School of Social Work News

Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs Joseph Himle will serve as interim dean of the School of Social Work beginning on January 1, 2022.

“It is an honor to serve as interim dean of the School of Social Work. The School has thrived under the stellar leadership of Dean Lynn Videka and I look forward to leading the school until a permanent dean is appointed,” Himle said. “The School of Social Work has tremendous faculty, students and staff who will all join together to guide the school during this transition period.”

Dean Lynn Videka will step down from the deanship at the end of the year. An advisory committee is conducting a search for the next dean of the School.

William Elliott was the keynote for the Alice P. Lin Memorial Lecture at Columbia University. Elliott’s talk, "We Also Have to Give Children Something to Live For: Children's Savings, Student Debt, and Wealth Inequality,” argued that the drive Americans have demonstrated throughout their history comes not just from having enough money to pay their bills each week or enough to live on, but from the promise of a better future and that Children’s Savings Accounts can play a role in realizing that future.

Elliott is a social work professor, director of the Joint PhD program in social work and social science and the founding director of the Center on Assets, Education, and Inclusion.

Trina Shanks was named a Fellow of the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare. The Academy is an honorific society of distinguished scholars and practitioners dedicated to achieving excellence in the field of social work and social welfare through high-impact work that advances social good. Fellow status is among the highest professional accolades bestowed to social work scholars; Michigan Social Work now has 12 academy members. Shanks is the School of Social Work Community Engagement Director and Harold R. Johnson Collegiate Professor of Social Work.

Register for the 6-7 PM, January 19, 2022

AASWSW Fellows Induction

Registrants will receive  the Zoom link one week prior to the event.

Berenice Castillo, Joint Doctoral Program in Social Work and Psychology, has successfully defended her dissertation entitled "Three Studies Examining Externalizing Behavior and Substance Use Among Diverse Youth."  Her committee consisted of Andrew Grogan-Kaylor, and John Schulenberg (co-chairs), Cristina Bares and Matt Diemer.

Castillo will join Florida International University as an assistant professor of social work in January.

Joint PhD student Charles Williams II is the subject of a new “This is Michigan” video, which chronicles the emergency response program Williams spearheaded during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. The School of Social Work partnered with the Historic King Solomon Baptist Church in Detroit, where Williams is the pastor, to care for those in the community who were hit hard by the shutdown. School of Social Work students worked emergency hotlines, manned food banks and conducted wellness checks. Entitled “Caring Throughout Crisis,” the video also features Professor Trina Shanks.

Assistant Professor Shanna Kattari and Lecturer Leonardo Kattari were awarded the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity and Expression Scholarship Award at the Council on Social Work Education annual meeting, as co-authors on the paper “Differential Experiences of Dating Violence and Sexual Violence Among Trans/Gender Diverse Youths.” The award recognizes scholarship that contributes to knowledge about sexual orientation and gender identity and expression; the individual and systemic issues associated with these topics; the development of social work curriculum materials and faculty growth opportunities relevant to sexual orientation and gender identity and expression; and the experiences of individuals who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and/or two-spirit.

Brittney Barros, dual MSW and MPP student, will brief Congress this week on the Protecting Sibling Relationships in Foster Care Act, legislation which Barros developed as a 2018 intern with the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute (CCAI). Barros speaks this Thursday, November 4, 2021 at 1 PM. Register to watch the livestream of the briefing.

While current federal law requires states to make a reasonable effort to place siblings together in the foster care system, a majority of siblings are separated. This bill would authorize the Department of Health & Human Services to establish a pilot program to develop foster care programs designed specifically for sibling groups with large numbers, wide age ranges and complex needs.

"Sibling bonds are truly one of a kind. They entail some of the darkest secrets and impeccable loving memories, share valuable life lessons and are the longest-lasting relationships of a lifetime," said Barros. "Siblings bleed the same blood together, cry the same tears together, and fulfill life's destiny together. They are each other's best friends, shoulders to cry on and truly shape life's adversities and achievements. Foster youth deserve this one-of-a-kind bond which should not be taken by a broken system."

Barros speaks from her own lived experience: she was separated from her siblings for more than six years. During her internship with the CCAI, Barros worked on policy reports. "One of my recommendations about keeping siblings together was copied right into the language of the bill," she said. "I took my trials and trauma and turned it into testimony."

"Siblings are the longest relationship of a lifetime and, as social workers, we talk about the importance of human relationships. Those are core values in our [National Association of Social Workers] Code of Ethics and they are core values of mine."

Barros has a BSW from Eastern Michigan University and is pursuing a joint MSW and MPP at the University of Michigan. "I really wanted to go into social work specifically because I had a foster care worker that didn't treat me well. She did everything that we learn in social work school not to do, and she actually fueled my fire to be a social worker, and be the social worker that I never got to have."