Global Extension trip to Ghana. Grounded in the principles of cross-cultural understanding and social justice, this project aims to cultivate a deeper awareness of the African diaspora while equipping students with the tools to become culturally responsive therapists and community organizers.

Faculty Impact Award: Ashley Cureton

Ashley Cureton is an assistant professor in the School of Social Work and the Marsal Family School of Education at the University of Michigan. 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. 

In addition, Cureton integrates her talents in theater and her passion for travel into her work, using her skills to creatively push social change and bring fresh perspectives to complex issues. Her commitment to using diverse approaches makes a difference and has a lasting impact on students, colleagues, and the broader community.

Group Impact Award: Student Government Association Advocacy Committee

The School of Social Work Student Government Association Advocacy Committee has demonstrated exceptional leadership in taking a stand for justice, equality and the protection of vulnerable populations. Their work includes organizing a Know Your Rights event (in collaboration with the SSW Flourish office), which offered essential information and resources to immigrants and refugees on campus. This event provided attendees with the knowledge to navigate legal challenges and protect their rights. Additionally, the committee organized a letter-writing campaign, mobilizing students and community members to advocate for policies important to them. This grassroots initiative provided an effective platform for individuals to directly engage with policymakers, showing the collective power of their voices in the fight for justice. 

Beyond these events, the Advocacy Committee has worked closely with the administration to collaborate on important initiatives that ensure a safe and supportive environment for immigrant and refugee communities. Through strategic dialogue and collaboration, they have helped shape inclusivity, support and protection for these populations on campus.

Assistant Professor Rebeccah Sokol penned an op-ed in the Bridge Michigan advocating for the preservation of Pathways to Potential. Funded by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, Pathways to Potential is a large student support program that the School of Social Work has been evaluating. Budget cuts call for replacing the program with family resource specialists within child welfare services. Sokol argues for a comprehensive strategy that addresses both prevention and intervention.

“Maintaining Pathways to Potential alongside new intervention programs would provide Michigan with a more robust framework to address the complex challenges facing our children and families. This comprehensive approach aligns with both fiscal responsibility and compassionate governance — addressing needs at every stage rather than focusing solely on crisis response,” wrote Sokol.

Lecturer Susan Radzilowski spoke with WDET’s The Metro about the challenges as well as the services and supports available for transgender youth in Metro Detroit.

“The availability of school support is extremely important in my opinion. The most important supports here for young people are family, which of course is your home, and school and community,” Radzilowski said. “Oftentimes working with and identifying just one teacher or counselor or adult ally at school can go a really long way to making a transgender child feel safe at school. And so education, training — these are really important ways to impact and improve those environments for transgender students.”

Professor Katie Edwards spoke with The Atlantic about the termination of hundreds of research awards made by the NIH. She said that grinding these trials to a screeching halt is “completely reckless.”

Assistant Professor Ashley Cureton has received the Elizabeth Butler Award from the University of Chicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy and Practice. This award honors those who have demonstrated extraordinary career success, advocacy for social welfare and exemplary leadership within ten years of graduating from the Crown Family School.