MSW students earn national scholarships
Two UNC School of Social Work students have received National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Foundation Awards to support their education during the 2019-2020 academic year.
Jesalyn Keziah will receive the Consuelo W. Gosnell Memorial MSW Scholarship. Jesalyn is a second-year Master of Social Work student, earning her bachelor's degree in international studies and in environmental studies at UNC-Chapel Hill. The Gosnell Scholarship is awarded to students who demonstrate commitment to working with American Indian or Latino populations or to working with public nonprofit agencies and local grassroots groups.
Lippold awarded Prudence F. and Peter J. Meehan Early Career Professorship
Associate professor Melissa Lippold has been awarded the Prudence F. and Peter J. Meehan Early Career Professorship. Lippold is the first to receive the award, which was established in 2015 to support the research and scholarly interests of junior faculty members.
The professorship was created from a $1 million gift from the Meehans, who have been long-time supporters of the School of Social Work. The donation, among the largest in the School’s history, helps to support student scholarships, assist in the recruitment and retention of promising junior faculty, and fund new innovation initiatives to meet emerging needs in the field of social work.
School launches student exchange program with Australia Catholic University
MSW students interested in studying social work abroad now have an opportunity to do so.
The UNC School of Social Work has launched a student exchange program with Australia Catholic University (ACU). The initiative, which is organized through the School’s Field Education Program, offers the School the opportunity to spread its reach internationally and gives students a first-hand experience in learning more about other cultures and addressing global social issues, said Rebecca Brigham, the School’s associate dean for field education.
Sharing data to find treatments that work
Social work researchers in North Carolina are helping develop a multi-state network that will use Medicaid data to identify successful treatment options for medical situations that have broad national concern, including opioid use disorder and at-risk pregnancies.
The network, called MODRN (Medicaid Outcomes Distributed Research Network), is supported by Academy Health, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization that provides programs, databases, education, strategic planning and other services for health care organizations.