Joint PhD Program News

Andrea Mora, Joint PhD in Social Work and Psychology, has successfully defended her dissertation, “An Examination of Community Violence Exposure and Sexual Harassment Among Latino/a Adolescents.”

Todd Herrenkohl and Lorraine Gutiérrez (co-chair) served on her committee. Mora has accepted a position as an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Pittsburgh for fall 2023.

Anne Blumenthal, Joint PhD in Social Work and Sociology, has successfully defended her dissertation, "Essays on Child Well-Being and Parenting During the Covid-19 Pandemic."

Todd Herrenkohl, Katie Maguire-Jack and Sandra Danziger (co-chair) served as on her committee. Blumenthal has accepted a position as the Harold A. Richman Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice and Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago.

PhD student So’Phelia Morrow has been named a 2023 Public Voices Fellow on Advancing the Rights of Women and Girls. The US-based fellowship is part of The OpEd Project’s Public Voices initiative to include women’s voices in writing history and Equality Now’s mission to create a fair and just world for women and girls. During the year-long program, participants receive mentorship to effectively communicate their ideas and learn how to work with media outlets.

PhD student Yanghyun Park presented at the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children conference last month. Her presentation was titled “Strategies for increasing economic support in child maltreatment prevention.”

PhD student Olivia Chang received an honorable mention from the 2023 Ford Foundation Fellowship Program. The programs seek to increase the diversity of the nation's college and university faculties by increasing their ethnic and racial diversity, maximize the educational benefits of diversity, and increase the number of professors who can and will use diversity as a resource for enriching the education of all students.

Briana Starks, Joint PhD in Social Work and Sociology, successfully defended her dissertation, "Diapers, Debt, and Degrees: The Practical and Theoretical Implications of Maternal Postnatal Educational Attainment." Her committee included Kristin Seefeldt (co-chair) and Karen Staller.

Starks has accepted a position as a Human Services Researcher at Mathematica.

Nina Jackson Levin, Joint PhD in Social Work and Anthropology, successfully defended her dissertation, "Meta/Static Ethnography of Adolescent and Young Adult Oncofertility Research and Practice at a United States Hospital: Implications for Sexual and Gender Minorities.” Her committee included Bradley J. Zebrack (co-chair) and Shanna Katz Kattari.

Jackson Levin plans to complete a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Michigan Department of Endocrinology.

PhD student Olivia Chang is the recipient of the ResilienceCon 2023 Life Paths Promising Scholars Award. This competitive award is presented to a small number of current students attending ResilienceCon who are conducting high-impact resilience-focused research that focus on under-served or disadvantaged communities.