School of Social Work News

Assistant Professor Ashley Cureton’s academic journey and her work with refugee communities were featured in Diverse Issues in Higher Education. She shared this advice: ”Remember, it’s progress, not perfection. You win some and you lose some. No matter what happens, keep pushing towards greatness.” The article also gave a shout-out to Cureton’s career mentors including Professors Rogério Pinto and Trina Shanks.

Assistant Professor Ashley Cureton has been named a 2025 Emerging Scholar by Diverse: Issues in Higher Education magazine. The 15 honorees were selected based on their teaching, research and service from a pool of several hundred nominees. They represent the future of academia and serve as inspirations to students and faculty members.

“I am beyond thankful to receive this incredible recognition. I feel extremely fortunate to have this job, so it is an honor to receive this acknowledgment along with 14 other outstanding scholars throughout the country,” said Cureton. “I am committed to engaging in transformative and collaborative research with refugee and migrant populations in the U.S. and abroad, offering intellectually engaging and interactive classes, and participating in service along with local and global partners.”

Assistant Professor Ashley Cureton has received the 2024 Lester Monts Award from the U-M Center for Educational Outreach. The Lester Monts Award is a distinguished honor for faculty and staff who have collaborated with our team and contributed exceptionally to advancing educational outreach on campus and beyond. Cureton was selected for her inspiring commitment to initiatives including the Michigan Pre-College and Youth Conference, and Raise Scholars; the development of new collaborations with school partners; and her service and significant contributions in the field of social work.

Assistant Professor Ashley Cureton was recently selected to be a fellow for the LEAD Global Training Program of Washington University in St. Louis. This training program is funded by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities Research Training Program. She will undergo an intensive 10-week summer training in the U.S. and Uganda to develop skills and experiences needed to lead multi-disciplinary, collaborative research teams focused on health disparities in low-resource communities.

"I am thrilled to be selected for this prestigious program which will enable me to gain more skills on how to engage in community-engaged mental health research in global spaces and build on previous global work in countries like South Africa, Zambia, Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon, and India,” said Cureton. “I am confident that this experience will propel my future in a meaningful way as I design and implement school-based, mental health interventions and support for refugee and migrant populations, particularly for children and youth, in the U.S. and globally.”

Assistant Professor Ashley Cureton was quoted in the Boston Globe about the struggles of Ukrainian refugee families. The article explores how multiple school transfers can uproot vulnerable kids and compound the trauma and loss they’ve already experienced as refugees. “It is imperative that they can stay in one place, that they can build those relationships, that they can build a sense of community, and really feel like they have a place here in the U.S.,” Cureton said.

Assistant Professor Ashley Cureton received a Humanities Grant through Michigan Humanities, funded in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities. The Humanities Grants emphasize collaboration among cultural, educational and community-based organizations and institutions in order to serve Michigan’s people with public humanities programming.

Together with Jewish Family Services of Washtenaw County and local schools throughout Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti, Cureton will work with refugee youth to capture their pre-migration and resettlement experiences. The project will include the creation of a literary comic book as a way to provide guidance to future resettled refugee youth, their families, refugee resettlement agencies and schools on how to manage the difficult process of resettlement. 

“Through the use of storytelling and the arts, we look forward to gaining a better understanding of how refugee youth across Washtenaw County navigate the resettlement process, which can often be quite overwhelming,” said Cureton.

Assistant Professor Ashley Cureton has been named 2022 Student Union Teacher of the Year. This award is given by the School of Social Work students and recognizes faculty who have demonstrated commitment to improving DEI, made an outstanding and positive contribution to the School’s climate, and whose skills, dedication, understanding and caring have made a positive impact on students.

"I find teaching to be a profoundly rewarding experience. In fact, I believe I have the best job on the planet (SSW students are the best!). With the philosophy that education functions as a practice of freedom (as the late bell hooks said), I embrace a progressive, holistic, co-learning and engaged pedagogy with the adoption of cultural diversity in the classroom context. Freedom in education allows me to embrace the performative acts associated with teaching, offer a space for change, invention, and spontaneous shifts and serve as a catalyst to draw out thoughtful and critical discussions among students."

Assistant Professor Ashley Cureton has been named a 2022 Public Engagement Faculty Fellow by the U-M Center for Academic Innovation. The cohort of 14 fellows will participate in an intensive program designed to build engagement skills, understand key public-engagement concepts and reflect together on how public engagement fits into their scholarly identities.

"This program will help me to reflect on how public engagement fits into my scholarly identity. I am committed to considering the breadth of ways that my research creates public impact, from designing exhibits to working with policymakers to conducting community-engaged research projects to develop interventions and programs and to amplify the voices of refugee populations in the U.S. and abroad," said Cureton.