School of Social Work

Each year the Office of Global Activities works with and supports students who complete global social work experiences around the globe. The Global Social Work Poster Fair is an opportunity for students who recently returned from abroad to share their global experience with the larger School of Social Work community.

During the summer of 2016, 60 students participated in a global experience in more than 30 different countries. Student experiences included global field placements, global independent studies, attending an international social work conference and serving in the Peace Corps as a

Join Kelsey Tajer (MSW ‘16) in the Student Ambassador Program. You will be able to be directly involved in policy by communicating with members of Congress to advocate for change. You will also be given the opportunity to increase your understanding of advocacy through annual training and networking events on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C.

Webmaster Robert LaRoe was chosen as a session presenter and will give his talk, "Improving Your Website's Performance" at the May 5th-6th HighEdWeb Michigan Regional Conference at Grand Valley State University. 

LEO Adjunct Lecturer Daniel Fischer and Professor Mary Ruffolo, who is also the co-chair of the workgroup, have been appointed to the curriculum group for the interprofessional education initiative. The curriculum work group is charged with exploring the curricula and accreditation standards of the health science schools to assess the role of interprofessional education at U-M. 

Assistant Professor Mathieu Despard was named a Faculty Associate with the Center for Social Development at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis. He is currently conducting research on the outcomes of a large scale tax-time savings experiment and on the promise of employer-based financial wellness programs in partnership with the Center for Social Development. 

Assistant Professor David Córdova, along with his Detroit community partner Detroit Hispanic Development Corporation, presented his research, "Preventing Substance Abuse and Mental Health Problems Among Detroit Hispanic Youth," at the Urban Research Center 20th Anniversary Symposium on January 21, 2016. The project aims to narrow and ultimately eliminate Hispanic health and mental health inequities in Detroit. 

Laura Sundstrom and Megan Elyse Williams, Evaluation Associates with the Curtis Center Program Evaluation Group, were invited to write a post for the American Evaluation Association blog, AEA365.  Their post highlighted the tool they developed for the Program Evaluation Group, the Tiers of Skill Development.  The Tiers of Skill Development intentionally guide students through developing their evaluation skills.  You can read their blog post here.

Evaluation Associates and students from the Curtis Center Program Evaluation Group presented at the American Evaluation Association national conference in Chicago, IL on November 11-14, 2015, including three poster presentations and three oral presentations.

Oral presentations included:

• Intentionally Developing Skills and Competencies in New Evaluators: The Tier Approach. Presenters: Laura Sundstrom, MSW, and Megan Elyse Williams, MSW (Evaluation Associates)
• Using the Social Work Approach to Enhance Evaluation Practice. Presenters: Megan Elyse Williams, MSW, and Laura Sundstrom, MSW

Edie Kieffer and Katie Mitchell hosted the Michigan Community Health Worker Alliance (MiCHWA) annual meeting in Lansing for 206 community partners and participants. Meeting materials and summaries are available on the MiCHWA web site. 

Professor Rogério Pinto presents “Colorism,” a celebration of diversity and inclusivity through art and conversation.

"The inspiration to build ‘Colorism’ came from growing up in Brazil, the youngest of eight children with varying skin colors that changed dramatically from one season to the next,” said Pinto. “I witnessed the grotesque manner in which those with darker skin were treated in Brazil, which turned out to be how I've been treated in the U.S. as a ‘person of color.’ My exhibit questions how human beings came to use the largest and most beautiful organ of the body to attach social