Faculty News

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.

Professor Luke Shaefer spoke with Michigan Radio about a new report from U-M’s Poverty Solutions, which shows that U.S. police officers kill more people in days than police in other countries kill in years. “This is one place where, if we’re trying to see things from the perspective of police … that fear, that vigilance really of anyone and everyone that they encounter may have a gun does look like it drives more police shootings,” he said. Shaefer is Poverty Solutions’ faculty director and one of the authors of the report.

Professor Andy Grogan-Kaylor is quoted in a feature in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health titled “The strange endurance of corporal punishment.” The article explores the fact that while corporal punishment of children is an extremely loaded issue that transcends cultures, the research is almost entirely uniform in finding that corporal punishment doesn’t work and has enduring negative effects on children. “Using spanking might buy you an hour of quiet or an hour of better behaviour,” Grogan-Kaylor said. “But over the course of the long term, it'll lead to all kinds of problems.”

Professor Luke Shaefer was quoted in a Detroit News article on how the Earned Income and Child Tax Credit can make a critical difference for families with low to moderate incomes. 

“This is an important time of year for households who are working hard to make ends meet,” said Shaefer. “Tax refunds help families pay down debt, invest in car repairs, and all the other things they need. We all benefit when families can access these resources.”

Assistant Professor Anao Zhang is a principal investigator on a new project funded by a $250,000 Eugene Washington Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) grant. The Rogel Cancer Center-based research team will work to bring equity to adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer research and outcomes. Professor Brad Zebrack and PhD student Nina Jackson Levin are part of the research team.

“Despite an overall improved five-year survival rate among AYA cancer survivors over the last 20 years, these improvements have not transferred equitably to underrepresented survivors, including people who are Black, Indigenous or other people of color, as well as sexual and gender minorities,” said Zhang.

Assistant Professor Lisa Fedina, Associate Professor Shanna Kattari and Camille Quinn have been named Fellows of the Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR). SSWR Fellows are members who have served the society’s mission with distinction — to advance, disseminate and translate research that addresses issues of social work practice and policy and promotes a diverse, equitable and just society. Designation as an SSWR Fellow is a high honor and fellows maintain their status as long as they are current members of the society.

Clinical Assistant Professor Justin Hodge has been unanimously selected to serve as chair of the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners. Hodge was reelected in November as the Washtenaw County Commissioner for District 5. “I am committed to doing all I can to make our home a place where everyone has the opportunity to thrive and succeed,” he said.