Asheville Distance Education MSW Program renamed, relocated

The School of Social Work's Asheville Distance Education MSW Program, formerly housed at the UNC-Asheville campus, is moving -- and expanding.

Students and faculty advocate for social workers during Lobby Day

UNC’s School of Social Work was widely represented during Lobby Day in Raleigh on March 18. Nearly three dozen UNC students and faculty were among the more than 300 social workers, students and others from across the state attending the annual event, which is sponsored by the North Carolina chapter of the National Association of Social Workers.

Lobby Day allows social workers from across the state to come together to learn more about the legislative process and to become better advocates for the profession. Participants can speak directly to lawmakers or their representatives about issues and legislation that concern the social work profession.

Although the School cannot advise students on what issues they should address, all are encouraged to attend for the “learning experience,” said Anna Scheyett, the School’s associate dean for academic affairs.

The day began with an overview on key legislation, which was timely, Scheyett noted, since Gov. Beverly Perdue’s budget had been released the night before and included the elimination of the N.C. Child Welfare Education Collaborative. UNC is one of 10 universities within the collaborative, which trains social workers for practice in public child welfare.

Lobby Day participants spent the afternoon talking to legislators and then wrapped up the day discussing what they had learned and potential follow-up steps. 

Career Day connects students with recruiters

The School of Social Work hosted its annual Career Day and Job Fair on April 6. The event attracted 85 recruiters from 52 agencies, nearly 75 students from BSW programs across the state, and about 75 UNC-Chapel Hill MSW students. In addition to the job fair and seminars for the students, a continuing education workshop was presented by faculty member Melissa Grady for recruiters and alumni. Congratulations to organizers Sarah Naylor and Beth Sauer, Student Services, and the rest of the hard-working staff who assisted with this successful event. More photos

Clinical Lecture Series

Rescheduled for May 4 - Engagement Interviewing: Increasing engagement and retention of clients in mental health services. Speaker: Betsy Bledsoe, PhD, MSW, LCSW Details & register. This is the final lecture in our series for this academic year.

Lecture videos posted: Some of our past lectures are now available to view on the Web site. Check them out.

Conference on women's addiction set for May

The annual "Addiction: Focus on Women" conference will be held May 12-15 at the Kanuga Conference Center in Hendersonville, N.C. This year's theme is "Revive and Come Alive: Clinical Aspects of Resiliency and Recovery." Keynote speakers will be Mary Pipher, Ph.D., author of "Reviving Ophelia" and Lucy Hall Gainer, NCAC, CASAC, Founder of Mary Hall Freedom House. This event is sponsored by Mountain AHEC and the UNC School of Social Work. For more information, and to view the conference video, see http://www.mahec.net/afow/.

Asheville alumni dinner planned

Join us for our Asheville alumni dinner with the Dean: Thurs., April 16, 6:00-8:00 p.m. at La Paz, 10 Biltmore Plaza, Asheville.
Registration fee of $10 is due by Mon., April 13 and covers dinner and one beverage. Contact Kristen Huffman to RSVP and for any questions. CANCELLED

Know someone who is interested in our MSW program?

Each month the School holds information sessions to give potential applicants a chance to meet some of the faculty, staff and students and to ask questions about the program. The curriculum, field placements, financial aid, and admissions requirements are among the topics discussed. The next session is May 1 at 2:00 p.m. Contact Jane Gump to register.

School to host "Welcome Weekend" for newly admitted students

The UNC School of Social Work and the Alumni Council will host its first Welcome Weekend for all admitted MSW students April 17-18. This special event is designed to give our newly admitted students an opportunity to visit our beautiful campus and learn more about our curriculum, field placement opportunities, and certificate and dual degree programs. We also want our guests to have an opportunity to meet faculty, staff and students in the School and their future social work colleagues.

Doctoral student Marcie Fisher-Borne will receive the APPLES Teaching Excellence Award on April 16 in recognition of her "dedication and commitment to advancing service-learning pedagogy and practice over the years."  Fisher-Borne has taught APPLES (Assisting People in Planning Learning Experiences in Service) courses for several years at the School. In addition, this month she successfully defended her dissertation.

Eleven School of Social Work students were selected to receive awards from the UNC Graduate School. They are: doctoral students Paja Charles, Eric Garland, Johanna Greeson, Dari Jigjidsuren, Sharon Parker, Tasanee Ross Walsh, Tiffany Washington, and Kelly Williams; and masters students Adriane Casalotti, Helen Dombalis, Angela Greene and Darshan Mundada. They will be honored at the annual Graduate Student Recognition Celebration at the Carolina Club on April 20.

Betsy Bledsoe will be a fellow at the annual Summer Institute on Randomized Clinical Trials Involving Behavioral Interventions, Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research, National Institutes of Health, in July.

Bledsoe will be part of a symposium in April called "Best Therapeutic Practices for High Risk Mothers and Very Young Children" hosted by the Society for Research in Child Development Biennial Conference, in Denver, Co. She will present her paper, "Intervention for Adolescent Perinatal Depression: Results from a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Existing Intervention Studies."

Selena Childs, MSW '99, recently rejoined the faculty as project director for the N.C. Child Welfare Workforce Collaborative, a Children’s Bureau-funded project focused on addressing child welfare workforce needs through education, assessment and planning. She was formerly the executive director of the N.C. Child Fatality Task Force, a legislative study commission. Childs can be reached at sbchilds@email.unc.edu or (919) 843-8144.

Matthew Howard presented grand rounds at the UNC School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, on March 25 to a crowd of about 50 on the topic of "Inhalant Use and Inhalant Use Disorders in the United States."

Dennis Orthner was selected to receive UNC's 2009 Robert Bryan Public Service Award and will be honored at a ceremony on campus on April 17. The Bryan Award "recognizes individuals (students, faculty or staff) who, as representatives of UNC-Chapel Hill, have demonstrated outstanding engagement and service to the state of North Carolina." Orthner helped launch the CareerStart program four years ago, which has raised test scores and narrowed the achievement gap among North Carolina middle school students.

Editor: Michelle Rogers, director of communications

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Alumni -- do you have news to share? If you have received an award, promotion, taken a new job, gotten married, or added a new member to the family, let us know. We would love to share your news with other alumni and the School of Social Work community. Please e-mail your alumni news and photos.

Alumni -- update your contact information

 
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