Come to China with the School of Social Work

This year's Summer School Abroad in China will be held May 23 to June 9. The deadline to apply is March 15.

This course is open to all graduate and upper division undergraduate students, as well as practitioners, administrators, and educators in social work, public health, education, public policy, religion, medicine, and related fields who want to learn more about Chinese social issues and culture. Friends and family members of participants are also welcome; however, priority will be given to students and social work educators and practitioners. There are no prerequisites for this course. Full story

Social workers, UNC community helping victims of Haiti earthquake

In the aftermath of the deadly earthquake in Haiti, the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) is issuing an alert to its members to help support recovery efforts for victims and their families. In disasters such as this, social workers are uniquely suited to assess the disaster environment in a culturally competent manner and to provide leadership in promoting effective disaster relief and recovery efforts.

And across the University campus, faculty, staff and students are coordinating relief efforts to assist the people of Haiti. We've collected links about the widespread work that UNC is doing, ways that you can help, as well as previous activities before the earthquake. Full story

The UNC Social Work Student Organization (SoWoSo) is helping to collect medical supplies for a medical team from Crosspointe Church in Cary, that is scheduled to travel to Jacmel, Haiti, on Feb. 6. A collection box has been placed in the lobby of the Tate-Turner-Kuralt Building, where supplies such as over-the-counter medications, Band-Aids, powdered baby cereal, etc. can be donated. Fliers have been posted around the School of Social Work listing recommended items for donations. SoWoSo is also accepting monetary donations, which will be used to purchase wholesale medications.

Look for more information about the School of Social Work, Haiti and disaster response in the upcoming Contact magazine.

Winter graduation rescheduled

The Dec. 19, 2009 hooding ceremony, which was postponed due to weather, has been rescheduled for Sat., Jan. 30 at 11:00 a.m. in the Tate-Turner-Kuralt Building auditorium.

Outstanding in the Field: Jennie Renner-Yeomans and Rita Kaur

"Outstanding in the Field" is a monthly series spotlighting the experiences of students and their field instructors at the UNC School of Social Work.

This month, the Field Education office has selected master's student Jennie Renner-Yeomans (pictured, on left) and field instructor Ritu Kaur (right), of InterAct of Wake County.

Renner-Yeomans, a first year student at the full time MSW program, is originally from Ohio and has lived in Chapel Hill for two years.

Kaur has been a field instructor since 2004 and has supervised about 2-3 students each year. She says that “field education is an important part of understanding the realities of social work practice — the MSW program would be incomplete without it.” Full story

Clinical Lecture Series

Feb. 22: ADHD: Differential diagnosis and treatment strategies across the life course, Jack Naftel, M.D. March 22: Cultural trauma: Developing an ear for the unspoken in the room. Michelle Johnson, MSW, LCSW. April 19: Ethics of Becoming Competent in Psychopharmacology
Gary Gala, M.D. Details & registration

Looking for a job? Have a job to post?

Check out our alumni job board. New positions added!

Pettus-Davis receives research grant

Doctoral student Carrie Pettus-Davis was selected as a Fahs-Beck Scholar and received a grant award from The New York Community Trust Fahs-Beck Fund for Research and Experimentation for her proposed dissertation project, "Support Matters: A Randomized Controlled Pilot Trial of a Social Support Intervention for Recently Released Prisoners with Substance Abuse Disorders."

F A C U L T Y   &   S T A F F   S P O T L I G H T

Mimi Chapman, Ph.D., was named the Carolina Women's Center Faculty Scholar for Fall 2010. Her project will be "Gang Affiliation Among Middle School New Immigrant Latinas in Siler City." She will investigate the scope of the problem in the community and develop intervention models and strategies. Full story

 

Chris Egan, MSW, was chosen as one of "10 Super Volunteers" by the Triangle Business Journal, and is featured in a front page story in this month's edition. Egan was selected for his extensive work with The Arc of North Carolina spanning 15 years, including serving as president of the organization's board. Egan is the assistant director of the Developmental Disabilities Training Institute at the School of Social Work.  PDF of the article

 

 

 

Jodi Flick, MSSW, will teach a class on suicide prevention as part of a mental health training course for Carrboro police. The purpose of the 40-hour course is to better prepare officers for encounters with people with mental illness and to increase the chances that those with serious mental illness will receive treatment rather than incarceration. Full story

 

 

Michal Grinstein-Weiss, Ph.D., and master's candidate Solita Denard recently had an op-ed published in the Chapel Hill News, "Time to put more North Carolinians on prosperity grid."

 

 

 

 

Shenyang Guo, Ph.D., was selected to receive UNC's prestigious 2010 Distinguished Teaching Award for Post-Baccalaureate Instruction. "The University Committee on Teaching Awards was greatly impressed by the abundant evidence they found for your outstanding contributions to post-baccalaureate teaching on our campus," wrote Chancellor Holden Thorp. "Both your students and faculty colleagues were enthusiastic in their praise of your commitment to the highest standards. You have clearly provided your students with a rich, supportive environment for higher learning and [an] exceptionally positive role model for their own careers."

Award recipients were recognized during a half-time ceremony at the UNC-GA Tech men’s basketball game on Jan. 16. In addition, Guo will receive an award certificate and $5,000 prize at an awards banquet on April 15.

 

 

Matthew Howard, Ph.D., was asked to review grants for the Italian Ministry of Health for 2010.

 

Howard will have a lead article on inhalant abuse published on the Web site of the National Institute on Drug Abuse in their journal Addiction Science and Clinical Practice.

 

Howard asked to serve on the NIH Epidemiology and Behavior Genetics Study Section for 2010. He was also named regional editor of the Open Social Science Journal.

 

 

His editorial, Letter to a Young Researcher, was published in the Dec. 2009 issue of Social Work Research, a publication of the NASW.

 

 

Dennis Orthner, Ph.D. is featured in a YouTube video where he discusses redesigning a course he's been teaching for nearly 40 years, Research Methods, using Sakai. 

 

 

 

The Arc of the United States has chosen Susan Parish, Ph.D. the winner of its Research Matters! Award. This prestigious award "honors an outstanding researcher who has made research findings that should lead to improvements in the lives of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families." The award was presented in Pittsburgh Nov. 14 at The Arc's annual convention, and Parish presented a breakout session about her research results. 

 

 

 

Joelle Powers, Ph.D. is this year' recipient of the C. Felix Harvey Award to Advance Institutional Priorities. Given by UNC's Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost, the $75,000 award recognizes exemplary faculty scholarship that reflects one of the University’s top priorities. This year's award focuses on engagement and outreach.

Powers' proposed project is a pilot test of an urgently needed partnership between Durham Public Schools and Durham’s public mental health provider, The Durham Center. The partnership will include training staff in one school to recognize mental health problems in students, creating a school-based referral process, and bringing professional mental health providers into the school to serve students.

 

 

Anna Scheyett, Ph.D., was elected to run for the national NASW Board as a Region VI Representative.

 

On Jan. 22, WCHL radio aired a commentary by Scheyett on "Busting Myths About Social Workers." Listen

 

 

Paul Smokowski, Ph.D., was was asked to review the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's blueprint for a national youth violence prevention initiative.

He was also awarded a highly competitive research leave for 2010-11 from the UNC-Chapel Hill Office of the Provost. He will be writing grant proposals.

This month, he is submitting an RO1 proposal to the CDC entitled "Family and Community Youth Violence Programs for Latino Adolescents." 

Delores Evans, MSW '72, of Durham, received a kidney from her adult son at UNC Hospitals after he died in November 2008. On New Year's Day, Evans honored her son and helped promote organ sharing as a participant in the Rose Parade in Pasadena, Calif., riding on the Donate Life float sponsored by OneLegacy, the Los Angeles-area organ and tissue donor services organization. Full story, with video

Editor: Michelle Rogers
 
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