Students News

Joyce Lee (PhD student) and Associate Professor Andy Grogan-Kaylor received a grant from Rackham Graduate School for #Parenting, which is an interdisciplinary workshop that provides a forum for faculty and graduate students to address issues related to parenting research.

Valerie Taing (PhD student) was selected as a Health Policy Research Scholar by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for the fall and winter semesters.

Lauren Whitmer (PhD student, Social Work and Anthropology) was selected as a fellow of the U.S. Department of Education’s Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad program to conduct 18 months of ethnographic fieldwork in Lambayeque, Peru. She will examine how women in violent relationships make decisions about help-seeking and how potential helpers (friends, family, social service providers) make decisions about what kinds of help to offer/withhold.

Shelby Andersen-Holt and Breanna Ostrander (MSW students) along with mentor Professor Larry Gant received a grant from the Graham Sustainability Institute for The Belding Community Youth Food Collaborative project. The project uses youth empowerment and community engagement models to develop knowledge of and infrastructure for sustainable horticultural practices and nutritious eating in a rural setting.

Ed-Dee Williams (PhD student) and Assistant Professor Jamie Mitchell’s article, “Characterizing Mobility Limitations Among Older African American Men” was published in the Journal of the National Medical Association.

Mary Mattson (MSW student) and Assistant Professor Mathieu Despard received a grant from the U-M Graham Sustainability Institute for their project, ''Driving Hope'', which seeks to empower vulnerable families and individuals in Washtenaw County by providing low cost automotive maintenance and advice. The project works with local non-profits and auto mechanics who understand the important role of transportation in maintaining employment and independence.

Kunal Namballa, Gabrielle Fitzsimmons, and Joshua Horning (MSW students) along with mentor Julie Cushman (LEO lecturer) and the Critical Intersectionality Learning Community received an Innovation Grant from the U-M Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion to create an experiential learning game, “Power: A Game of Positionality and Intersectionality” which can be used in courses and other settings.

For the second year in a row, U-M will issue the Made at Michigan annual report, a compilation of annual entrepreneurship highlights with a special focus on graduate and undergraduate student ventures created over the course of the year.

The magazine-style publication shines a bright spotlight on nearly 60 student ventures over a broad range of disciplines, including for-profits, social ventures and innovative new products and services with market potential. It also recognizes the programs, schools and colleges dedicated to supporting U-M’s student entrepreneurs and innovators.

U-M SSW has students involved with three of the projects featured in this year’s Made at Michigan report:

• Evergreen Experience: Allison Ewert (MSW 2016) | Erin Mobley (MSW 2016) | Erica Goble (MSW 2019)
• INK’d: Change Kwesele (MSW 2016) | Charlie Brink (MSW 2017)
• Liquid Gold Concept: Samantha Koehler (MSW 2015)