Joint PhD Program News

Natasha Johnson, PhD ‘20, has received a $5,000 Racial Injustice Award From the U-M Depression Center for her research on racism awareness among Black youths. Her research has the potential to provide empirical support for intervention programs aimed at combating racism by developing a psychometric tool that will evaluate resilient pathways for racially marginalized youth.

Joyce Lee, PhD student, has co-authored a children's book on fighting anti-Asian racism during COVID-19. The book is free and provides an educational resource to help generate meaningful discussions between adults and children about anti-Asian racism.

Congratulations to Natasha Johnson, Joint Doctoral Program in Social Work and Psychology, for successfully defending her dissertation, "You Must Work Twice as Hard for Half as Much: Racial Socialization, Racial Identity, and Racism Awareness in Adolescence." Her committee chairs were Daphne Watkins and Stephanie Rowley. Johnson was awarded the Social Behavioral and Economic Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation and will be working as a postdoctoral fellow with the U-M School of Public Health.

PhD student Change Kwesele recently published “‘It’s Not a Quick Fix.’ Notes for the ‘good’ white people: Insights on conversations about race at work” on Medium.  Kwesele breaks down why the choice of words matters.  “White people must be mindful of how certain ‘polite’ words and conversations have been used to harm Black people.”

Janelle Goodwill, Joint PhD student in Social Work and Psychology, successfully defended her dissertation "A multi-method analysis of stigma, social support, and suicide ideation among Black college students." Her committee consisted of Daphne Watkins, Jacqueline Mattis (co-chairs), Robert J. Taylor and Myles Durkee.

The National Institute of Mental Health is funding Lauren White, Joint PhD student in Social Psychology and Social Work, to study a new suicide prevention model, Promoting Community Conversations About Research to End Suicide. The program is a health intervention designed, supported and implemented by remote communities in Northwest Alaska to decrease youth suicide. Professor Lisa Wexler is the principal investigator.

Sara Stein, Joint PhD student social work and psychology discussed MI Frontline Support a program offering mental health care to essential workers during the Coronavirus pandemic. The program makes it easier for frontline workers to connect with licensed clinicians. 

Associate Professor Matthew Smith and SIMmersion LLC were awarded a $3.1 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health. Smith is the scientific lead developing a virtual simulation, which will help autistic teens and young adults learn effective ways to talk and interact with customers, coworkers and supervisors in work settings. Joint PhD student Kari Sherwood is assisting with this project.