Nutrition Science & Dietetics News
Coronavirus pandemic shows the importance of our food system
The faculty of the Department of Nutrition and Food Studies recently submitted a commentary to The Post Stanard showing how the COVID-19 pandemic lays bare important contradictions within the modern food system. Faculty expounded how critical the food system is, with its workers, managers, business owners, and firms. However, the inequalities in the system have become apparent during this crisis: Workers in the food system are precarious, lack adequate pay and health benefits, and yet are asked to take risks to ensure food is available so we all can eat.
Professor Mary Kiernan asked her students in a sustainable food business course: “How do you think the COVID-19 pandemic will change the supply chain in food and foodservice purchasing in the future?” To answer this question her students needed to examine the entire food system including, agricultural production, cross-border food networks, labor relations and rights, immigration policies, food manufacturing and distribution, and nutrition science and education. We take the food system for granted as we shop, prepare our meals or purchase our food. This might change after the pandemic eases.
Understanding how the crisis affects the food system begins by looking into the vast U.S. farm system, from industrial-scale farms to many small- and medium-sized family farms. These farms rely on workers from other countries, largely from Mexico and Central America. These workers, as well as those who prepare our food and stock the shelves, drive and load and unload the trucks etc., are continuing to work and put themselves, and family members, at-risk.
The Department of Nutrition and Food Studies has always appreciated the important role of the food system and all who make it function so well; and, they hope that the current emergency situation will highlight how important this system is to our elected officials, policy-makers and to the public in general.
Read the full article at Syracuse.com
Falk senior “seeing nutrition as a matter of health and social justice”
This semester, senior April Hill ’20 worked with Salt City Harvest Farm to conduct environmental audits of food acquisition sites in Syracuse. She helped determine how community gardens may promote food security and cultural preservation among New Americans. This research will support her applications for doctoral nutrition programs, which she plans to pursue in addition to becoming a registered dietitian. Her ultimate goal is to become a research professor at a university. “Currently, I plan to study health disparities and ways nutrition and nutrition programming can be leveraged to combat inequity.”
While this is her most recent research project, it is far from her first. Her freshman year, Hill joined Falk professor Dr. Tanya Horacek on getFRUVED, the healthy campus environmental audit project. It was “one of my most valuable experiences here at Syracuse,” she says. “I learned a lot about conducting research, both in literature and in practice.” And the experience opened the door to even more opportunities for Hill.
Hill was one of ten individuals selected for Iowa State University’s Cyclone Scholar Summer Research Experience, an eight-week research internship during which Hill developed culturally competent diabetes education programming for Black men in the Midwest. “Through this program, I revised the Balanced Living with Diabetes curriculum and organized taste testing trials for a hands-on cooking component of the class. I selected recipes from a special diabetes cookbook, prepared the foods in their learning kitchen, and collected participants’ responses, which I then analyzed using descriptive statistics and presented at the end of the eight weeks.”
During her time there, she also got involved in other exciting research projects with faculty mentors. “This experience was instrumental in my decision to become a research professor. I realized I love doing interactive, qualitative research. I also became especially passionate about recognizing cultural differences in how nutrition education is framed and fighting for equity in all areas as it relates to human nutrition—not just in food access.”
“I don’t think I would have been able to get my assistantship at Iowa State without the experience I gained working with Dr. Tanya Horacek,” she adds.
Hill is a double major in nutrition and citizenship and civic engagement, with a minor in Spanish. “Being a double major has really challenged me to view nutrition from a variety of different lenses, seeing it as a matter of health and social justice.”
As a student, Hill also had the opportunity to study abroad in Santiago, Chile, which “was one of the most rewarding yet challenging experiences of my life,” she says. “I learned about social interactions and societal norms, and how these impact interactions and policies. As far as it relates to nutrition, I gained valuable knowledge about cultural differences to account for when working with diverse populations and how these cultural differences will dictate which strategies will be effective.”
While abroad, she attended classes at La Universidad de Chile, where she dove right into a research project with her fellow students at a local public health clinic. They managed everything, from identifying objectives and strategies to conducting surveys and analyzing the data. They used their research to design a nutrition education campaign aimed at reducing obesity tied to poor nutrition in adolescents. “The research that we did will go on to have real-life implications,” she says. “The students in my group are currently using this report in their other classes to develop nutrition education materials, and this project might even be implemented at the clinic in the future.”
For Hill, receiving Falk College’s Human Dynamics Scholarship helped open the door to Syracuse University and its opportunities. “This scholarship made it possible for me to attend Syracuse University, as well as go abroad and pursue opportunities like my internship at Iowa State,” she says. “These are experiences that have been so formative, especially my abroad semester, and I’m thankful that Falk helped make them possible for me.”
When Hill visited Syracuse University’s campus for the first time as a high school senior, “I remember everyone being really friendly and kind of getting that feeling that I’d just come home,” she recalls. Reflecting on her time here four years later, her first impression proved accurate. “Truly everyone in the nutrition department have been supportive of my life academically, professionally, and socially,” says Hill. “Whether it’s been making me aware of opportunities inside and outside the university or helping us through the dietetic internship or even listening to me talk about things that are bothering me, I really think my professors are what made my college experience what it has been.”
For more information about the Department of Nutrition and Food Studies at Syracuse University’s Falk College, please visit the Falk College website.
Food Busters Receives a 2020 Orange Circle Award
Food Busters, a nutrition program in the Shaw Center, is among the 2020 Orange Circle Award winners. Other winners include Lisa Gordon G’90, president and chief executive officer of Atlanta Habitat for Humanity, Marcelle Haddix, chair of reading and language arts and a dean’s professor in the School of Education, and student organizations Black Reign Step Team and a Hand for Wuhan.
Food Busters strives to improve literacy skills and public health awareness of fellow students in the Syracuse community. The organization was created in 2014 by ShawFood Busters group photo Center nutrition volunteer coordinators Jennifer La ’14 and Katelyn Castro ’15 and Engagement Fellow Victoria Seager G’15. It sends Syracuse University volunteers from the Shaw Center into local schools to teach students to implement lesson plans designed around content they are learning in their school or college.
This year, Food Busters worked with Henninger High School students in hands-on, STEM-focused lessons designed to explore the relationship between food, nutrition, health and media, while also increasing these students’ comprehension in the fields of literacy, mathematics and science. Along with nutrition students from the David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics, the Henninger High School students learned to perform their own food science experiments based on the lesson plans.
Fifth Annual Ann Selkowitz Litt Distinguished Speaker Series features Rob Skinner
Falk College is pleased to welcome Rob Skinner, MS, RD, CSSD, CSCS as the featured speaker of the Fifth Annual Ann Selkowitz Litt Distinguished Speaker Series. We invite you to join us Tuesday, February 25, 2020 at 6:00 p.m. in Grant Auditorium, Falk Complex for his lecture, “From the Military to the Olympics: Nutrition for Sport Performance Enhancement.” The event is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served prior to the lecture at 5:30 p.m.
Skinner is the Senior Sports Dietitian at the United State Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He brings 22 years of experience working as a dietitian and exercise physiologist with athletes at all levels, including positions with the Washington Redskins as a Sports Dietitian/Nutritionist, the U.S. Navy SEALs as a Performance Dietitian, the University of Virginia as Director of Sports Nutrition, and several positions with Georgia Tech.
In his lecture, Skinner will share about his role preparing athletes to compete at the highest level with the United States Olympic Team in the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics, as well as insights from his career experiences preparing professional and collegiate athletes for competition and military forces for combat.
“Rob’s extensive experience in nutrition and sports intersects numerous disciplines and interests. He has worked with many different populations, particularly with the military and with professional and collegiate athletes,” says Kay Stearns Bruening, PhD, RDN, FAND, Falk College associate professor in the Department of Nutrition and Food Studies. “We are thrilled he will share his insights with us for this year’s Litt Lecture.”
Skinner holds a master’s degree in exercise science from Georgia State University, as well as bachelor’s degrees in education and nutrition from the University of Georgia and Georgia State University, respectively. He is a registered dietitian with the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND) and holds certifications with AND, the National Strength and Conditioning Association, and the American College of Sports Medicine. Skinner is author and co-author of several publications, including chapters in AND publications, Sports Nutrition: A Guide for the Professional Working with Active People and Working with the Collegiate Athlete and Weight and Body-Focused Sports.
Now in its fifth year, the Ann Selkowitz Litt Distinguished Speaker Series is named after Falk College nutrition alumna Ann Selkowitz Litt ’75, a nationally known nutritionist who helped children and adolescents with eating disorders and assisted developing athletes in reaching their full potential. The nutrition consultant to CosmoGirl magazine, Litt was the author of “The College Students’ Guide to Eating Well on Campus,” “Fuel for Young Athletes” and “The ADA Guide to Private Practice.” She was the nutritionist for the NFL’s Washington Redskins and served as spokesperson for several media campaigns during her career, including the “Got Milk” campaign. After her death, the Ann S. Litt Foundation, Inc., was created to support nutrition education.
For information about the Ann Litt Lecture and for accommodations requests, please contact Annette Hodgens at ahodgens@syr.edu or 315.443.9816.
Dean Murphy welcomes Falk students to campus
Wednesday, January 15, 2020
Dear Falk College Students,
Welcome back to campus, returning Falk students. And welcome to new and transfer students joining us this spring. We are so glad to have you join our Falk family. I hope that your winter break was filled with family, friends, and loved ones, and plenty of time for both restful and exciting activities.
As the Spring 2020 semester begins, I would like to offer you a few reminders and updates:
Falk faculty, staff, and I as your Dean, are here to support each of you on your journey here as students, as people, and as citizens. Our doors are always open to you.
In addition, you were invited to an open house with me and Falk College faculty and staff on January 14. It was great to see many of you there for the first in a series of regularly scheduled events that we will continue this semester and into future semesters. I welcome your feedback for future College activities.
As we face challenges on our campus, and as our students advocate for a better Syracuse University, you have my assurance as Dean that Falk College is fully committed to playing a critical role in these efforts, doing what we can to strengthen and build the campus community we know we can be.
Some of you are actively involved in the Falk College Dean’s Committee on Diversity and Inclusion, established in 2018. We are so grateful for the action and positive change resulting from the efforts of our members, which include faculty, staff, graduate students and undergraduate students from all academic programs in Falk College. There is much work yet to do, and we strongly encourage you to be part of it. Committee meetings are held monthly throughout the academic year. Students interested in being involved in the Committee should contact Professor Chandice Haste-Jackson at cmhaste@syr.edu or the Falk College Dean’s Office at tbattist@syr.edu.
I’d like to remind all students that Falk College Student Services is your dedicated support system. Student Services counselors are here to provide you with private academic advising and help you meet your requirements and goals. In addition, they are your resource for private consultation related to student social and emotional concerns. If you have any concerns throughout your academic career, please contact Student Services or visit 330 Barclay Hall in the Falk Complex.
Particularly for new students, I encourage you review my Fall 2019 welcome message, which contains helpful information about other important resources like Falk Career Services, the Falk Student Lounge, Falk Café, and our computer labs. You’ll also find information about campus resources, such as health and counseling services in the Barnes Center at the Arch, spiritual life through Hendricks Chapel.
To those of you who will be graduating in May, I give you a special word of encouragement to make the most of this semester to maximize your academic and personal growth, and of course, enjoy it! To all our students in Falk College, I wish each of you an excellent Spring 2020 semester.
Go Orange!
Diane Lyden Murphy, M.A., M.S.W., Ph.D.
Dean
Falk College
Falk College offers graduate program scholarships for 2020
Alumni admitted to one of Falk College eligible master’s program for 2020: All Syracuse University alumni can apply for a scholarship equivalent to 25% of tuition for one of Falk College’s eligible residential master’s degree (listed below). In addition, GRE tests and application fees waived.
Scholarship is for residential programs, only.
All students who are full or part-time Syracuse University alumni and do not qualify for the 50% Forever Orange discount are eligible for this scholarship; this includes students already admitted to a Falk master’s program for 2021.
Falk graduate programs include:
- Exercise Science M.S.
- Food Studies M.S.
- Food Studies C.A.S.
- Applied Human Development & Family Science M.A.
- Human Development & Family Science M.S.
- Marriage and Family Therapy M.A.
- Child Therapy C.A.S.
- Trauma Informed Practice C.A.S.
- Nutrition Science M.A., M.S.
- Dietetic Internship C.A.S.
- Integrative and Functional Nutrition C.A.S.
- Public Health MPH
- Addiction Studies C.A.S.
- Global Health C.A.S.
- Sport Venue & Event Management M.S.
Interested students should contact Falk Admissions, submit their application, and must formally matriculate. For more information, please contact the Falk College Office of Admissions at 315.443.5555 or email falk@syr.edu. Award is subject to change.
Joan Christy Lecture Series Presents Culinary Demonstration with the Iroquois White Corn Project
Falk College and its Department of Nutrition and Food Studies hosted the Iroquois White Corn Project for a culinary demonstration and tasting on Thursday, November 14 in Falk (MacNaughton Hall) 104.
The Iroquois White Corn Project aims to bring Iroquois White Corn back as a staple of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) diet through the production of hand grown, picked, and processed products from heirloom seeds dating back at least 1,400 years in Haudenosaunee communities. Iroquois White Corn products are nutritious, non-GMO, gluten-free, and have a low glycemic index.
Lauren Jimerson, Seneca, Heron clan, resides with her son Angel Jimerson in ancestral Seneca territory near Victor, NY. With her passion for cooking and nutrition, Lauren developed several plant-based recipes during her time as the Interim Project Manager for the Iroquois White Corn Project. Lauren currently provides outreach and Angel works as the Iroquois White Corn Project Coordinator.
The Joan Christy lecture series is made possible by The Christy Food and Culture Fund, established in 2005 through the generosity of Syracuse University nutrition alumna Joan Christy ’78, G’81 to provide support for a lecture series in the nutrition program at the University.
Dean Murphy welcomes Falk students to campus
Dear Falk Students,
Welcome back to campus, returning Falk students! Let’s give a very special welcome to the Class of 2023, as well as new transfer and graduate students. We are thrilled to have you join us. I hope you each enjoyed an adventurous and restful summer.
What a special time to be at Syracuse! There are plenty of exciting events planned on campus this semester, including a very special Orange Central homecoming and reunion on September 12-15, which will commemorate 150 years of Syracuse University history.
As we jump right into the Fall 2019 semester, I would like to remind you of some important information that will help you as you begin—or continue—your studies here at Falk College.
Falk College Student Services is your support system. Student Services counselors are here to provide you with private academic advising and help you meet your requirements and goals. In addition, they are your resource for private consultation related to student social and emotional concerns. If you have any concerns throughout your academic career, please contact Student Services or visit Suite 330 Barclay Hall in the Falk Complex.
I encourage you to connect with the staff at Falk Career Services, who can help you prepare for life after college through career exploration, internship and job searching, professional networking, and more. They are also located in Suite 330 Barclay Hall, or you can search for opportunities through Handshake, the University’s job search and professional events portal.
In addition, you can connect to spiritual life on campus at Hendricks Chapel, as well as health and counseling services now open in the Barnes Center at the Arch. Visit news.syr.edu to keep up with Schine Student Center renovations and other important University updates.
The Student Lounge, located in Falk 216, is available to you anytime the Falk Complex is open. The lounge has a microwave, refrigerator, and vending machines for student use. Across the hall is the Falk Café on 2, open 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. In addition to smoothies, make-your-own salads, and wraps, the Café has a grill for sandwiches, hamburgers, veggie burgers, and many other items. Just down the hall is Falk 229, the quiet student lounge.
There are several computer labs in the Falk Complex. Falk 113 is a PC lab, Falk 253 is a Mac lab. Both are available to students at any time. Falk 400 and 407 are PC labs that are also used as teaching classrooms. When class is not in session, they are open for student use. You may check their schedule of availability using the Orange Events website. You may also use the quick-print stations in Falk 216 and 229 for printing and email. These stations log out automatically after 15 minutes of use.
The Student Involvement Fair will be held Wednesday, September 4 on the Quad from 11:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. (Rain location: Goldstein Auditorium in Schine Student Center). With more than 300 student organizations on campus, you are sure to find something that interests you. I highly encourage each of you to attend.
You can discover activities and events on campus by visiting the University’s new community calendar. You can also follow Falk College and other campus groups on social media.
Syracuse University email is the primary communication method at the University. Your professors and University offices will contact you with important information using your Syracuse University email address (ending in “@syr.edu”), not your personal email address. So, it is essential to read your University email at least once every day.
While I hope this list is helpful, there are many other resources available to you at Syracuse University. Please visit syracuse.edu/life/students to review a more inclusive listing of valuable student resources to enhance your experience at Syracuse.
With that, I wish you the very best for the upcoming Fall 2019 semester. Once again, welcome to Falk College and the Syracuse University family.
Go Orange!
Diane Lyden Murphy, M.A., M.S.W., Ph.D.
Dean
Falk College
Falk College welcomes new faculty and staff
Syracuse University’s Falk College is pleased to announce the appointment of new staff members who have joined Falk College in the past academic year, including Karen Goebel, office coordinator in the School of Social Work; Meredith Groman, administrative assistant and Jamie Rhoades, assistant teacher in the Bernice M. Wright Child Development Laboratory School; Kevin McNeill, internship placement coordinator in the Department of Sport Management; Megan Myers, assistant director of development in the Office of Advancement; Kathleen Nasto, office coordinator in the Department of Human Development and Family Science; Jessica Pitcher, career advisor and David Sly, associate director of career services in the Office of Student Services; Laura Sauta, administrative assistant and Megan Snow, internship placement coordinator in the Department of Public Health, and; Zachary Schuster, assistant director of undergraduate admissions and recruiting in the Office of Admissions.
It also welcomes five new faculty members, Justin Ehrlich, Chandice Haste-Jackson, Jeremy Losak, Stefanie Pilkay, and Xiafei Wang.
Justin Ehrlich
Assistant Professor, Department of Sport Management
Justin Ehrlich joins Syracuse University’s Falk College Department of Sport Management as a tenure-track assistant professor in Fall 2019, where he will teach in the area of sport analytics.
Prior to joining Syracuse University, Ehrlich taught as an associate professor at Western Illinois University, School of Computer Sciences, since 2010 in Macomb, IL. There, he specialized in data visualization, visual analytics, sport data computation and analysis, machine learning, computer graphics, virtual reality, server-side development, languages and technology. He taught several courses such as Topics of Computer Science: Data Visualization, Operating Systems, Advanced Computer Graphics, Server-Side Development, and served as chair of the Council for Instructional Technology and chair of the IT Governance Executive Committee. He previously worked as an AViSSS (Animated Visual Supports for Social Skills) lead software developer for the University of Kansas and has held roles such as ASP.net developer for Nomise Systems and lead developer for HSSportsTV.net, both in Wichita, KS.
Ehrlich has published several papers in sport data visualization and analysis in Public Choice, Mathematical Social Sciences, Games, and the Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sport. He has conducted many talks and live demonstrations on sport data computation, visualization, and analysis that incorporate use of Tableau (with VizQL), R, Python, and D3.
Ehrlich’s research has received support from the U.S. Department of Education, the U3E, and from Falk College. He was awarded the Moore Best Ph.D. Dissertation Award from the University of Kansas School of Engineering, the Provost’s Award for Academic Excellence in Teaching with Technology from Western Illinois University, and several awards from WIU’s College of Business and Technology.
Ehrlich earned a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Kansas in 2010. His dissertation was titled, “The Effect of Desktop Illumination Realism on Presence and Generalization in a Virtual Learning Environment.” He also holds a computer science M.S. earned in 2007 from Wichita State University, and an accounting and business administration B.B.A., earned in 2004 from Friends University in Wichita, KS.
Chandice Haste–Jackson
Associate Teaching Professor, Department of Human Development and Family Science
Chandice Haste–Jackson is an associate teaching professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Science beginning Fall 2019.
In addition to working as internship coordinator in Falk College since 2016, Haste-Jackson has served as adjunct faculty in the Department of Human Development and Family Science since 2005, teaching courses such as Intimate Relationships and Gender Roles, Family Development, and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. She has also taught as adjunct faculty for Onondaga Community College and the American Public University/American Military University System Department of Human Development and Family Science. She previously served in Syracuse University’s School of Education as director of the Liberty Partnerships Program and has held positions at the Chadwick Residence, Inc., the Dunbar Association, and Syracuse Model Neighborhood Facility, Inc.
Haste-Jackson serves on the School Counselor Advisory Board for the Syracuse City School District and is a consultant for My Brother’s Keeper Syracuse initiative founded by President Obama.
Haste-Jackson has presented for the Society for Research on Adolescence in San Francisco, CA and the National Council on Family Relations in Orlando, FL. She has given presentations for the U.S. Department of Education Office of Innovation and Improvement in Washington, DC, the New York State Education Department Empire State Youth Summit in Albany, NY, Ethiraj College and Women’s Christian College in Chennai, India, as well as for the National Diversity Council’s Upstate New York College Diversity Summit in Syracuse, NY, among others.
Haste-Jackson’s work in urban youth development, vulnerable families, cross-cultural family dynamics, and diversity education has received support from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, New York State Office of Temporary Disability Assistance, New York State Legislature-Joan Christensen, Onondaga County Department of Long-Term Care and Aging Services, Onondaga County Youth Bureau, Onondaga County Department of Health, Onondaga County Department of Social Services, United Way of Central New York, and Syracuse University.
Haste-Jackson earned a Ph.D. in child and family studies from Syracuse University in 2013. Her dissertation was titled, “Strengths and Risk Factors for Romantic Relationships: Perspectives of African American Women.” She also holds a M.S. in behavioral sciences with a concentration in psychology, earned from Cameron University in 1999, and a B.A. in cultural anthropology, earned from Syracuse University in 1996.
Jeremy Losak
Assistant Professor, Department of Sport Management
Jeremy Losak joins Syracuse University’s Falk College Department of Sport Management as a tenure-track assistant professor in Fall 2019, where he will teach in the areas of sport management and sport analytics.
Prior to joining Syracuse University, Losak was a graduate assistant in the John E. Walker Department of Economics at Clemson University. His teaching experience includes positions as teaching assistant for Sport Economics, teaching assistant and later head teaching assistant for Undergraduate Principles of Microeconomics and Principles of Macroeconomics, and teaching assistant for Managerial Economics. In the sports industry, he was a baseball analytics consultant for Wasserman Media Group, marketing analytics consultant for The Madison Square Garden Company, and analytics intern for the Auburn Doubledays.
Losak’s research focus is in sports economics, particularly sport labor markets and betting markets. He is published in Managerial Finance and in the Academy of Economics and Finance Journal. He has given several presentations at venues such as the 2019 Eastern Economic Association Conference in New York, NY; the 2018 Southern Economic Association in Washington, DC; the 2018 Missouri Valley Economic Association’s Sports Economics Session in Memphis, TN, and; the Center for Research in Sports Administration’s Sports, Data, and Journalism Conference at the University of Zurich in Switzerland.
Losak is the recipient of a Junior Researcher Award for the 2018 Sports, Data, and Journalism Conference at the University of Zurich and the Distinguished Student Paper Award at the 2018 Missouri Valley Economic Association Conference. He is also the recipient of travel grants from the Institute for Humane Studies Hayek Fund and Clemson Graduate Travel Grant Service. He was named a 2016 Falk College Class Marshal and a Falk College Scholar while at Syracuse University.
Losak earned a Ph.D. in economics from Clemson University in 2019 where he was a Koch Fellow in the John E. Walker Department of Economics. He also earned a B.S. in sport management from Syracuse University’s Falk College in 2016.
Stefanie Pilkay
Assistant Professor, School of Social Work
Stefanie Pilkay joins Syracuse University’s Falk College School of Social Work as a tenure-track assistant professor in Fall 2019.
Before joining Syracuse University, Pilkay served as an adjunct lecturer at both Yeshiva University’s Wurzweiler School of Social Work in New York, NY since 2018 and the University of Tennessee, College of Social Work in Knoxville, TN since 2015, teaching research methodology, trauma theory and practice, lifespan and neurophysiological development, and human behavior in the social environment. She was also a postdoctoral fellow at the Emory University School of Medicine, Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics in Atlanta, GA since 2017. She has served as a court-appointed special advocate for Anderson County Tennessee Juvenile Court. In 2014, she was a forensic social worker for the Community Law Office, Knox County Public Defender’s Office. Specific to her research experience, Pilkay has served since 2018 as an early investigator trainee on “Developmental Origins of Health and Disease,” an international cross-discipline research study with collaborations between Canada and the U.S.
Pilkay’s research interests include trauma, early-life adversity, inter-generational transmission of adversity, adversity and trauma mechanisms for risk and resilience in human development. She is published in the Journal of Social Work Education, the Journal of Social Service Research, and has given several peer-reviewed presentations, most recently at the 64th Annual Program Meeting of the Council on Social Work Education in Orlando, FL, Connecting for Children’s Justice Conference in Murfreesboro, TN, the International Congress on Child Abuse and Neglect in Prague, Czech Republic, and the 73rd Annual Scientific Meeting of the Society of Biological Psychiatry in New York, NY. Pilkay’s work has been supported by the National Institute of Health/National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities and the University of Tennessee Health and Science Center.
Pilkay earned a Ph.D. in social work with a minor in graduate statistics from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville in 2017. She holds a M.S. in social work, an evidence-based interpersonal practice major with trauma treatment graduate certification, and a B.S. in social work with majors in honor’s social work and psychology, earned in 2014 and 2013, respectively, from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
Xiafei Wang
Assistant Professor, School of Social Work
Xiafei Wang joins Syracuse University’s Falk College School of Social Work as a tenure-track assistant professor in Fall 2019.
Prior to joining Syracuse University, Wang served as a research assistant on “Evaluation of Chinese National Working Committee on Children and Women & the United Nations Children’s Fund Joint Child Friendly Spaces Project in China,” funded by the United Nations Children’s Fund: China since 2017, and on “Improving Child and Adolescent Mental Health and Health Outcomes: Integrative Family and Systems Treatment (I-Fast) Integrated Episode of Care Model” since 2014, funded by the Ohio Department of Mental Health & Addiction Services and Department of Developmental Disability.
Wang has published peer-reviewed articles in Social Work Research, Journal of Social Service Research, The Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice, Children and Youth Services Review, Journal of Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics, PsyCh Journal, Community Mental Health Journal, Child Psychiatry and Human Development, Child Abuse & Neglect, and Social Work in Mental Health, as well as multiple book chapters.
Wang recently presented at the 32nd Annual San Diego International Conference on Child and Family Maltreatment in San Diego, CA, the Council of Social Work Education 64th Annual Program Meeting in Orlando, FL, National Association of County and City Health Officials 2018 Annual Meeting in New Orleans, LA, the Joint World Conference on Social Work, Education and Social Development 2018 in Dublin, Ireland, ResilienceCon 2018 in Nashville, TN, and the Society for Social Work and Research 22nd Annual Conference in Washington, D.C., among other presentations.
Wang’s work has received support from the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues, Big Cities Health Coalition, Central Benefits Health Care Foundation, and the Ohio State University College of Social Work.
Wang earned a Ph.D. from The Ohio State University in 2019. Her dissertation was titled, “Breaking the Cycle of Intergenerational Trauma: A Mixed-Methods Study.” There, she also earned her M.S.W. in 2015. She earned a M.A. in social work and social policy from Peking University in 2012 and a L.L.M. from the Peking University Law School & The Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law in Beijing, China and Lund, Sweden in 2011, where she was named valedictorian. She also earned a B.A. in social work from Peking University in 2009.
Welcome Class of 2023!
Falk College welcomes the Class of 2023 including 307 first-year and 20 transfer students who join 140 graduate students who are new as well. Welcome back to all Falk students who, this year, represent 40 states and 30 countries!
The entire welcome week schedule for new students can be found by visiting the Syracuse Welcome website.
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