Child welfare expert Mark Testa joins the UNC School of Social Work as distinguished professor

Mark Testa, Ph.D.

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.

"I am so pleased that Dr. Testa has accepted our offer to join the faculty,” said School Dean Jack M. Richman. “Mark is a gifted teacher and his strengths will greatly enhance our School, the University and our ability to serve the people of North Carolina."

Testa said he is equally thrilled to be associated with the School, which he said he has always considered one of the country’s “centers for child welfare research.” He is also eager, he said, to work with students and share his experiences, including lessons he has learned over the years in reforming public child welfare systems and increasing opportunities for children in foster care.  Full story

 
UNC School of Social Work study suggests financial burden deepening for families with disabled children

Findings from a new study indicate that the prolonged recession is deepening the financial burden for some of the country’s most vulnerable families.

The study, by social work researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Washington University in St. Louis, Mo., shows more than a quarter of low-income families with disabled children are spending more than 3 percent of their total household incomes to pay for the children’s health-care needs.

For a family of four living at the federal poverty level, the costs add up to about $1,200 a year, said Susan Parish, Ph.D., an associate professor at the UNC School of Social Work and lead investigator of the study.

“These are costs above and beyond any health insurance premiums or co-pays,” Parish said. “It might not sound like that much for families making $100,000 a year, but that’s a great deal of money for a family that only earns poverty level income.”

How much a family spends depends on the state where they live, said Parish, who wrote the study with Paul Shattuck, Ph.D, an assistant professor of social work at Washington University, and Roderick A. Rose, a UNC School of Social Work statistician. The study, which is based on a 2005-06 national survey of children with special health-care needs, appears in the December supplement of Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Full story

Scholarship established in memory of slain alumnus Cmdr. Charles Keith Springle

Cmdr. Charles Keith Springle, Ph.D.

Charles Keith Springle was a “kind and gentle person, just the kind of person you want in a social worker,” and he was well prepared to assist soldiers who were mentally scarred by combat. 

Dr. Springle, who received a master’s degree in social work from UNC in 1984, was shot and killed at a military clinic in Baghdad on May 11, 2009 by a soldier who was receiving psychological counseling at the clinic.

In memory of Dr. Springle’s dedicated service to his country and his commitment to providing mental health care to soldiers and veterans, family and friends have established the Charles Keith Springle, Ph.D. Memorial Scholarship Fund at the UNC School of Social Work. The scholarship will support military-dependent students in the master’s of social work program who are working with military families or who have an interest in mental health care for veterans and their families. Full story

Related story:
Uniformed Social Worker of the Year award presented to Cmdr. Springle’s family

Innovation Fund research projects presented

Now in its second year, the Armfield-Reeves Innovation Fund was established by Billy and Janie Armfield and Sam and Betsy Reeves to encourage faculty and student researchers at the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Social Work to become involved in innovative, community-based, engaged research.

On Nov. 13, Sam Reeves came from California to hear faculty and doctoral students give presentations on their new projects. Presenters included faculty members Gary Bowen, Joelle Powers, Mat Despard, Rebecca Macy, Kathryn Moss, Susan Parish and Sheryl Zimmerman; and doctoral students Carrie Pettus-Davis and Erica Richman. Here's a brief summary of these interesting projects (pdf).

School is recruiting for a Distinguished Professorship and two other faculty positions

The UNC School of Social Work is seeking the L. Richardson and Emily Preyer Bicentennial Professor to Strengthen Families, and also has two tenure track faculty positions available (assistant or associate professor). Details

Citizen Soldier program recruiting behavioral health providers for database

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Citizen Soldier Support Program is recruiting behavioral and rehabilitative health service providers to participate in a new database that will help returning combat veterans and their families. The Web-based searchable database is part of a refocused effort by the program to enhance behavioral health resources available to National Guard and Reserve members and their families before, during and after deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan. Full story

Outstanding in the Field: Sharon Davis and Elizabeth Thurbee

Field instructor Elizabeth Thurbee (left) and master's student Sharon Davis

"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 MSW student Sharon Davis and field instructor Elizabeth Thurbee, of Catholic Social Services (CSS) of Charlotte.

Sharon Davis, of Charlotte, is in her first semester in the Distance Education Advanced Standing Program in Winston-Salem. She is completing an employer-based field placement at Catholic Social Services (CSS) of Charlotte. 

“My belief is that a healthy family creates a healthy society,” said Davis, whose social work interest is family and children.
 
Elizabeth Thurbee is the executive director of Catholic Social Services and has been a field instructor for eight student interns, who she says have benefitted her agency “in every way imaginable.”  Full story

Clinical Lecture Series

Jan. 25: Beyond the gender binary: Broadening our lens and strengthening our work, Kendra Smith, Ph.D. Feb. 22: ADHD: Differential diagnosis and treatment strategies across the life course, Jack Naftel, M.D. Details & registration

NACSW plans 2010 national convention in Durham, dedicates it to former UNC School of Social Work dean Alan Keith-Lucas

The North American Association of Christians in Social Work (NACSW) has set the date for its next convention. It will be held Nov. 11-14, 2010 at the Sheraton Imperial Hotel and Conference Center in Durham. Details (pdf)

"It is a special honor for NACSW to dedicate its 60th consecutive convention to celebrate the life and accomplishments of Alan Keith-Lucas, who was born 100 years ago in 1910," said Rick Chamiec-Case of NACSW. "Dr. Keith-Lucas was an early pioneer in the integration of Christian faith and social work practice, long before it became more common and acceptable to do so within the larger social work profession. On Friday evening of the conference, we will gather some of Keith’s colleagues, students, friends, and family members to pay tribute to this giant within the field of social work."

School of Social Work faculty member Amelia Roberts-Lewis is helping organize the conference.

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Carynne Hardy chosen for White House internship

Carynne Hardy has been chosen as an intern to the Office of the First Lady and will be working with Michelle Obama's staff from January to May. Hardy is a second year MSW student who came to us with an MPA degree, and who clearly has a promising future!

F A C U L T Y   S P O T L I G H T

 

Deborah Barrett, Ph.D., MSW '04, has an article published in the fall 2009 issue of Fibromyalgia Aware magazine, entitled "Caring for kids—and yourself."

 

Gary Bowen, Ph.D., Kenan Distinguished Professor, was a featured speaker and panelist at the 2009 RTI Fellows Symposium: Integrating Basic and Applied Research, which was held Nov. 2-3. Bowen discussed “Pathways to School Persistence” in the section on education opportunity and achievement.

Bowen was an invited guest speaker at the 2009 Annual Conference of the National Council on Family Relations in San Francisco. He served on a panel with Drs. Shelley MacDermid and Dennis Orthner in a session designed to increase understanding of the factors that contribute to resilience in military families. Bowen facilitated a special session at the conference on "Building Bridges to Support Military and Veteran Families."

On behalf of Mrs. Dianne Campbell, spouse of the Commanding General, U.S. Army Forces Command (FORSCOM), Bowen spoke to approximately 50 spouses of the Army’s most senior combat commanders and their command sergeants major on “Building Resilient Families through Community Capacity Building.” The Commander’s Conference was held Nov. 16-18 in Atlanta.

 

 

In November, Joanne Caye, MSW '82, gave a workshop on emotional abuse for AHEC in Winston-Salem.

 

Sheryl Zimmerman, Ph.D., Kenan Flagler Bingham Distinguished Professor, was a speaker at a Nov. 16 NASW symposium in Washington, D.C. to launch a new social work policy institute. Full story

Gamble and Weil author new book on community practice skills

Emerita faculty member Dorothy Gamble and Berg-Beach Distinguished Professor Marie Weil, Ph.D., have a new book published by Columbia University Press, "Community Practice Skills: Local to Global Perspectives." Details

  

Ruby DeMesme, MSW '79, wrote a paper entitled "Equipping the Federal Workforce for the Cyber Age," in which IT security plays a critical factor. DeMesme is a senior advisor to the consultancy Deloitte, and a member of the School of Social Work's board of advisors. Full story and podcast

Karen Randolph, Ph.D. '98, a highly regarded child welfare expert, was named the first recipient of the Agnes Flaherty Stoops Professorship in the College of Social Work at Florida State University. Randolph has been an FSU faculty member since 2003. Full story

In Memoriam

James Watt Kirkpatrick, Jr., MSW '64, age 77, died Nov. 27 at his home surrounded by his loving family. Obit

Editor: Michelle Rogers
 
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