School of Social Work News

Associate Professor David Córdova and co-authors received the Reuben Hill Award from the National Council on Family Relations. The award is presented for the best research article that makes substantial and significant contributions to family research and theory.

Karla Goldman's article "Fifteen Years after Katrina: Lessons for August 2020" reflects on Hurricane Katrina and draws connections to the pandemic. Writes Goldman, "A crisis offers the opportunity to draw upon established strengths and reach forward for new possibilities implicit in working across differences, even as we hold fast to the essential connections and stories that define who we are."

We are angry and disheartened at the recently released video showing Daniel Prude’s death at the hands of police in March. This treatment of police officers toward Prude, a Black man with mental health issues, is the latest of too long a series of police brutality cases that stain our nation. We grieve with Prude’s family and recognize the cruel and inhumane restraints that led to his death. Black Lives Matter. We demand justice, accountability and racial equality. We also call for a complete and fundamental philosophical overhaul in the training and behavior of police officers, giving them the tools to respond to mental health crises with critical health interventions and trauma-informed policing.   

Associate Dean for Research and Professor Rogério M. Pinto is the lead on the project “Brazil Theater Exchange: Innovation for Social Work Education,” which was recently awarded a Council on Social Work Education’s Katherine A. Kendall Institute of International Social Work Education grant. Since 2015 the Kendall Institute has awardedgrants that support international social work education projects that help prepare United States students for global citizenship and encourage opportunities for international social work.

“Brazil Theater Exchange: Innovation for Social Work Education” uses self-referential drama techniques to prepare social workers to overcome service barriers and enhance advocacy by developing and evaluating theater methods for social work education.

Professor Robert Joseph Taylor was quoted in Salon and CNN: "People are talking about the race disparity in COVID deaths, they're talking about the age disparity, but they're not talking about how race and age disparities interact: They're not talking about older Black adults."

At a faculty town hall earlier this month, U-M President Mark Schlissel compared the COVID-19 pandemic to the HIV epidemic in regards to testing. As a result of his remarks, the School’s Queer Advocacy Coalition (QAC) started a petition and called for a public apology. In an email to QAC, Schlissel apologized saying “The analogy I used is not a good or fair one. … It was not my intention to disparage any community or person affected by HIV and AIDS.”

He adds, “I want to take this opportunity to explicitly denounce all bigoted myths or attempts to stigmatize people who have HIV or AIDS. They are not only harmful, but they also directly counter the equitable and inclusive environment I and many others continuously attempt to foster here at U-M.”

The political and social unrest in Wisconsin in response to the shooting of Jacob Blake echoes the violence that killed George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and countless other Black lives. This is happening again and again because violence against Black bodies and minds has been institutionalized, normalized, as Black people have been dehumanized. 

Michigan Social Work stands with others in demanding justice, equity and accountability. We join the resounding cry that BLACK LIVES MATTER because achieving racial justice requires a movement, not a moment, and none of us can afford to sit this one out. We demand justice for this life that is hanging in the balance and for all lives lost.

Natasha Johnson, PhD ‘20, has received a $5,000 Racial Injustice Award From the U-M Depression Center for her research on racism awareness among Black youths. Her research has the potential to provide empirical support for intervention programs aimed at combating racism by developing a psychometric tool that will evaluate resilient pathways for racially marginalized youth.