School of Social Work News

Teenagers and children can now become kinder and more empathic through their smartphones, thanks to an innovative new app. The "Random App of Kindness" was developed by a team of researchers including Professor Richard Tolman. Mini-games, created with input from teenagers, strengthen compassion, empathy, and helping behavior. RAKi is available free of charge in the iTunes App Store and Google Play Android Market.

The Child and Adolescent Data Lab, with Associate Professors Joe Ryan and Brian Perron received a grant from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, Michigan Committee on Juvenile Justice to provide data analytic support and consultation to the State of Michigan related to juvenile justice, with an emphasis on mental health courts, raise the age legislation and understanding the school-to-prison pipeline.

Assistant Professor Kristin Seefeldt was on San Francisco public radio KALW’s "Your Call" where she discussed her new book, “Abandoned Families: Social Isolation in the Twenty-First Century.”

Professors Linda Chatters and Robert Taylor’s article, “Microaggressions, Discrimination, and Phenotype among African Americans: A Latent Class Analysis of the Impact of Skin Tone and BMI” was published in Sociological Inquiry.

Assistant Professor Mathieu Despard received a grant from the JP Morgan Chase Foundation to generate new evidence concerning workplace financial wellness programs as a promising strategy for building financial security among low and moderate income workers through services such as financial coaching, payroll advance loans, and building savings.

Professor Richard Tolman’s article, “Getting men in the room: perceptions of effective strategies to initiate men’s involvement in gender-based violence prevention in a global sample” was published in Culture, Health & Sexuality.

Dr. William Cabin has had a second paper accepted for presentation at the Society for the Study of Social Problems Annual Meeting in August 2017 in Montreal, Canada. The paper is entitled, "No One Really Cares”: The Lived Experience of Community-based Persons with Alzheimer’s disease (PWAD) and their Caregivers” and is based on Dr. Cabin's ongoing qualitative research projects.

Associate Dean for Research and Professor Joe Himle and Curtis Center Manager Ebony Reddock received a grant from the Skillman Foundation to evaluate the skillset of the 482Forward membership, a citywide education organizing network in Detroit,by conducting a survey with a select group of members.