Research Office News

Associate Professor Karen Staller, Joint PhD Social Work and Sociology Student Briana Starks and Visiting Scholar Håvard Aaslund co-edited the recent special double issue of Qualitative Social Work: Research and Practice, “Reflections on a Pandemic: Disruptions, Distractions, and Discoveries.” The double issue contains 86 reflexive essays submitted by authors from 35 different countries (and every continent except Antarctica).  Taken together, the essays paint a portrait of the breadth and depth of social work during the earliest months of the historic pandemic from every corner of the globe. Other U-M contributors to the issue include Assistant Professor Odessa Gonzalez Benson, and current doctoral students in Joint PhD Social Work and Sociology Finn Bell and Angela Perone.

Associate Professor Matt Smith’s research on how virtual training can help young people with autism is featured in Disability Scoop. “Virtual Interview Training for Transition Age Youth appears to be effective at teaching job interview skills that are associated with accessing competitive jobs,” he says.

Clinical Assistant Professor Daicia Price discusses mental health in the community in the latest Mental Minute with Michigan Medicine. The Mental Minute discusses a variety of prescient mental health topics and features expert interviews from within and outside the U-M community.

Luke Shaefer spoke with the New York Times about the expansion of the child tax credit in Biden’s plan against child poverty. “To me, it’s the most transformational thing that’s under discussion, and nobody’s talking about it,” says Shaefer.

Associate Professor Terri Friedline and PhD student So’Phelia Morrow call on President Biden to stop the predatory burden of student loan debt in an article in Ms.“To advance his promises of racial and gender justice and to better ensure an inclusive economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, President Biden should cancel all student loan debt—not just a meager portion of it.” Their article also cites research conducted by a team at Michigan Social Work, which focuses on the physical and mental health tolls women face due to their debts and outstanding obligations.

MSW student Olivia Stillman has been named a 2021 Dow Sustainability Fellow. Designed to support the next generation of sustainability leaders in business, government, and nonprofits, The Dow Sustainability Fellows Program is among the most prestigious and productive graduate programs at U-M. Fellows are selected through a competitive process from a pool of applicants nominated by their academic units.

During the year-long program, Stillman will work collaboratively with the cohort to solve real-world sustainability challenges. Each fellow receives a $20,000 stipend, along with sustainability skills-development opportunities and professional experience working on a team with an external client.

“I am excited and honored to learn that I was chosen for the Dow Fellowship. I consider myself to be a scholar and advocate of interdisciplinary collaboration, especially when it comes to issues of sustainability. It is impossible to be an expert on everything and I think it is absolutely essential to know where and how to find help from experts in other fields. I am also excited to bring the social work perspective into discussions of sustainability, especially since I believe the values of social work are often underrepresented in this area of study,” says Stillman.

Professor Luke Shaefer spoke with the New York Times about Biden’s child poverty plan. “This is the boldest vision laid out by an American president for fighting poverty, and child poverty in particular, in at least half a century,” said Shaefer. 

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Researchers at the Center for Equitable Family & Community Well-Being surveyed more than 600 low-income residents across Ypsilanti about the impact of COVID-19. Their work is giving voice to the needs of those disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, ensuring that local health and economic responses attend to issues of equity.