School of Social Work News

Sam Gilliam, the abstract artist whose work “The Real Blue” was commissioned for the School of Social Work died on Saturday at his home in Washington, D.C. He was 88. “The Real Blue” is the centerpiece of the School’s original art collection.

“Sam Gilliam brought his dynamic use of structures and brilliant deployment of colors to the “The Real Blue,” said Dean Emerita Paula Allen-Meares. This commissioned work of art anchors the collection of artistic works at the School of Social Work. He contextualized this work within the spirit of social justice and the vibrant tapestry of the America we are becoming. His presence lives on in this stunning piece that will continue to influence our social work community.”

Professor Larry Gant sees in the piece the current issues of social work: identities, configurations and critical intersectionality.  “Nothing fits, but it does. The colors are different but they fit; the shapes fit but they aren’t supposed to.  What do we take from that?  It’s abstract art that doesn’t have answers but compels questions and gets your attention, and that’s a really good intent: it gets students able to sit with ambiguity.”

On July 1, 2022, Kathryn Elizabeth (Beth) Angell was appointed as dean of the School of Social Work. She was previously dean of the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) School of Social Work and, before that, held a number of leadership roles at Rutgers University in New Jersey. We caught up with Angell as she prepared to move to Ann Arbor, to learn more about her experiences, perspectives and hopes for the future.

Garrett Pace, Joint Doctoral Program in Social Work and Sociology, has successfully defended his dissertation entitled "Corporal Punishment Bans in Global Perspective: Conceptualization and Child- and Caregiver-Reported Outcomes.” His committee consisted of Shawna Lee and Andrew Grogan-Kaylor. Pace has accepted a tenure-track assistant professor position at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Assistant Dean of Field Education Dan Fischer’s Interprofessional Education (IPE) team has won a 2022 bronze award from 1EdTech for their collaboration with U-M Informational & Technology Services.  Their project, Competency-Based Tracking for Interprofessional Education Leveraging Institutional Data, will leverage data to track competencies across U-M’s approximately 35 IPE offerings, which involve 5,000 students from 10 schools across 3 campuses. The team is in the final stages of preparing this project for launch and utilization on the U-M campuses.

Professor Karla Goldman’s op-ed in Lilth asks what can be expected from Reform Judaism in the wake of reports of sexual discrimination released by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC) in Cincinnati. Goldman shares her own personal history as the first tenure-track woman faculty member on the HUC’s Cincinnati campus, and describes her lawsuit against HUC for wrongful dismissal based on gender bias. 

“As a historian of women in Reform Judaism, I have studied Reform’s very real commitment to women’s advancement within Judaism together with its century-long pattern of combining strong rhetoric on female equality with a reality of subordination and exclusion,” writes Goldman. “I knew this culture and its silencing all too well.”

https://lilith.org/articles/after-the-fall-retelling-the-story-of-reform-judaism/

Thanks in part to actions by the Joint Task Force on Stipends (JTFOS), Payments for Placement (P4P), other schools of social work in Michigan, and NASW-Michigan, we have encouraging news of legislative action happening in East Lansing and Washington, D.C. 

In the Michigan legislature, Senate Bill 1012, which calls for the creation of a new Student Mental Health Apprenticeship Retention and Training (SMART) program, has passed the senate. The SMART program would provide state funds for field education stipends for students placed in public school settings providing the students agree to a term of service in public schools after graduation. This legislation has gone to the house, where it has been referred to the Committee on Health Policy.

In addition, the state legislature is considering budget amendments (Sections 1996 - 2000) that would increase and enhance the behavioral health workforce in Michigan. These crucial investments would bring hundreds of new professionals into communities across Michigan over the next three years through investing in students, training and research.

In Washington, new legislation to increase Medicare reimbursement rates for clinical social workers has been introduced in both chambers of Congress. The Improving Access to Mental Health Act is part of a comprehensive mental health reform legislative package and was introduced by Senator (and MSW) Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)  and Senator John Barrasso (R-WY). 

Field Faculty and Lecturer Stacy Peterson has received the 2022 Distinguished Lecturer Award. For more than twenty years, her exceptional dedication and commitment to social work values have made a positive impact on both students and the field. Peterson has presented at multiple national Council on Social Work Education conferences on innovative field practices.

"Thank you for this wonderful recognition of my work. It is an honor and privilege to be in the company of great leaders and teachers. I am passionate about my work and use the core values of social work (service, social justice, dignity and worth of the person, importance of human relationships, integrity and competence) as a compass in my teaching and serving.  I appreciate this acknowledgment and in these tumultuous times, I remain inspired and hopeful that we can contribute to healing our world." 

Assistant Professor Ashley Cureton has been named 2022 Student Union Teacher of the Year. This award is given by the School of Social Work students and recognizes faculty who have demonstrated commitment to improving DEI, made an outstanding and positive contribution to the School’s climate, and whose skills, dedication, understanding and caring have made a positive impact on students.

"I find teaching to be a profoundly rewarding experience. In fact, I believe I have the best job on the planet (SSW students are the best!). With the philosophy that education functions as a practice of freedom (as the late bell hooks said), I embrace a progressive, holistic, co-learning and engaged pedagogy with the adoption of cultural diversity in the classroom context. Freedom in education allows me to embrace the performative acts associated with teaching, offer a space for change, invention, and spontaneous shifts and serve as a catalyst to draw out thoughtful and critical discussions among students."