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School briefs

Associate professor Gina Chowa recently served as the guest editor for a special issue of the journal, Global Social Welfare. The special issue, titled, Innovations in Holistic Interventions: Implications for Global Social Development, focuses on the new frontier for social development, including promising interventions and efforts to advance policies that ensure that vulnerable and marginalized people have access to needed services. The issue included articles from School of Social Work faculty, including Chowa, Rainier Masa, Cynthia Fraga Rizo and Lisa de Saxe Zerden.

In celebration of  Carolina’s 225th anniversary, UNC has been highlighting various schools and the ways in which students, faculty and staff are making a difference. The School of Social Work was featured for the month of March, including prominently on the University’s homepage, with a narrative video, photos and several stories featuring famous alumni, such as Howard Lee, MSW ’66, and Bobby Boyd, MSW ’69. Check out the website and more here: https://www.unc.edu/story/helping-people-by-creating-change/

Assistant professor Rachel Goode presented her research on “The Impact of Childhood Trauma on Binge Eating and Obesity in Black Americans” at the 40th annual Society of Behavioral Medicine Conference in Washington, D.C.

Clinical assistant professor Sherry Mergner is exploring the creation of a Neurodiversity Caucus within the School of Social Work. Mergner, who is also a clinician at the Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities, has focused her efforts over the last 18 years on being an agent of change in the area of neurodiversity and providing education and clinical support to neurodivergent individuals and their families. As a mother of a 20-year-old son with high functioning autism, Mergner said she has become more keenly aware of the challenges faced by students with neurodivergent issues and experiences in a college or university setting. She is currently seeking input on the need for such a caucus through an online Google survey.  She hopes that the proposed group will be a supportive, inclusive space that will amplify neurodivergent voices within the community through alliance and advocacy.

The Field Education Program hosted 22 field instructors for a training titled, “Transitioning from Supervisor to Teacher.”  Clinical assistant professor Ronni Zuckerman and clinical instructor Amy Levine led the interactive workshop. Throughout the day, field instructors reviewed supervision concepts and models with a focus on educational supervision, which encourages students to integrate values, knowledge, and skills learned in the classroom with the real world practice of social work.

Clinical assistant professor Michael McGuire was invited to be a member of the CSWE National Taskforce to develop competencies and content resources for addressing problematic substance use and addiction. Previously, Michael served on the CSWE National Taskforce to develop the 2018 Specialized Practice Curricular Guide for Military Social Work , part of the Education Policy and Accreditation Standards.

Doctoral student LB Klein facilitated a national webinar with Futures Without Violence on addressing alcohol’s role in campus sexual assault.