April 2024 Dean's Update Newsletter

It’s been a busy month at the KU School of Social Welfare.

For many students in our MSW program, April is the time to share research they’ve been working on all year. Last week, I had the chance to attend a capstone poster presentation for the Integrated Health Scholars Program; you can read more and see photos in this month’s newsletter. This Friday, graduate students in our Toni Johnson Scholars for Racial and Social Justice program will present capstone research to social work students, faculty and staff.

In just a few weeks, those students will cross the stage at our School’s recognition ceremonies. With their fellow graduates, they will join a community of thousands of Jayhawk Social Workers living in Kansas, Missouri and beyond.

Staying connected with our graduates is important to the School, and we always want to hear updates from our alumni. Share your news with us and read recent Alumni Stories to stay updated on alumni accomplishments.

As always, please reach out to me with questions or concerns at any time at kusswdo@ku.edu. Your feedback and collaboration are extremely important to us.  

Michelle Carney, PhD, MSSA
Dean and Professor
KU School of Social Welfare

Social work wasn’t unfamiliar to Traci Dotson when she began considering it as a career path. Her non-traditional upbringing involved many interactions with social workers.

Very few things in life are traditional for Dotson, an MSW student in the Toni Johnson Scholars for Racial and Social Justice Program.

Dotson, 27, entered foster care when she was 15 years old. She was reunited with her family shortly before aging out of foster care — just in time to graduate high school with her class.

“I can’t say it was an all-rainbow-and-sunshine situation, as we know how systems work, so I was blessed to have positive experiences in the system and have good social workers and people who advocated for me and my family advocating for me,” Dotson said.

Chris Beal sees the strength in kids who battle mental illness. He was plugged in on mental health conversations and heard compelling stories during his 35-year career in government and policy. 

Those conversations, and a personal journey, inspired Beal to pursue his Master of Social Work at 58 years old. He earned his MSW from the University of Kansas School of Social Welfare in spring 2023.

Beal, who is approaching one year of working at the Johnson County Mental Health Center, was already considering the idea of returning to school. The corporate life wore him down through decades of stress and travel. It was only through self-determination that Beal decided to go to therapy and work through his struggles with alcohol.  

With that decision came a new path.  

Students in the Integrated Health Scholars Program shared posters for their Capstone projects on April 19. Projects highlighted a practice innovation or improvement initiative at the students' clinical practicum.

Since 2016, the Scholars Program has graduated 246 MSW students and provided $2.8 million in scholarship support.

A five-year, $2.5 million grant was awarded to fund Kansas Bravely Rising and Activating Voices for Equity, or Kansas BRAVE. The initiative will pair researchers from KU’s School of Social Welfare with agencies of the child welfare system from across the state, community advocacy organizations and people with lived expertise to develop solutions and opportunities.

“There will be a big emphasis on including the young people and caregiver voices in developing the solutions to what they have seen and the resulting inequities they’ve experienced in the child welfare system,” said Pegah Naemi Jimenez, research associate and principal investigator on the grant.

Naemi Jimenez and co-principal investigator Becci Akin, professor of social welfare, will form a partnership with three subrecipients: The Racial Equity Collaborative Inc., Kansas Family Advisory Network and Culture Creations Inc.

The KU School of Social Welfare is hiring an Associate Director of Practicum! 

This Associate Director position focuses on assisting students who pursue employment-based practicums (EBP) and who reside more than one hour from the Lawrence or Edwards campus, and students who attend a partner site.

A few of the required qualifications include: 

- MSW degree from a CSWE-accredited program.

- Minimum of five years post-MSW, full-time social work experience.

- Minimum of three years of experience providing practicum instruction to social work students (BSW and/or MSW levels).

Application review begins Wednesday, May 1.

Domestic violence is a problem throughout the world. To develop and support effective programs to address the issue, understanding the problem and strategies to address it must be grounded in knowledge of the local context.  

A new study from the University of Kansas has found that research reports written or sponsored by international organizations have often taken an oversimplified “cultural essentialist” approach to understanding domestic violence in Nepal. This has circumscribed the production of knowledge about strengths and strategies that are already being used to address domestic violence in Nepal, as well as the international and recent contexts that could be exacerbating domestic violence in the country. 

Claire Willey-Sthapit, assistant professor of social welfare, led a study in which researchers analyzed 26 reports funded by diverse international development organizations studying domestic violence in Nepal over two decades. 

Kortney Carr, PhD candidate, is inviting social workers (i.e., individuals holding a BSW, MSW and/or PhD/DSW degree/s) ages 18 and older who live and work in the U.S. to participate in this research study exploring how larger societal narratives impact social work practice with Black men. The findings from this study may help inform more culturally effective policy development and social work practice with Black men.

Participation in this study involves completing a demographics questionnaire and an individual interview. All interviews will occur via Zoom, be recorded and last approximately 60 to 120 minutes. Participants will receive a $50 gift card for their time.

If you have any questions or are interested in participating in this study, contact Kortney Carr at 913-897-8789 or k_carr@ku.edu. If you have any questions about your rights as a research participant, call the Human Subjects Protection Office at 785-864-7429 or email irb@ku.edu.

MMIWG2ST+: Bringing Awareness to the Field in Practice and Policy
Tuesday, April 30, 12 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. CST
Online
Free
CEU: 1.5

School of Social Welfare Master's Hooding & Recognition Ceremony for Doctoral Candidates
Friday, May 10, 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Lied Center
Free

School of Social Welfare Recognition Ceremony for Bachelor of Social Work Candidates
Friday, May 10, 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Lied Center
Free

Diagnosis & Treatment of PTSD: Supporting Individuals in Trauma Recovery
Wednesday, May 29, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. CST
Zoom
Free
CEU: 6 hours clinical diagnosis and treatment

Danielle Bega-Silva, MSW 2008, received The Friend of the Regiment Award from the Military Police Corps. Bega-Silva serves as a U.S. Army Family Advocacy Program Consultant in Europe. 

Whether you just received a promotion, started a new position or project, or moved across the country, the School of Social Welfare wants to keep updated on your life adventures. Update your contact information and share your alumni news.

MSW Advanced Standing students were welcomed the KU School of Social Welfare Program on Friday, April 5 at the KU Edwards Campus in Overland Park. Students, both in-person and online, listened to presenters, asked questions to a panel of former MSW students and mingled with their new classmates. 

Photos from MSW orientation

The University of Kansas prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, religion, sex, national origin, age, ancestry, disability, status as a veteran, sexual orientation, marital status, parental status, gender identity, gender expression, and genetic information in the university's programs and activities. Retaliation is also prohibited by university policy. The following persons have been designated to handle inquiries regarding the nondiscrimination policies and are the Title IX coordinators for their respective campuses: Associate Vice Chancellor for the Office of Civil Rights and Title IX, civilrights@ku.edu, Room 1082, Dole Human Development Center, 1000 Sunnyside Avenue, Lawrence, KS 66045, 785-864-6414, 711 TTY (for the Lawrence, Edwards, Parsons, Yoder, and Topeka campuses); Director, Equal Opportunity Office, Mail Stop 7004, 4330 Shawnee Mission Parkway, Fairway, KS 66205, 913-588-8011, 711 TTY (for the Wichita, Salina, and Kansas City, Kansas medical center campuses).

The University of Kansas is a public institution governed by the Kansas Board of Regents.