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Faculty, staff and student briefs

Rebecca Brigham, who held the administrative title of director of field education, was nominated by the Dean and approved by the University to now be the assistant dean for field education.

Clinical Associate Professor Kirsten Kainz gave this month’s Tate Talk at the School on Feb. 8. She discussed the evidence-based policy and practice movement, exploring issues related to types of evidence and uses of evidence, asking challenging questions about whose evidence matters in what circumstances.

Professor Michael Lambert was invited to be a speaker at the 2016 Administration for Children and Families National Research Conference (formerly the Head Start National Research Conference), held in Washington, D.C., July 11-13. He will speak on culturally and developmentally appropriate assessments for young African American children.

Clinical Assistant Professor Theresa Palmer represented North Carolina and the Behavioral Healthcare Resource Program at a train-the-trainer program in Portland, Oregon in January to support the expansion of Technology Based Clinical Supervision, particularly targeted to clinicians in rural and frontier settings in the substance use disorders field. The training was sponsored by the National Frontier and Rural Addiction Technology Transfer Center.

On Feb. 9, Kim Strom-Gottfried, Smith P. Theimann Jr. Distinguished Professor of Ethics and Professional Practice, spoke on “Courage as a Cornerstone of Leadership” at Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill. This program was part of UNC’s “Humanities in Action” series.
Clinical Associate Professor Sarah Verbiest was scheduled to present at a conference in Washington, D.C., last month, but it was snowed out. Instead, she and her co-presenters took one of the workshops and turned it into a free national webinar. About 800 people registered to attend the Feb. 2 webinar, “Improving the Health of New Mothers: Building Woman-Centered Postpartum Systems of Care.”

Verbiest is giving a keynote address at the 3rd European Congress on Preconception Health and Health Care in Sweden, Feb. 16-19. She will be tweeting from the conference.

School well-represented at SSWR annual conference

The UNC School of Social Work was well-represented at the Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR) 20th Annual Conference, Jan. 13-17, in Washington, D.C. This conference is the major place where social work researchers meet to share ideas and findings from research.

Presenters included faculty members David Ansong, Sarah E. Bledsoe, Gary Bowen, Mimi Chapman, Gina Chowa, Gary Cuddeback, Mark Fraser, Marilyn Ghezzi, Trenette Clark Goings, Matthew Howard, Anne Jones, Paul Lanier, Melissa Lippold, Rebecca Macy, Rainier Masa, Cynthia Fraga Rizo, Roderick Rose, Amy Blank Wilson and Lisa de Saxe Zerden; Doctoral students Wen (Vivien) Li Anthony, Kanisha Coleman, Ashley Givens, Laurie Graham, Christina E. Horsford, Todd Jensen, Candace Killian-Farrell, Brianna Lombardi, Jennifer O’Brien, Tonya VanDeinse, Charity S. Watkins, Christopher Wretman, Qi Wu and Shiyou Wu; and MSW students Emanuel Jefferson, Sarah Rabiner and Hannah Welch.

Garcia honored on retirement

Manuel Garcia, director of the School’s Computing and Information Technology Unit (CITU), was honored with a retirement party on Jan. 28 at the School. Several faculty and staff stood up to relay heartfelt sentiments. CITU colleague Larry Rosenfeld created a slideshow on Garcia’s life and illustrious career, which was played during the event. Garcia joined the School of Social Work in 1998. He now looks forward to enjoying more time with his wife America and their children and grandchildren.

Upcoming AHEC presentations by faculty

  • Feb. 17, Eastern AHEC – Marty Weems, Clinical Supervision: Focus and Evaluation
  • Feb. 22, SEAHEC — Tina Souders, Will You Be My Friend? How Technology Has Altered Professional Boundaries
  • Feb. 24, Area L AHEC – Jodi Flick, 2nd Annual MH Symposium, Understanding Suicide
  • Feb. 26, Charlotte AHEC – Marilyn Ghezzi, Key Issues in Assessing and Treating Serious Mental Illness
  • March 15, Eastern AHEC – Jodi Flick, Suicide and the Military
  • March 17, Eastern AHEC – Lisa Lackmann, Working with Parents with Mental Health Issues
  • March 22, Wake AHEC – Jodi Flick, Youth Suicide Conference

More information on AHEC programs.

Also see: New publications by faculty and doctoral students