East China University of Science and Technology (ECUST) has named Mimi Chapman as Distinguished Visiting Professor to its International School of Social Work in Shanghai. Chapman, whose research focuses on children’s health and mental health, immigration and acculturation issues, has been working with faculty at ECUST for 10 years, including on research projects that examine the well-being of immigrants in China and in the United States.
The School of Social Work has maintained an ongoing partnership with ECUST since 2008, when both institutions signed an agreement that promotes faculty and student exchanges. Chapman’s work in China has also involved the development of a youth camp designed to help low-income children in Shanghai strengthen their English skills. This summer, Chapman, Shiyou Wu (Ph.D. ’17), an assistant professor at Arizona State University, and Steve Day, a research associate professor, are leading intervention research training at ECUST as part of the ongoing collaboration between ECUST and the School of Social Work.
Professor Kim Strom-Gottfried and research associate Todd Jensen presented a webinar in June for the Council on Social Work Education Assessment Academy. Their presentation focused on the School’s process of developing, refining, and implementing comprehensive knowledge assessments for MSW students as an additional method for evaluating students’ acquisition of social work competencies prior to graduation. Strom-Gottfried, Ph.D. student Premela Deck and MSW student LaVoya Woods, presented “Social Workers’ Complicity in Forced Sterilizations in the US” at the Conference on Effective Strategies for Working with Involuntary Clients in Prato, Italy, in May. In March, Strom-Gottfried met with Jameela Mohammed Al-Laboon, dean of the School of Social Work at Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh Saudi Arabia, about their plans for creating an MSW program. The visit was in conjunction with leadership presentations that Strom-Gottfried made in Riyadh and Jeddah for the Ministry of Higher Education.
Clinical assistant professor Josh Hinson presented the workshop, “The UNC Refugee Mental Health and Wellness Initiative: A Model for Integrated Refugee Healthcare and Provider Training,” at the 2018 North American Refugee Health Conference in Portland, Ore. Hinson (pictured left with Dr. Martha Carlough from UNC School of Medicine) taught a yearlong Interprofessional Refugee Health and Wellness Seminar, which included students from the schools of social work, public health and medicine. The students pictured, from left to right: Rachel Reiss (SOM), Adrianna Warner (PUBH) and Ariel Hwang (SOM), also presented their poster, “Developing Effective Interdisciplinary Team Praxis and Refugee Health: Findings From a Pilot Course at UNC,” at the same national health conference.
Professor Rebecca Macy was formally invited to serve as an advisor to the Juvenile and Family Law Research Center at Jinan University-Zhuhai. Executive director Cong-Dong Li extended the invitation earlier this year, when Rebecca and Christopher Wretman (Ph.D. ’17) traveled to China’s Guangdong Province to meet with Hongwei Zhang, one of China’s leading researchers on family violence, domestic violence and juvenile crime and the center’s director. They are collaborating on several research plans related to measurement of violence, assessment of Chinese ethnic minority pathways to violence and other topics.
Melissa Lippold presented at an international conference on parenting and parent-child relationships at Orebro University, Sweden. The conference presentation was on mindful parenting, parents’ cognitions, and parent-adolescent communication. Lippold was also promoted to associate professor, effective July 1.
The Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SIE) Lab team of the Jordan Institute for Families participated in a daylong planning meeting on June 4, with the lab’s newly formed SIE Advisory Board. The board consists of social work alum who have spearheaded innovation and entrepreneurship in their respective agencies and companies. Members include: Matt Anderson, vice president of strategic advancement, N.C. Children’s Home Society; Healther Altman, communications director, Carol Woods Retirement Community; Mat Despard, executive director, UNC’s Center for Community Capital; Ann Oshel, senior vice president community relations director, Alliance Behavioral Health Managed Care Organization; Veronica Creech, director of economic development, City of Raleigh, and the School of Social Work’s first entrepreneur-in-residence; Tom Reid, co-founder, Carolina Outreach Behavioral Health Organization; and Nora Spencer, founder Hope Renovations. With the help of a graphic facilitator, the team and board spent the day examining the mission and vision of the SIE Lab and producing a plan of action to honor that.
