School of Social Work News

LEO Lecturer Tony Alvarez received the 2014 Michael Stratton Practitioners Award from the Association for Experiential Education.

Associate professor Brad Zebrack was cited in a Chicago Tribune article, “After childhood cancer, young women's sexual health may suffer”.

Associate Professor Joseph Himle and co-investigators Deb Bybee (MSU professor), Amy Kilbourne (U-M Psychiatry) and Amiram Vinokur (U-M Institute for Social Research) received a National Institute of Mental Health-RO1 grant for "Multi-site systems intervention for unemployed persons with social anxiety".  

The team will conduct a multi-site trial of a cognitive-behavioral intervention for enhancing employment success among unemployed persons whose job attainment efforts have been undermined by social anxiety disorder. The project has two sites - one in Detroit partnering with Jewish Vocational Services and one in Los Angeles. The community partners include Jewish Vocational Service in Detroit led by Ed Steinberger, Zipora Golenberg and Wayne Laviolette.  The second site at UCLA is led by Michelle Craske.

Several members of the Curtis Center Treatment Innovation and Dissemination Lab including Sarah Vlnka, project coordinator, Lisa O'Donnell, SSW Joint program student, Addie Weaver, Curtis Center research investigator, Debra Levine, U-M clinical psychology recent graduate, Brandy Sinco, Curtis Center data analyst and Peter Felsman, SSW Joint program student supported the grant application.  

Associate professor Leslie Hollingsworth was selected as one of two winners for the SAGE/Council on Social Work Education Innovative Teaching Award.

Assistant professor Desmond Patton was cited in a MLive article, “From Facebook to the streets: How social media is fueling youth violence in Kalamazoo”; he also interviewed with the Kalamazoo Gazette regarding the shooting.

Assistant professor David Cordova co-authored a paper, "Substance use disorders among first and second-generation immigrant adults in the USA: Evidence of an immigrant paradox?" which was accepted for publication in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.

Stephanie Chang (MSW'2014) won the primary for State Representative for District 6 (Detroit, River Rouge and Ecorse). She would become the first Asian-American woman to serve in the state Legislature if she wins the general election in November. A win is expected because the district is more than 87% Democratic.

Professor Edie Kieffer and Healthy Lifestyles researcher Katie Mitchell's project, "The Michigan Community Health Worker Alliance (MiCHWA)", received a proclamation from Governor Rick Snyder declaring August 2014 as "Community Health Worker Appreciation Month" in the State of Michigan. MiCHWA is celebrating the work Community Health Workers and their programs do all month long. More information is available here.