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School briefs

LB Klein was an invited speaker at “Beyond Consent: A Practical Symposium for Researchers, Advocates, & Educators” at the New School in New York City in April. Her talk was titled “Research-to-Practice and Practice-to-Research in Campus-Based Sexual Assault Prevention.”

Clinical assistant professor Josh Hinson was an invited speaker for the webinar, “Promoting Refugee and Community Wellness,” which was hosted by the School’s Jordan Institute for Families and created in partnership by the National Partnership for Community Training and Welcoming America. The webinar focused on how those from diverse sectors – such as academics, employers, health providers, and neighbors – can create a vibrant ecosystem that supports refugee and community wellness. Hinson spoke about UNC’s Refugee Mental Health and Wellness Initiative.

Doctoral student Annie Francis was selected to participate in the Summer Dissertation Proposal Workshop, organized by the Center on Race and Wealth at Howard University in Washington. D.C., and the Institute for Research on Poverty of the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Clinical associate professor Lisa de Saxe Zerden was a panelist at the inaugural Rural Interprofessional Health Conference held at the William and Ida Friday Center for Continuing Education in April. Zerden presented on the behavioral health workforce trends impacting North Carolina. In early May, Zerden also attended and participated in the American Academy of  Medical Colleges workforce in Tyson’s Va. She delivered four presentations with colleagues from the Sheps Center’s Carolina Health Workforce Research Center and with social work doctoral candidate, Brianna Lombardi, and Ph.D. student Ting Guan. Zerden also delivered the keynote address at University of California, Berkeley for the California Social Work Education Center (CalSWEC) Symposium on Integrated Behavioral Health on May 18.

Student services assistant Tiffany Carver received the Kay Wijnberg Hovious Outstanding Employee Forum Delegate Award. Carver serves as secretary for the UNC Employee Forum and was recognized for her outstanding service throughout the year. Naquan Hill (School of Dentistry) and Lori Haight (SILS Career Services) were also award winners.

Taylor Sweeney and Douglas Stoll completed the requirements for the Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities (CIDD) Leadership and Neurodevelopmental Disorders (LEND) Training Program for this academic year. Clinical assistant professor Sherry Merger, who is the social work faculty with LEND, mentored both students. Sweeney, a final year MSW student in the Advanced Standing Program, completed her field placement at CIDD, while Stoll, a final year MSW student in the Triangle Distance Education Program, interned at the N.C. Council on Developmental Disabilities. Both are expected to be leaders in the field of intellectual/developmental disabilities and autism. Congrats!

Professors Kim Strom-Gottfried, Rebecca Macy, Ph.D. graduate Christopher Wretman and accreditation consultant Katherine Dunlap traveled to the United Kingdom to attend the 2018 European Conference on Social Work Research at The University of Edinburgh. The conference theme was “Social Work in Transition: Challenges for Social Work Research in a Changing Local and Global World.” During the conference, Macy presented “Ensuring that social work services help sex-trafficking survivors: Recommendations for innovative research in a changing world.” Strom-Gottfried co-presented “Professional Ethical Identity Re-Examined: A Workshop with Dialogue and Data,” with colleagues from the UK, Netherlands, Italy and Slovenia. Wretman, a senior data analyst/research associate at the Program on Aging, Disability and Long-Term Care at The Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research, and Macy co-presented a workshop titled, “Practice-based evaluation in social work services: Collecting and analyzing data to help service users.” Wretman also presented a workshop titled “An Overview of Advanced Quantitative Methods for Social Work Research.” In addition to presenting, the group used the opportunity to build working relationships and projects with colleagues from Italy, the Netherlands, Slovenia, and the United Kingdom.

Faculty, staff, friends and colleagues gathered on May 9 to wish Mark Fraser well in his retirement. Fraser, the John A. Tate Distinguished Professor for Children in Need, is retiring at the end of June, after serving 42 years in the field of social work and a quarter of a century at the UNC School of Social Work. He and his wife, Mary, are moving to Florida soon. See photos from the retirement party below. Read more about our February story on Fraser’s retirement here.