School of Social Work News

Professor Richard Tolman and Lauren Reed (2011 MSW) have received an award from the U-M Rackham Graduate School to continue studying digital forms of dating violence and dating harassment using digital media technology among high school students.

Clinical Assistant Professor Sue Ann Savas has received an award from the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office for three different projects dealing with a jail reentry pilot program, community impact, and a street outreach program.

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 Desmond Patton will contribute an article "Gangs in Schools" to the Encyclopedia of Human Services and Diversity.

Assistant Professor David Cordova received a grant from the Detroit Community Academic Urban Research Center to support the Preventing Substance Abuse and Mental Health Problems among Detroit Hispanic Youth project. He will work with the Detroit Hispanic Development Corporation to eliminate substance use and mental health disparities experienced by Latino youth residing in southwest Detroit.

Professor John Tropman has been selected to speak at ZingTrain on the topic of "Making Meetings Work," and will be discussing what you can do to make meetings great.

Professor Richard Tolman has received a grant from the U-M Center for Human Growth & Development to conduct a qualitative study of expectant fathers. This study will explore how ultrasound attendance engages and motivates expectant fathers to prepare for their transition to fatherhood.

Assistant Professor Shawna Lee received an award from the U-M Center for Human Growth & Development.

The objective of this proposal is to conduct a process study of Mobile Dad, a smartphone app that delivers parenting information to fathers of new babies. This study will collect pilot data from users and service providers to establish implementation feasibility in community settings in Southeast Michigan.