Research Office News

Assistant Professor Katie Schultz’ research project, Tribal Reservations Adolescent Connections Study, has been funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. This mixed methods study will explore peer and family relationships of American Indian (AI) youth, and how they factor in substance use, exposure to violence and suicide among youth living on a Northern Plains reservation. "This is my first foray into prevention research,” said Schultz, “so I’m excited about developing a line of research to prevent substance use and associated outcomes among AI youth and using the data to design a culturally grounded intervention.”

Katie Schulz’ research project, Tribal Reservations Adolescent Connections Study, has been funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. This study will explore peer and family relationships of American Indian youth, and how they factor in substance use, exposure to violence and suicide among youth living on a Northern Plains reservation.

Joyce Lee, PhD ’21, co-authored the book "Young, Proud, and Sung-jee: A Children's Book on Fighting Anti-Asian Racism During COVID-19." It is featured by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) in their Educator|Resource of the Month and generate meaningful discussions between adults and children about anti-Asian racism.

Clinical Assistant Professor Abigail Eiler represented U-M in a series of Big Ten Mental Health Awareness Roundtables. The panel discusses how widening the range of interventions have provided student-athletes with more options — a trend that was happening before the pandemic but has accelerated in the last year.

Professor Emeritus John Tropman’s book “Effective Meetings: Improving Group Decision Making” has been named the number one book of all time on the subject of running meetings by BookAuthority. In his book, Tropman offers practical strategies for running effective meetings by highlighting the processes involved in decision making and the ways individuals contribute to making better quality decisions as a group. BookAuthority uses the recommendations of experts and business leaders to identify and rate the best books in the world.

Joyce Lee, Joint Doctoral Program in Social Work and Psychology, has successfully defended her dissertation entitled “Family Processes Underlying Economic Insecurity, Father Involvement, and Child Outcomes in Families with Low Income.” Her committee consisted of Shawna Lee, Brenda Volling (co-chairs), Robert Ortega, Andrew Grogan-Kaylor and Sheryl Olson. Lee has accepted a position as assistant professor at The Ohio State University.

The Program Evaluation Group (PEG) partnered with the Kresge Foundation to release a new report titled  A Retrospective Look at Kresge Innovative Projects: Detroit.  In 2019, PEG  began an evaluation of the first three rounds of the Kresge Innovative Projects: Detroit (KIP:D), which took place from 2015-2017.  

Through a variety of participatory data collection methods, staff from PEG gathered insights from 45 people connected to KIP:D projects in order to learn about the impact projects had on residents’ quality of life, effective strategies for ensuring inclusive engagement, whether and how projects were catalytic, and the ways in which Kresge could further support the initiative.

Shanna Kattari is quoted in USA Today in an article about celebrities teaching kids to be more inclusive. "Gabrielle Union and Dwyane Wade were so supportive of Zaya coming out and really did a lot of work above and beyond just supporting her, but really making sure other people understood the importance of family support," says Kattari.

Professor William Elliott III spoke with the New York Times about how establishing college savings accounts early transforms expectations about the future and impacts savings. “A savings account for a low-income kid means a lot more to them than it does for a wealthy kid.”