Students News

The Curtis Center Program Evaluation Group (CC-PEG) received a grant from the New York Community Trust to improve the macro social work profesion.  The awarded Place-Based Evaluation (PBE) Fellowship project was developed to better understand the needs and challenges related to building internal evaluation capacity within non-profit organizations.  The project will place three (3) PBE Fellows into community-based non-profit organizations in southeast Michigan for 20 hours per week for a period of eight (8) months.

The aims of the PBE Fellowship are to: (1) provide recent MSW graduates with the skills and experience necessary to work as professional evaluators in the field of social work; (2) provide communtiy-based non-profit organizations with quality evaluation services at a reduced cost; and (3) build and test the internal capacity for evaluation at each organization.

CC-PEG is happy to announce the selection of the PBE Fellows and non-profit organizations they will be placed in:

• Phylicia Allen, MSW, will be placed at Detroit Parent Network
• Ashley Eason, MSW, will be placed at Detroit Police Athletic League
• Lauren Emerson, MSW, will be placed at SOS Community Services in Ypsilanti

For more information on the PBE Fellowship project, contact [email protected]. 

Assistant Professor David Cordova, Laura Moynihan (MSW student) and Nicole Waller, (MPH student) published " Preventing Substance Abuse and HIV among Adolescents in a Primary Care Setting" in the Journal of Substance Abuse and Alcoholism.

Assistant Clinical Professor Sue Ann Savas presented on a panel titled "Innovative Approaches to Child Support Enforcement: Evidence from Field Research" at the Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management (APPAM) 35th Annual Fall Research Conference on November 9, 2013.  Sue Ann Savas and Jeremy Gaertner, MSW presented on the Re-tooling Michigan's Child Support Enforcement Program project in conjuction with representatives from Washington and Iowa who received the same grant from the Office of Child Support Enforcement (DHHS).

The APPAM Fall Research Conference was held in Washington, DC from November 7-9, 2013.

The Curtis Center Program Evaluation Group presented twice at the American Evaluation Association national conference in Washington, DC on October 16-19.

Staff member Laura Sundstrom and MSW/MPH student Nick Yankey presented on a panel titled "Creating Infrastructure for Experiential Learning and Practical Skill Development for Novice Evaluators" on the implementation of and experience with the Curtis Center Program Evaluation Group.

Staff members Jeremy Gaertner and Desiree Liwosz presented a poster titled "Re-tooling Michigan's Child Support Enforcement: Using Predictive Modeling and Supportive Methods in Michigan's Child Support System to Increase the Financial Well-being of Children and Self-Sufficiency of Families" on the progress and preliminary results from the Re-tooling Michigan's Child Support Enforcement Program project through the Curtis Center Program Evaluation Group.

Charity Hoffman, PhD student, along with mentor Associate Professor Mary Ruffolo, received an award from the University of Michigan Rackham Graduate School for their project exploring the social construction of mothering in the United States, particularly the disconnect between mothering as it is portrayed in the media and how it is actually experienced by first-time mothers.

Jean Balestrery, PhD student, was appointed to the CSWE Council on Sexual Orientation and Gender Expression for a 3-year term.

Minyoung Kwak a Joint Doctoral graduate and Associate Professor Brad Zebrack have a study on post-traumatic stress symptoms among respondents ages 15 to 39  following their cancer diagnosis published in the August issue of Psycho-Oncology.

Sandra Bowers, MSW student shares her reflections on Peace Corp with Ann Arbor.com.