School of Social Work News

On Wednesday, Detroit teachers voted to authorize a “safety strike,” should their concerns about protective equipment and protocols not be met.  Associate Research Scientist Roland Zullo spoke with the Detroit Free Press about the potential legal consequences and public reaction. "No one knows about the exact risks" of COVID-19, Zullo said. "I don't think it'd be unreasonable and my guess is that the public would be on the teachers' side."

Jaclynn Hawkins and Jamie Mitchell have each received loan repayment awards for their continued commitment to engage in health-disparities research. The awards are from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities whose loan repayment programs were established by Congress and designed to recruit and retain highly qualified health professionals into biomedical or biobehavioral research careers. Hawkins is an assistant professor and leads the Diabetes in Men's Health Lab. Mitchell is an assistant professor and is a co-director of the Co-investigator of the Michigan Center for Urban African American Aging Research.

Assistant Professor Lindsay Bornheimer has received a National Institute of Mental Health Clinical Trial Planning Grant (R34). This three-year grant will support her team in modifying and evaluating acceptability and preliminary effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioral Suicide Prevention for psychosis (CBSPp) and will help increase the utility of CBSPp in community mental health work. CBSPp is a promising intervention developed and evaluated by Bornheimer’s collaborative team and is one of few suicide interventions available that is tailored for adults experiencing psychosis.

The Faculty Allies for Diversity Committee (FADC) at the School of Social Work is a recipient of the 2020 Carol Hollenshead Inspire Award for Excellence in Promoting Equity and Social Change (sponsored by CEW+).  This award was created to honor CEW+ director Carol Hollenshead and celebrates those whose sustained efforts have resulted in greater equity with regard to gender, race, class, age, disability, gender identity or sexual orientation. Recipients demonstrate a commitment to diversity and inclusion, creativity in devising strategic approaches to advocacy and problem solving, effective coalition building, and sustained effort and demonstrated outcomes in achieving greater equity in this community or beyond.  

The FADC received this award in recognition of their scholarship and advocacy on behalf of underrepresented minorities in academia, their commitment to diversity and equality, and their sustained efforts to create positive change. 

The FADC is co-chaired by Professor Rogério M. Pinto and Assistant Professor Addie Weaver. Members include PhD Student Briana Starks, Associate Professor David Córdova, Professors Lorraine Gutiérrez, Todd Herrenkohl and Trina Shanks. Congratulations to the Faculty Allies for Diversity Committee members for all of their hard work.

Roland Zullo’s paper “Explaining Privatization Failure: The Vice of Sweet Carrots and Hard Sticks” has been selected by the editorial board of the Review of Radical Political Economics as winner of the Annual Best Paper Award.  The paper explains why private contracting underperforms in the production of public services.

Congratulations to Natasha Johnson, Joint Doctoral Program in Social Work and Psychology, for successfully defending her dissertation, "You Must Work Twice as Hard for Half as Much: Racial Socialization, Racial Identity, and Racism Awareness in Adolescence." Her committee chairs were Daphne Watkins and Stephanie Rowley. Johnson was awarded the Social Behavioral and Economic Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation and will be working as a postdoctoral fellow with the U-M School of Public Health.

Clinical Assistant Professor Justin Hodge, MSW ‘13, won the Democratic primary for Washtenaw County Commissioner, 5th District; he’ll advance to face the Republican candidate in the November election.

Associate Professor Terri Friedline discusses the drop in demand for small-dollar loans with Morning Consult.  Without additional government relief, she expects “things to get a lot worse as people are forced to take on debt, including higher-cost, small-dollar loans, to survive the pandemic.”