E-Contact Newsletter: December
Fall issue of Contact is published
Contact, the School of Social Work magazine for alumni and friends, is now available online. The theme of this edition is "Mental health care in North Carolina: Advocating for care and the challenges ahead."
Look for your copy of Contact in the mail in the next couple of weeks.
Faculty search for solutions to help people cope with troubled economy
For months, individuals and families across the country have been feeling the brunt of the current economic crisis. Some have lost long-held jobs or watched retirement savings quickly dissolve. Many are still struggling to pay mortgages and other bills. Others are on the brink of homelessness.
At UNC’s School of Social Work, such scenarios of overwhelming financial instability and the repercussions of such realities often play a significant role in faculty research and study. That’s because every day -- financial meltdown or not -- social workers are on the frontlines helping adults, children, the elderly and people with disabilities, cope with and find answers to fiscal, physical and psychological challenges. Full story
Community Connections program to benefit state's growing senior population
The face of North Carolina is growing increasingly older.
By 2030, aging and adult services officials project that 75 of the state’s counties will have more residents age 60 and older than age 17 and younger. Many of these seniors will live in UNC’s backyard -- Orange County -- where the older adult population is expected to top out at 17 percent over the next 22 years. Full story
Tuition forgiveness program proposed to N.C. legislature
Dean Jack Richman and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Anna Scheyett made a presentation to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee on Dec. 2 on the need for a tuition forgiveness program for MSW students who commit to working in community mental health in underserved areas of the state. This proposed mental health collaborative would also include MSW students at Appalachian State University, East Carolina University and the Joint Program at UNC-Greensboro and NC A&T Universities.
“North Carolina has tremendous workforce challenges in mental health, developmental disabilities and substance abuse services,” said Richman. “Rural areas are the most vulnerable, but by tapping into the expertise of some of the MSW programs in the UNC system, we can build MSW level practitioner and supervisor infrastructure that will also attract BSW level practitioners and alleviate the shortage of skilled providers in underserved areas.”
Members of the oversight committee expressed great interest in the idea and will consider it during the next legislative session. For more information about this proposal, see the article on p. 11 of the Fall issue of Contact.
Seven tips to keep the holidays happy and avoid family meltdowns
Is your family more like The Sopranos than The Waltons? For many people, the holidays -- and in particular family get-togethers -- means tension and stress. Full story
Clinical Lecture Series
Jan. 26 - Depression and Suicide in Children and Adolescents. Speaker: Jodi Flick, MSW, LCSW. Details & register
School to host reception in New Orleans
You are invited to attend the UNC School of Social Work reception on Jan. 16 from 7:45-9:00 p.m. at the New Orleans Marriott. This coincides with the Society for Social Work and Research Annual Conference. Contact Kristen Huffman for additional info.
MSW admissions deadline nears
If you know someone who may be interested in applying to our program, please pass along that the deadline for receipt of all application materials is Jan. 16.
Students making a difference: Ann Bush
Overcoming poverty in Haiti, one fragile child at a time
Second-year MSW student Ann Bush did a summer internship in Haiti that her professor, Mat Despard, helped set up. This is an essay she wrote upon her return.
Watson is his name. Sweet, helpless, little Watson was born in Lamardelle, Haiti two and a half years ago, though he cannot sit up and is the size of a large infant. He lives in a small mud hut with his parents and eight brothers and sisters, half of whom are orphans that his kind, uneducated and severely poor parents have taken in. Theirs is truly a story of human kindness and decency, as they can barely feed their own children. In fact, not long ago, the littlest among them was dying. Full story
Doctoral students receive awards
Tashuna Albritton was awarded a travel scholarship by the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NCMHD) of the National Institutes of Health to attend the NIH Eliminating Health Disparities Summit in December. Her research focus is on HIV and STI prevention interventions with African American adolescents. She is currently a research assistant with Project Grace, an NIH/NCMHD funded HIV/AIDS prevention intervention with rural African American adolescents in eastern North Carolina, directed by Dr. Giselle Corbie-Smith.
Marcie Fisher-Borne received an honorable mention in the UNC Graduate Education Advancement Board Impact Award competition. For her dissertation, she is conducting a study of the effectiveness of a cultural competency training that she designed in changing providers’ (N.C. disease intervention specialists) knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors toward gay, bisexual, and transgender clients of color who are HIV-positive.
Jungwon Huh is a recipient of an UNC Interdisciplinary Research Fellowship for the Spring '09 semester. The purpose of this fellowship is to give doctoral students who have completed most or all of their coursework an intensive period of time and experience to focus on completing their interdisciplinary dissertation prospectus or research proposal.
Sharon Parker and Tasanee Walsh are recipients of the Council on Social Work Education's Minority Fellowship. This program provides mentorship and training to ethnic minority social work professionals, preparing them for leadership roles in mental health research and in the delivery of mental health services.
Students experience community organizing first-hand
Affordable housing. Better public education. A living wage. Stronger neighborhoods. These are the community issues on which students worked this semester in SOWO 570, Social Work Practice with Organizations and Communities with faculty member Mat Despard.
Social work has strong roots in community organizing and development, and students got to experience that tradition by working with local organizations such as Durham CAN, its new sister organization, Orange County Organizing Committee and the Quality of Life project in southwest central Durham.
Interestingly, Durham CAN and OCOC are affiliates of the same organization for which President-elect Barack Obama formerly worked as a community organizer in Chicago, the Industrial Areas Foundation.
"I was really impressed by the amount of effort and care students put into their projects," Despard said. "I think they appreciated being able to learn more about the local community and how organizing can improve people's quality of life. It made it all the more interesting for us that Obama did work with the same organizing network earlier in his career."
Betsy Bledsoe received a $1,000 Junior Faculty Development Award, from the UNC Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost, in support of her project "Better Beginnings: Testing a Brief, Culturally Relevant Treatment for Perinatal Depression." She also received a $7,500 Jane H. Pfouts Research Grant from the UNC School of Social Work for her project, "Understanding Perinatal Depression in Low-Income, Racial and Ethnic Minority Adolescents: Perceptions of Mood and Intervention." In addition, Bledsoe was a finalist for the Herbert A. Raskin Child Welfare Pro Humanitate Article Award for "Empirically Supported Psychotherapy in Social Work Training Programs: Does the Definition of Evidence Matter?", published in Research on Social Work Practice, 17 (4), July 2007, p. 449-455. (2009)
Gina Chowa presented two papers at the Child Development Accounts: Research and Policy Symposium in St. Louis, Nov. 12-14. Her presenations were entitled "Assets and Child Well-being in Developing Countries" and "Youth and Savings in AssetsAfrica."
Emeritus faculty member Andrew Dobelstein's newest book, Understanding the Social Security Act, is being published by Oxford University Press in 2009. This is his seventh major book publication, and will be marketed to a wide audience through the OUP network.
Michal Grinstein-Weiss received a $125,000 grant from the Rockefeller Foundation to support her large-scale project studying the long-term impact of individual development accounts (IDA) and asset building on social and economic well-being (ADD4). Grinstein-Weiss now has eight funders supporting this work. In this time of credit crisis, this study has become even more important. ADD4 will not only assess the long term impacts of IDAs but, given that the sample includes many lower-income homeowners, it has the potential to make a substantial contribution to understanding the impacts of the credit crisis on a sample of low-income households.
Vanessa Hodges was named to the National MS Society Volunteer Hall of Fame in recognition of her outstanding efforts in personally impacting those living with MS. Hodges, who lives with multiple sclerosis, is a dedicated and valuable volunteer who provides service at both the chapter and national levels. Full story
Rebecca Macy was named a faculty scholar by the Carolina Women's Center. The Center appoints a faculty scholar each semester as a way to support faculty projects related to the CWC's mission to empower women and promote their equality in all spheres of life and to celebrate the work of women that betters humankind.
Dennis Orthner was elected to the 2009 edition of "Who's Who in America," an honor that reflects his work on welfare and education policy and research.
Susan Parish is the winner of the 2009 Society for Social Work and Research Deborah K. Padgett Early Career Achievement Award. In conferring the award, the Society recognizes that her accomplishments reflect innovative scholarship, a rigorous approach to social work research, and work that exhibits an emerging influence in the field and her contribution to advance the profession is noteworthy. Parish's award will be presented at the presidential awards ceremony on Jan. 16 at the 2009 SSWR conference in New Orleans.
Amelia Roberts-Lewis and Iris Carlton-LaNey conducted a workshop on Nov. 1 at the CSWE annual conference in Philadelphia, with Waldo Johnson from University of Chicago, on "Crafting a Research Career -- Particular Considerations for African Americans and Other Minorities."
Anna Scheyett is serving on the Chapel Hill Mayor's Mental Health Task Force. The 15-member group will meet during the next several months, and formulate recommendations to municipal and county leaders about how to improve local mental health care.
Gary Shaffer was honored by a former student, at the North Carolina School Social Workers' Association fall conference held in November in Atlantic Beach. Ann-Marie McBride, MSW '98, association vice-president, wrote, "Througout these ten years, I have come to appreciate how much Gary Shaffer has impacted the field of school social work in North Carolina. While I greatly appreciated his assistance in helping me to become gainfully employed, his influence has reached far beyond the classroom. From advocating for us with DPI and the N.C. legislature, to providing opportunities for licensure across North Carolina, Gary has been an incredible champion of school social work. Thanks you, Gary!"
Bobby Boyd, MSW '69, retired on Nov. 1 after almost 30 years as the director of Catawba County Dept. of Social Services. Boyd was honored at a retirement reception with 400 people in attendance and numerous presenters. Under his leadership, the DSS attracted state and national recognition for innovation and quality. He is credited with leading his staff ably through difficult times in a focused and steady manner, remaining firm in his commitment. Boyd is a member of the UNC School of Social Work's board of advisors. Friends and colleagues have created the Bobby Boyd Leadership Fund at the School to support and encourage student leadership in social work. For more information about the fund and how you can contribute, contact Mary Beth Hernandez, associate dean for advancement, at (919) 962-6469 or by e-mail.
Simona Farcas, MSW '99, recently started a new position with the Duke Clinical Research Institute as a regulatory associate.
Lori Messinger, MSW '96, PhD '99, received a teaching award from the University of Kansas. Messinger, associate professor of social welfare and director of the bachelor's in social welfare program, was given a $5,000 Kemper Fellowship for Teaching Excellence. She joined the KU faculty in 2004.
Laura Miller Shaffner, MSW '06, recently passed her licensure exam and earned her LCSW. She continues to work as a clinical supervisor for Dominion Day Services in Richmond, Va. She would love to hear from other UNC MSW graduates living in Va., and can be contacted at laurashaffner@gmail.com.
Kerry Anne Sherrill, MSW '90, was awarded North Carolina School Social Worker of the Year by the N.C School Social Workers Association. She works in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City School District.
Alumni links
Editor: Michelle Rogers, Director of Communications
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