School of Social Work News

U-M’s Anti-Racism Collaborative, an initiative of the National Center for Institutional Diversity, has announced the 2024 Anti-Racism Grants.

Professor Joseph Himle and Associate Professor Addie Weaver have received an Anti-Racism Grant for their project FARWell: The Formula for Anti-Racist Wellness and Therapy. This project  — a community-university partnership between My Brother’s Keeper, Formula 734, and social work researchers at U-M and The Ohio State University — will support the development and evaluation of a transdiagnostic cognitive behavioral therapy for depression and anxiety, designed for and by young Black men.

Joint PhD Student Irene Routté has received an Anti-Racism Graduate Research Grant for her project Landscapes of (Im)Mobility: Congolese Refugee Youth, the U.S. Resettlement System and Spatial Negotiations of Belonging.

Associate Professor Odessa Gonzalez Benson has received an Anti-Racist Digital Research Initiative Grant for her project A Digital Collection as Narrative and Visualization of the Journey of Resettled Refugees.

The Anti-Racism Grants are sponsored by the Office of the Vice President for Research in partnership with the National Center for Institutional Diversity’s Anti-Racism Collaborative, which aims to support and amplify the work of anti-racism scholars at U-M.

Associate Professor Anao Zhang's article "The efficacy of cognitive behavioral therapy for mental health and quality of life among individuals diagnosed with cancer: A systematic review and meta-analysis," was published in Cancer Medicine and featured in Everyday Health. Zhang says the findings confirm that cognitive behavioral therapy can help many people cope with the negative feelings that come up while living with cancer.

Professor Rogério M. Pinto was featured on Academic Minute, a daily radio segment showcasing academic research on WAMC/Northeast Public Radio. In the segment, Pinto explores how artwork can help white heterosexual men to confront feelings of homophobia and sexism.

Lexx Brown-James, director of the School’s Sexual Health Certificate Program, spoke with SELF magazine in an article on how verbal affirmation — a praise kink — can boost confidence and pleasure in your sex life.

The story also ran in Vogue India.

Professor Matthew Smith is the recipient of the 2024 MICHR Distinguished Clinical and Translational Research Mentor Award. Sponsored by the Michigan Institute for Clinical & Health Research (MICHR), this award recognizes the value of mentoring at U-M in helping early career investigators to reach across disciplinary boundaries in pursuit of science. 

Smith is one of seven faculty and staff members who will be honored at the 2024 Mentoring Forum, co-sponsored by the MICHR and the Medical School Office of Faculty Development, in September. All are invited — in person or online — to celebrate our awardees and the spirit of mentorship.

Joonyoung Cho successfully defended his dissertation entitled “Aging in the Right Place: Effects from Relocation and Homebound Status.” His committee included Ruth Dunkle (co-chair) and Xiaoling Xiang. 

Cho has accepted an assistant professor position at the Center on Aging in the Thompson School of Social Work & Public Health at the University of Hawai’i, Mānoa.

Michelangelo Trujillo has successfully defended his dissertation entitled "Identity-Based Processes and Clinical Social Work Education." His committee included Joseph Himle (co-chair) and Richard Tolman.

Professor Daphne Watkins has received the Pynn-Silverman Lifetime Achievement Award from the Textbook & Academic Authors Association. The award was established to honor individuals whose achievements over a career demonstrate the highest degree of commitment to excellence in authoring works to advance their discipline, encouraging and supporting the work of colleagues, and educating students in the field.

Watkins is the Letha A. Chadiah Collegiate Professor of Social Work and a University Diversity and Social Transformation Professor.