School of Social Work News

Joint PhD student Irene Routté has been awarded a 2021 Rackham Public Scholarship Grant for her project “Grand Rapids Congolese Refugee Youth Council and Leadership Program.”  In partnership with Michigan Banyamulenge Community (MBC), a refugee-run organization in Grand Rapids, Routté will help develop and launch a community-driven youth council and leadership development program for Congolese refugee youths. This project will help MBC extend its organizational capacity to serve the roughly 8,000 Congolese refugees in the Grand Rapids area and create a space of support and empowerment for Congolese and other refugee youth.

The Rackham Program in Public Scholarship supports mutually beneficial projects created between Rackham students and community partners.

Professor Mary Ruffolo is co-author of “Digital Portfolio Construction: A Guide for Showcasing Social Work Skills.” The book guides students through the process of compiling a digital portfolio — a collection of artifacts that demonstrates the knowledge, skills and competencies they have mastered throughout their social work program.

Professor Lisa Wexler spoke with the podcast Nature on the importance of research into gun violence.  “I think it can save lives. The impact for this sort of research can be nearly immediate,” she said. Wexler studies how communities in Alaska can reduce suicide rates in Indigenous youth by promoting gun safety measures. “If you can make it ten minutes harder to get a lethal means - in this case a loaded gun - you can save lives because a lot of suicides are impulsive, particularly youth suicides.”

Ed-Dee Williams, Joint Doctoral Program in Social Work and Sociology, has successfully defended his dissertation entitled, “Black Boys Mental Health Help-Seeking: Exploring Perceptions, Barriers and Social Processes.” His committee consisted of Jamie Mitchell and Alford A. Young, Jr. (co-chairs), David Córdova and Renee Anspach.

Williams will join the University of Michigan School of Social Work Level Up: Employment Skills Simulation Lab as a postdoctoral fellow this August. Williams will use his expertise on the mental health of Black youth to support two federally funded studies that are focused on autism, as well as engage in an intensive training program to lead randomized controlled trials.The fellowship will also support Williams to develop a new technology-based intervention to enhance the conversational help-seeking skills for Black autistic youth experiencing depression.

TIPPS — The School of Social Work’s Trauma-Informed Program and Practices for Schools — has launched a new website.  Learn more about how TIPPS translates research into strategies to help students develop their potential and create safe, nurturing and inclusive learning environments.  Professor Todd Herrenkohl, TIPP’s director and principal investigator, leads an interdisciplinary team of faculty, students and community partners.

Professor Luke Shaefer spoke with the New York Times about how the new monthly child tax credit could increase economic stability for families. "When we load up so much of our aid in an annual big refund, it means so many of our families are going into the red by the end of the year," Professor Shaefer said. "We used to think about poverty in the United States as static - your income is below the poverty line - but people's lives are very volatile."

Professor Rogério Meireles Pinto spoke with Marie Claire Brazil about the importance of the Stonewall riots in terms of current LGBTQIA2+ rights and aspirations. "The relationships between the different groups that comprise LGBTQIA2+ have always been a little uneasy," said Pinto." To the extent that there was a ‘gay movement' in early 1969, that movement wasn't centered in bars like Stonewall. For the most part it was middle class and socially conservative - nicely dressed young men and women marching peacefully, if at all. There were always exceptions, but Stonewall was the first time that any of those represented in what we today call LGBTQIA2+ pushed back against the police and government visibly and forcefully."

Joint PhD students Sunghyun Hong and Irene Routte were invited to give the presentation, Social Justice in Architecture: Trauma-informed Built Environment, to employees and leadership at Quinn Evans Architects' four offices. "Irene and I were able to translate our research work and disseminate theories into digestible and applicable pieces for professionals outside of academia," says Hong. "It was a great opportunity to work with community members with whom social workers may not traditionally have worked, yet have immense overlaps, particularly in attention to the importance of macro work."