Faculty News

Professor Luke Shaefer spoke with the Michigan Advance about the “dark times” Michigan is facing given the recent cuts in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. “I want to stress how incredibly successful the expansion of the safety net was during the COVID crisis — the expansion of SNAP, extended unemployment insurance, the expanded child tax credit, as well as rental assistance,” he said, "...it really saved millions of families across the country, and many, many families here in Michigan, from the types of hardships I expected when we started COVID."

Associate Research Scientist Roland Zullo discussed Michigan’s right-to-work law with WEMU. “Repealing right-to-work certainly helps the labor movement on a couple of levels. But the main one,” said Zullo “is that it shows that labor has regained a little bit of political power in this state.”

Associate Professor Camille Quinn will receive the 2023 Milestone Achievement Award from the University of Chicago’s Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice. The Milestone Achievement Award honors Crown Family School alumni for their exemplary social work values, exceptional performance in clinical or administrative practice, and a strong commitment to the social work profession.

Lecturer Erin Martinez-Gilliard’s new book, “Sex, Social Justice, and Intimacy in Mental Health Practice: Incorporating Sexual Health in Approaches to Wellness,” will be released on March 21.  The text equips mental health professions to integrate discussions about sexual health, identity and relationships into the scope of their client’s mental health.

Professor Daphne Watkins is the co-editor of “Health Promotion with Adolescent Boys and Young Men of Colour: Global Strategies for Advancing Research, Policy, and Practice in Context.” The book unpacks the complex intersections between age, race and gender in the diverse lives of young males of color.

Dean Emerita Paula Allen-Meares spoke with public radio station WNIJ about an initiative in Rockford, Illinois using poetry to increase health awareness. The six-part video program was created in partnership with the University of Illinois in Chicago, of which Allen-Meares is chancellor emerita. 

Allen-Meares has a long history of using the arts as an avenue to advance social work. During her tenure at the School of Social Work, she established the School’s groundbreaking and influential art collection.

Assistant Professor Rebeccah Sokol is the principal investigator of a three-year project recently funded by the CDC entitled “Evaluating a school-based social and material needs identification system to prevent youth violence involvement.” The project will evaluate the effect of Pathways to Potential (P2P) on youth violence outcomes by using administrative data sources and surveys of key program staff. P2P is a Michigan Department of Health and Human Services program that seeks to improve school communities’ social conditions by identifying and reducing the level and concentration of risk factors for chronic absenteeism. Professor Joe Ryan is a co-investigator of this project.

Lecturer Trevor Bechtel, PhD ‘08, spoke with Michigan Radio’s Stateside about how the prevalence of guns in our society affect police interactions. Bechtel is also the Student Engagement & Strategic Projects Manager at U-M’s Poverty Solutions and is a co-author of their recent report examining the use of force by law enforcement.