School of Social Work News

Assistant Professor Shawna J. Lee, along with her colleagues, came up with the idea of a new phone app, Mobile Dad, which is featured on the Today Show. The app was created at the request of the U.S. Air Force, to facilitate military fathers' long-distance relationships with their families. It was developed and tested at U-M, and it will transition from beta testing to the public in April.   

Assistant Professor Shawna Lee was a guest on the Capital City Recap show broadcast on WILS 1320.  She discussed her latest research on spanking.

Assistant Professor Shawna Lee has been awarded a grant from the Skillman Foundation via the School of Social Work Technical Assistance Center for her project dealing with positive father involvement. Shawna also received a grant from the U-M SSW Child Welfare Learning Community for her work surrounding Mobile Dad.

Assistant Professor Shawna Lee was quoted in an article entitled, "A Mother's Warmth is Little Comfort to a Spanked Child", published in "Michigan Today". 

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.

Assistant Professor Shawna Lee's research on spanking is sited on the Council & Heal website. The findings revealed that spanking exacerbated aggressive behavior in children. Her article, "Does Warmth Moderate Longitudinal Associations Between Maternal Spanking and Child Aggression in Early Childhood?" is published in the journal Developmental Psychology.