School of Social Work News

Linda Chatters co-edited Volume 41 of the Annual Review of Gerontology and Geriatrics: Black Older Adults in the Era of Black Lives Matter. Katrina Ellis, James Ellis, and Robert Joseph Taylor contributed book chapters. The book represents an important moment in the development and maturation of research and scholarship on Black older adults that builds on the many contributions of prior generations of eminent African American gerontologists.

PhD student Charles Williams II was featured on the CBS Evening News in a story on voting rights. “They aren’t securing the vote, they are suppressing the vote,” said Williams in regards to a petition backed by republicans to tighten voter ID requirements in the state of Michigan. Williams is leading local efforts to protect voting rights. “The fight must continue, and I think many people on the ground understand and are very clear that they will not stop until justice comes.”

PhD student Rita Hu has received the 2021 Elizabeth Douvan Junior Scholar in Life Course Development, part of the Institute for Social Research (ISR) Next Generation Awards.

Named in honor of Elizabeth “Libby” Douvan, the first female member of ISR’s research facility, the fund is designed to support senior graduate students, post-doctoral candidates, and junior faculty members with research agendas in Life Course Development (LCD). Scholars at this point in their careers are often at their most creative and productive and Douvan is fondly remembered for her skill and caring in assisting researchers through this stage.

“As a mentee of Dr. Toni Antonucci, the Elizabeth M. Douvan Collegiate Professor of Psychology, and a member of the LCD program, it is my honor to pass on the legacy,” says Hu.  “My research interests in social relations across the lifespan were inspired by research done by LCD members and the supportive learning environment at LCD. The fund will support me in learning and exchanging ideas with scholars at conferences, as well as advancing my knowledge in research methods to further understand social relations and ageism.”

Associate Dean for Research and Innovation and Professor of Social Work Rogério Meireles Pinto has been appointed the Berit Ingersoll-Dayton Collegiate Professor of Social Work. Pinto’s community-based participatory research aims to improve access to social work and public health services, particularly those services at the intersection of health and well-being. He examines how transdisciplinary collaboration and practitioners’ involvement in research improves the delivery of evidence-based services. He also studies factors that influence ethnic and sexual minority women’s involvement in research and health care.

Assistant Professor Shanna Kattari and Lecturer Leonardo Kattari have won the 2022 SSWR Book Award Honorable Mention for the book they co-edited, “Social Work and Health Care Practice with Transgender and Nonbinary Individuals and Communities: Voices for Equity, Inclusion, and Resilience.” The book includes chapters co-authored by Assistant Professor Ashley Lacombe-Duncan, PhD student Mattthew Bakko, alex kime, MSW ‘18, and Jennifer Schwartz, MSW ‘13. The award was presented on Saturday, January 15, as part of the Society of Social Work and Research Annual Conference.

The Vivian A. and James L. Curtis School of Social Work Center for Health Equity Research and Training Center has secured a contract with the National Network of Public Health Institutes to review best or promising practices that address social and structural determinants of health related to COVID-19.

The Curtis Center was one of just four research centers contracted to support more than 100 grant recipients from the CDC in the assessment, translation and dissemination of evidence-based practices — and best or promising — practices to address COVID-19 related disparities associated with at-risk and underserved populations, including racial/ethnic minorities and rural communities.

The conventional mortgage market is not working in Detroit, writes Professor Trina Shanks in a Detroit Free Press editorial. Shanks and her co-authors recommend new programs to support homebuyer education programs and establish a single-family residential rehabilitation fund. “We know the private mortgage market does not serve Detroit in the same way as it does adjacent communities. The evidence is indisputable,” writes Shanks. The article cites data reviewed by the Center for Equitable Family and Community Well-Being that shows that vast swath of Detroit, identified by neighborhood, see very little mortgage lending activity in relation to residential property sales. “We are in a once in a lifetime moment, where substantive federal investments are flowing into Detroit. Let's focus these infrastructure investments in a way that benefits Detroiters.

Seven U-M SSW faculty are included on Stanford University’s 2021 World's Top 2% Scientists list. The database provides standardized information on citations, h-index, co-authorship-adjusted hm-index, citations to papers in different authorship positions, and a composite indicator.

• Linda Chatters
• Lorraine Gutiérrez
• Todd Herrenkohl
• Joseph Ryan
• Robert Taylor
• Richard Tolman
• Bradley Zebrack