A nationally recognized child welfare expert and the architect of innovative reforms in the fields of child protection and foster care is bringing his research and professional leadership expertise to the Tar Heel state.

Mark Testa, Ph.D, a professor and director of the Children and Family Research Center at the School of Social Work at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, will join UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Social Work in January as the first Sandra Reeves Spears and John B. Turner Distinguished Professor.

Military families struggling to find services for their children with developmental disabilities will soon have a new network of support.

UNC’s School of Social Work and the Family Support Network at the Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities are developing a project that aims to connect military families more directly to state and local resources, activities and services using a “one-stop” model. The federal Administration on Developmental Disabilities of the Administration on Children and Families is funding the $1 million project.

Wives of active-duty soldiers are at risk for psychological problems such as depression, loneliness and burnout, a study from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has found.

However, spouses are more likely to handle stress well if they are encouraged to build stronger relationships with their friends and communities, and can potentially lower their long-term medical costs if they receive military support services — including mental health care — early, the study concluded.

Gary L. Shaffer, Ph.D., one of the state’s leading experts on social work practice and a staunch advocate for children who became a recognizable voice against the use of corporal punishment within North Carolina’s public schools, died on Sept. 4. He was 62.

Shaffer, who dedicated more than half of his life to the social work field and to preparing students for social work practice, joined UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Social Work in 1986 as director of the field education program. He was later named director of the School’s summer program.

The UNC-Chapel Hill School of Social Work is expanding its Winston-Salem Advanced Standing master of social work (MSW) program to offer two areas of concentration: Direct Practice, and Management and Community Practice.

The Advanced Standing program is tailored to meet the needs of the working adult who has a bachelor's degree in social work. In this 20-month program, classes are held on Fridays at the Forsyth County Department of Social Services. Most students complete their field placement requirements in their home community during the work week.