Faculty News

Congratulations to Trina Shanks who was named the Harold R. Johnson Collegiate Professor of Social Work. Shanks is the director of the School of Social Work Community Engage Program as well as the newly launched Center for Equitable Family & Community Well-Being, which connects the university with community leaders in Detroit and in Washtenaw County. This is the second endowed professorship honoring the School’s former dean and supports a scholar whose teaching and research address the advancement of race relations, diversity and inclusion." Trina Shanks has made significant and influential contributions as a researcher and leader. She is a valued colleague, teacher and mentor," said Dean Lynn Videka.

Professor Lisa Wexler has received a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Grant for her project, Family Safety Net: Developing an Upstream Suicide Prevention Approach to Encourage Safe Firearm Storage in Rural and Remote Alaskan Homes. The study will support, encourage and assess safe firearm storage practices relevant to Alaska Native families. Alaska has suicide rates far above national averages, including a teen suicide rate among Alaska Natives 18 times higher than the rate for other American teens.

A new study from Parenting in Context Research Lab found parents are overwhelmed, kids are anxious and economic hardship is common during the pandemic. The pandemic presents parents with new challenges on how best to prepare and support their children for a different school experience. In the early days of the pandemic, nearly 80% of parents were educating their children at home.

Karla Goldman's article "Fifteen Years after Katrina: Lessons for August 2020" reflects on Hurricane Katrina and draws connections to the pandemic. Writes Goldman, "A crisis offers the opportunity to draw upon established strengths and reach forward for new possibilities implicit in working across differences, even as we hold fast to the essential connections and stories that define who we are."

Associate Dean for Research and Professor Rogério M. Pinto is the lead on the project “Brazil Theater Exchange: Innovation for Social Work Education,” which was recently awarded a Council on Social Work Education’s Katherine A. Kendall Institute of International Social Work Education grant. Since 2015 the Kendall Institute has awardedgrants that support international social work education projects that help prepare United States students for global citizenship and encourage opportunities for international social work.

“Brazil Theater Exchange: Innovation for Social Work Education” uses self-referential drama techniques to prepare social workers to overcome service barriers and enhance advocacy by developing and evaluating theater methods for social work education.

Professor Robert Joseph Taylor was quoted in Salon and CNN: "People are talking about the race disparity in COVID deaths, they're talking about the age disparity, but they're not talking about how race and age disparities interact: They're not talking about older Black adults."

On Wednesday, Detroit teachers voted to authorize a “safety strike,” should their concerns about protective equipment and protocols not be met.  Associate Research Scientist Roland Zullo spoke with the Detroit Free Press about the potential legal consequences and public reaction. "No one knows about the exact risks" of COVID-19, Zullo said. "I don't think it'd be unreasonable and my guess is that the public would be on the teachers' side."

Jaclynn Hawkins and Jamie Mitchell have each received loan repayment awards for their continued commitment to engage in health-disparities research. The awards are from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities whose loan repayment programs were established by Congress and designed to recruit and retain highly qualified health professionals into biomedical or biobehavioral research careers. Hawkins is an assistant professor and leads the Diabetes in Men's Health Lab. Mitchell is an assistant professor and is a co-director of the Co-investigator of the Michigan Center for Urban African American Aging Research.