Research Office News

Clinical Assistant Professor Daicia Price shared her personal and professional experiences with law enforcement agencies in the University Record. Price is currently partnering with Detroit Wayne Integrated Health Network to provide weeklong crisis intervention training for law enforcement agencies.

“Five times, myself and my family have been incarcerated for reasons we should not have been, but I still don’t place that on an individual officer. I think about where the gaps were in those different pieces, and helping them understand ways they can do policing in a trauma-informed way,” said Price.

Finn Bell, Joint PhD student in Social Work and Sociology, has been named a Social Work Health Futures Lab Fellow. He joins a national cohort of 26 social work experts from around the U.S. and Canada, who will work together on topics ranging from social media to climate justice. Sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), this initiative aspires to help prepare a new generation of the profession.

"For the past seven years, my community-engaged research has been motivated by trying to understand how communities can build the emotional, spiritual, and cultural sustenance necessary to effectively confront the climate crisis,” said Bell. “I am honored to have been selected as a RWJF Social Work Health Futures Lab Fellow, as it will give me the opportunity to receive specialized training in futures thinking and connect me with a cohort of social work leaders similarly committed to addressing the ‘wicked problems’ of the 21st century from an intersectional anti-racist lens."

Associate Professor Sandra Momper has been appointed by Provost Susan Collins to the U-M’s Anti-Racism Faculty Hiring Initiative. The initiative, a component of the university’s multifaceted approach to addressing systemic racism, will bring over 20 new scholars with expertise in racial inequality and structural racism to schools and colleges across campus over three years. Members will review hiring proposals and make selections for funding for the first round of tenure track hires in January 2021.

In addition, she recently was appointed by Dilip Das, Assistant Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, U-M Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion to the Indigenous Leadership Group.

Ahead (Issue 5) - In-depth views of social work research at the University of Michigan. This issue includes:

• "We Will Find Ways to Come Together" Overcoming Barriers to Conducting Research During Covid-19
• COVID-Specific Faculty Research

Lecturer Tony Alvarez’s new book, "Adventure Group Psychotherapy an Experiential Approach to Treatment" explores what is necessary for an experiential therapy group to function effectively, and the practical skills needed to inspire success.

"This inspiring and essential resource provides powerful tools and techniques for adventure therapy practitioners and students," said Will White, co-founder, Summit Achievement, and author of "Stories from the Field: A History of Wilderness Therapy".

Associate Professor Terri Friedline’s new book, “Banking on a Revolution Why Financial Technology Won't Save a Broken System,” takes a critical look at advancements in financial technology (“fintech”) in the banking and financial industries, and makes the case for a more inclusive financial system. "Banking on a Revolution" is deeply rooted in theory and research, and it presents new interpretations of the climate crisis, student loan debt, and community benefits agreements and their relationships to the financial system. The book makes a compelling case for a revolutionized financial system that centers the needs, experiences, and perspectives of those it has historically excluded, marginalized, and exploited. 

"To create a more equitable and democratized financial system, we need to shift the balance of power away from banks and lenders and toward people,” says Friedline. “Social movements can shift power imbalances and hold institutions accountable for the racist inequalities they have created — tasks for which fintech was not really designed."

 Lorraine Gutiérrez, associate dean for educational programs and professor of social work, is receiving the 2020 Career Achievement Award from the Association for Community Organization and Social Action (ACOSA).  The award honors the lifetime contribution of a person in the field who has made a major contribution to community practice. She is a leader in scholarship on group work, empowerment, multicultural practice and research for community change that has advanced these areas and enriched social work education and practice.  She has exemplified an academic life that connects her teaching and research with her service that has enhanced her school, campus, community and profession. 

"There is no greater honor than being recognized by my peers,” said Gutiérrez  .  “I joined ACOSA when I was a doctoral student in 1986 and it has always been an important part of my community-focused work. I have been happy to be contributing to the field of community practice."

ENGAGE Program Director and Lecturer Ayesha Ghazi-Edwin received a Certificate of Appreciation from the James T. Neubacher Awards Committee, a unit of the U-M Council for Disability Concerns. The certificate is in acknowledgment of her efforts to advance the cause of accessibility and justice for the disability community.  In addition to her work at the school, Ghazi-Edwin is also the Fund Development and Research Specialist at Detroit Disability Power, a disability justice nonprofit organization in Detroit.  She also serves on the Michigan Social Work's Inclusion and Access Taskforce. 

Established by the university’s Council for Disability Concerns in October 1990, the award is a memorial to James T. Neubacher, a university alumnus and columnist for the Detroit Free Press who advocated for equal rights and opportunities for people with disabilities.