Social Work News
Professor Garcia honored for lifetime achievement
Dr. Alejandro Garcia, the Jocelyn Falk Endowed Professor of Social Work, was honored on October 15 at the Annual Meeting of the Association of Latino and Latina Social Work Educators in Denver, Colorado. He received the first Lifetime Achievement Award offered by ALLSWE for his leadership and contributions to social work practice and education and his advocacy for Latinos throughout his career.
Syracuse University’s Falk College Highlights Graduate Studies at November 6 Information Session
Faculty, staff, students available to talk about programs, coursework, student life
Syracuse University faculty, staff and current students will welcome potential graduate students interested in the Falk College’s graduate programs in child and family studies, public health, marriage and family therapy, nutrition science, social work and sport management during a special Fall Information Session for graduate studies on Friday, November 6. The presentation begins at 4:00 p.m. at Falk College, Room 200.
Detailed information will be provided on graduate programs in addiction studies, child and family studies (M.A., M.S., Ph.D.), food studies (M.S.), global health (M.S.), marriage and family therapy (M.A.), social work (M.S.W.) as well as the dual degree program (M.A./M.S.W.) in marriage and family therapy and social work, nutrition science (M.A., M.S.), and sport venue and event management (M.S.). Details on our Certificate of Advanced Study (CAS) program in trauma-informed practice will be available along with information on other Falk College CAS programs in, dietetic internship, and global health.
Falk College names three faculty to endowed Falk Professorships
As part of their visionary and purposeful commitment to academics as a path to success, Syracuse University alumni David B. and Rhonda S. Falk established a series of endowed professorships in each of the seven academic disciplines of Falk College. Today Falk College announced the following three faculty have been named Falk Endowed Professors:
Alejandro Garcia, M.S.W., Ph.D., Jocelyn Falk Endowed Professor of Social Work
Jaipaul Roopnarine, Ph.D. ,Pearl Falk Endowed Professor of Child and Family Studies
Rick Welsh, Ph.D., Falk Family Endowed Professor in Food Studies.
“We are grateful to David and Rhonda Falk, and the Falk family, for their vision and commitment to create an endowed faculty professorship in every academic program in Falk College. Alejandro, Jaipaul and Rick are internationally recognized leaders in their respective fields and exemplary scholars and teachers. The Falk College and the Falk family are privileged to support their efforts,” notes Diane Lyden Murphy, dean, Falk College.
The Falk endowed professorships allow Falk College to support internationally recognized faculty to enhance the research, academic and experiential components of its programs to advance its mission rich in teaching, research, scholarship, practice and service.
Dr. Alejandro Garcia he has taught in the areas of gerontology, social policy, and human diversity for over 35 years in the School of Social Work where he served as director. He is the co-editor of three books, including Elderly Latinos: Issues and Solutions for the 21st Century (with Marta Sotomayor) (1993), HIV Affected and Vulnerable Youth: Prevention Issues and Approaches (1999) (with Susan Taylor-Brown), and La Familia: Traditions and Realities (1999) (with Marta Sotomayor). He is also the author of numerous articles and book chapters. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including being named a Social Work Pioneer by the National Association of Social Workers and being elected a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America. This fall, he will receive the 2015 Association of Latino and Latina Social Work Educators’ Lifetime Achievement Award.
A professor in the Department of Child and Family Studies, Dr. Jaipaul Roopnarine’s areas of research include father-child relationships, Caribbean families and childhood outcomes, early childhood education in international perspective, children’s play across cultures, and immigrant families and schooling in the United States. An adjunct faculty member in the School of Education, he is an adjunct professor of education and senior research scientist, Family Development Centre, University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago where he was a Fulbright Scholar. He was a Distinguished Visiting Nehru Professor at M S Baroda University, Gujarat, India. Among his many books is the recent publication, Fathers across Cultures: The Importance, Roles, and Diverse Practices of Dads, with two additional titles to be released in 2015. He is also the author of over 100 articles and book chapters on childhood development across cultures. He recently finished a three-year term as editor of the journal, Fathering.
Dr. Rick Welsh is a professor of food studies who serves as chair of the Department of Public Health, Food Studies and Nutrition.Under his leadership, Falk College created undergraduate and graduate programs in food studies. Prior roles have included professor of sociology at Clarkson University, policy analyst with the Henry A. Wallace Institute for Alternative Agriculture and the director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program for the Southern Region. He also serves as editor-in-chief for the journal, Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems. His research and teaching focus on social change and development with emphases on agri-food systems, science and technology studies and environmental sociology. Welsh is co-editor of the volume, Food and the Mil-level Farm: Renewing an Agriculture of the Middle published by M.I.T. Press. He has received grant funding from the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Energy and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, among other organizations.
MSW students focus on mental, behavioral health needs of veterans, military personnel and their families
Four advanced standing MSW students received Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) grant awards as a part of the Upstate New York Mental and Behavioral Health Education Consortium (UNY-MBHEC). This initiative’s focus is to increase the capacity of the social work profession in Upstate New York to serve the mental and behavioral health needs of veterans, military personnel and their families, and residents of medically underserved rural communities.
Consortium efforts are led by Principal Investigator, Dr. Carrie Jefferson Smith, director of the School of Social Work, and co-Investigator, Kristin Esposito, field placement coordinator, School of Social Work. The project is supported by a three-year, $480,253 competitive grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Resources and Services Administration.
The School of Social Work has partnered with the Syracuse VA Medical Center on this program since 2013. This year’s cohort who will begin field placements in Fall 2014 with the Syracuse VA Medical Center include:
- Ashley King will be working in the VA’s Homeless Program.
- Sonya Mangovski will be working with the VA’s Crisis Intervention team.
- Karen McClenthan will be placed with the Military Sexual Trauma/Behavioral Health program.
- Theresa Taylor will work with the VA’s Psychotherapy Team through individual and group therapy programs that support individuals with mental health challenges such as PTSD, depression, anxiety, loss and grief.
In 2013, the School of Social Work announced it is part of a consortium of upstate New York schools, led by the University at Albany’s School of Social Welfare, to support behavioral health initiatives for veterans. This collaboration underscores the Falk College, its School of Social Work and Syracuse University’s long-standing commitment to veterans and military families through interdisciplinary scholarship to address issues impacting this community.
Revised Master of Social Work curriculum addresses skill development for practice, supervisory career paths and builds in necessary coursework for automatic eligibility toward LCSW
The Council on Social Work Education (CSWE), which accredits social work master’s programs, requires at least one advanced concentration offering. The School of Social Work in Falk College today announced it will offer two new revised and renamed advanced concentrations to ensure that its curriculum prepares graduates in accordance with current best practices.
The concentrations include the Advanced Clinical Practice (formerly the Individuals, Families and Group, or IFG concentration) and Advanced Integrated Practice (formerly Community Organization, Policy, Planning and Administration, or COPPA concentration). The Advanced Clinical Practice concentration offers clinically focused students purposeful opportunities in coursework and practicum settings to obtain deeper clinical skills. For example, courses such as SWK 733—Social Work Practice in Mental Health will deepen the student’s therapeutic skills while SWK 781—Alcohol and Drugs in Social Work Practice, which was previously an elective, is now required. Practitioners need enhanced skills in assessment of substance abuse interventions given the prevalence of substance misuse and its frequent interaction with other mental health problems. SWK 761—Mental Health Policy, and SWK 776—Clinical Practice Evaluation will ensure students develop skills to asses effectiveness of direct practice interventions.
The Integrated Social Work Practice Concentration prepares graduates to work in the increasingly complex settings in community agencies. These settings expect students to possess practice skills and the ability to work and provide leadership in multi-disciplinary practice contexts. The revised concentration ensures all students have substantial direct practice skills by requiring two micro practice courses, plus Psychopathology (SWK 724) and Family Systems Theory (SWK 730). A new course, SWK 743—Advanced Integrated Social Work Practice helps students develop skills for interventions for community-based social work practice and in multi-disciplinary settings such as hospitals, schools and family agencies.
While social work licensing is fairly similar across states, there are sometimes differences in titles and requirements by state. In New York State In the field of professional social work practice, there are two licenses: a Licensed Master Social Worker (LMSW) and a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW). All students are eligible for the LMSW upon completion of the MSW program. An LMSW can seek the LCSW after three years of clinical social work practice. Previously, all Falk College MSW graduates, regardless of concentration, were LMSW eligible, but only students who followed the IFG concentration were LCSW- eligible for the LCSW. The program revisions announced today make all MSW graduates LCSW eligible in New York State, regardless of concentration.
This concentration revision does not change credit hours required for the M.S.W. degree (60 credits for those without a B.S.W. and 36 credits for persons with a B.S.W. eligible for Advanced Standing). Additionally, it is compatible with the MSW/MFT dual degree program and does not affect timeline for completion. For more information, contact the School of Social Work at (315) 443-5558.
Dr. Merril Silverstein awarded $1.49 million from John Templeton Foundation, $401,072 from NIH to investigate outcomes of religious engagement in later life
The John Templeton Foundation awarded a $1.49 million grant to Merril Silverstein, Ph.D., the Marjorie Cantor Endowed Professor in Aging, for a three-year study entitled, “Religious Transitions, Transmissions, and Trajectories Among Baby-Boomers and their Families.” Additionally, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded Silverstein $401,072 for the project, “Religiosity and Mortality Risk in Later Life.” Jointly appointed in the Falk College’s School of Social Work and the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs’ Department of Sociology, Silverstein is a faculty affiliate in the Syracuse University Aging Studies Institute.
Both projects focus on positive outcomes for older individuals, their families, and society related to religious engagement in later life. Given the rapidly growing older population and concerns about the viability of families as conduits for transmitting and preserving religious traditions, the research project provides much-needed data analysis on a major social issue confronting families today. The research projects, which involve collaborative subcontracts with the University of Southern California and California State University, Los Angeles, target Baby-Boomers and their families and explore whether religiosity changes following transition to retirement and entry into later life, is effectively transmitted across generations, and reduces mortality risk as it also responds to proximity to death.
A prolific scholar and researcher, Silverstein recently concluded service as editor-in-chief of Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences. Earlier this year, he received the James Martin Fellowship from Oxford University in its Institute of Population Aging to support an upcoming residency in population aging. With active projects around the globe, including Sweden, the Netherlands, and Israel on topics of aging and intergenerational relations, Silverstein directs a longitudinal study of older adults in rural China entering its second decade. He currently serves as principal investigator of the Longitudinal Study of Generations (LSOG), a long-term study of multigenerational families that began in 1971 that has continued to collect data up to 2005 and, now with the current project, up to 2016.
The Templeton Foundation and NIH-funded projects include data collection from 1,294 Baby-Boomer participants in the LSOG and 978 of their adult children. As most of the Baby-Boomers in the sample have passed 65 years of age, it is a favorable time to examine their religiosity post retirement, a period that is theorized to signal a return to earlier practices and a reintroduction to previously joined religious communities. The project will also investigate whether contemporary changes in family life, such as divorce and step-family formation, alter intergenerational transmission of religiosity. The National Death Index will provide detailed information about date and causes of death for the parents and grandparents of Baby-Boomers in the sample, the large majority of who are deceased, to examine the relationship between their earlier religious participation and mortality risk. Roseann Giarrusso, Ph.D., Professor of Sociology at California State University, Los Angeles, and Maria Brown, Ph.D., Assistant Research Professor, Syracuse University Aging Studies Institute and Falk College, will contribute to the quantitative component of this research project
The project’s qualitative component is under the directorship of Vern Bengtson, Ph.D., faculty Research Professor with the School of Social Work’s Edward R. Roybal Institute on Aging at the University of Southern California. Interviews will be conducted with older adults who were first interviewed as part of Bengtson’s 2006-10 project supported by the Templeton Foundation to document the underlying processes by which religiosity and spirituality develop across generations in families. Religious leaders and clergy from various faiths will also be interviewed to gain insight into their views on older congregants, as well as older congregants themselves.
MSW students focus on mental, behavioral health needs of veterans, military personnel and their families
2015-2016 marks the final year for the HRSA (Health Resources and Services Administration grant authorized by the Affordable Care Act (P.L. 111-148). Lead by Principle Investigator Carrie Jefferson Smith, DSW, ACSW and Co-Investigator Kristin Esposito, LMSW, the primary objective of the grant project is to address mental and behavioral health needs of veterans, military personnel and their families, and residents of medically underserved rural communities with limited or no access to services. By providing specialized, evidenced-based training in trauma informed care, inter-professional practice, military social work and cultural competency, the grant project aims to increase the capacity of skilled social work professionals in upstate New York.
Syracuse University’s School of Social Work has partnered with the University of Albany, University of Buffalo, Binghamton University, Nazareth College, University of Brockport and Roberts Wesleyan College in the Upstate New York Mental and Behavioral Health Education Consortium (UNY-MBHEC). This collaborative partnership is predicated on common purposes, shared resources, mutual accountability for outcomes, and commitment to continuous quality improvement. This year’s cohort who will begin field placements include:
Dana Bowers will be focusing on the Military Sexual Trauma/Behavioral Health program.
Lisa Ching will be focusing on palliative/hospice care.
Karlee Roberts will be focusing her experiences in OIA/OEA.
Justin Scott will be focusing his experiences in the homeless program.
MSW student recognized for excellence by CNY Administrators of Volunteer Services
MSW student Rebecca Oppedisano received the 2015 Excellence Award from the Administrators of Volunteer Services (AVS) of Central New York for her work with From the Ground Up Therapeutic Horsemanship, Inc. In 1998, the AVS Excellence Award was established to honor a current member of AVS who demonstrates exceptional performance that supports their agency’s mission statement, innovation with volunteer recruitment, recognition and retention, and creativity in starting new programs.
Aging Studies Institute hosts Aging Families/Changing Families International Conference
Aging studies scholars from around the world convened at Syracuse University June 3-6 for the Aging Families/Changing Families International Conference hosted by the Aging Studies Institute and the International Sociological Association (ISA) Research Committees on Aging and Family. More than 120 attendees participated in the three-day event that included daily keynote speakers, 17 sessions and 78 presentations of original research focused on aging in the context of family life.
The Marjorie Cantor Professor of Aging Studies, Merril Silverstein. Ph.D., organized the conference, which was sponsored by the Maxwell School and Falk College, where he holds join appointments. In his invitation to participants, he noted “the event will provide a stimulating environment for social scientists to engage in rich scholarly exchanges regarding research and policies related to families in later life.” Conference planning partners included ASI Director, Janet Wilmoth, Ph.D., ASI Assistant Director, Debra Gamble, and ASI Administrative Assistant, Katherine Hills. Graduate students volunteered to ensure the conference ran smoothly.
Conference attendees represented colleges and universities from four continents and nearly two dozen countries, including Canada, Chile, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Romania, and Switzerland. Individuals from the German Centre of Gerontology and the Singapore Ministry of Social and Family Development also participated. Welcome remarks were provided by Syracuse University Interim Vice Chancellor and Provost, Elizabeth Liddy, Ph.D., Maxwell School Dean, James Steinberg, J.D., and Deborah Monahan, Ph.D., Falk College Associate Dean of Research and Professor of Social Work. Faculty from the Maxwell School, Falk College, and the College of Law, who are also ASI affiliates, presented research and moderated panel discussions. Click here to view conference program.
According to Janet Wilmoth, “the participants presented on a range of topics—including grandparenting, caregiving, marriages and unions, intergenerational relationships, sexual health, and migration. Their high-quality research contributes to our understanding of worldwide population aging by demonstrating the variation in experiences across individuals, families and countries.”
Keynote speakers included Andrew Cherlin, Ph.D., the Benjamin H. Griswold III Professor of Public Policy and Department Chair, Sociology, Johns Hopkins Krieger School of Arts & Sciences; Ingrid Arnet Connidis, Ph.D., Professor of Sociology, Western University, London, Canada, and; Martin Kohli, Ph.D., Distinguished Bremen Professor and Emeritus Professor, Sociology, European University Institute. ASI will produce a policy brief based on each of these keynote addresses.
In the session, “Grandparents as Caregivers,” moderated by director of the School of Social Work and associate professor, Carrie Jefferson Smith, presenters shared a global snapshot of research focused on the physical and mental health of caregiving grandparents specific to Korea, the United States, China, Italy and the Philippines. Madonna Harrington-Meyer, the Laura J. and L. Douglas Meredith Professor for Teaching Excellence, who serves as Graduate Director, Sociology and a Senior Research Affiliate, Center for Policy Research, in the Maxwell School, presented “Grandmother’s Juggling Work and Grandchildren: Impact on Social, Emotional and Physical Well-Being.” Her research addressed positive and negative health impacts learned during qualitative research with caregiving grandmothers. One discussion point noted that in countries where policies and social supports were in place, there was less caregiving required of grandmothers. “Policies like the Family and Medical Leave Act and Universal Pre-Kindergarten Program help young families,” noted Harrington. “But these supports can also relieve the burden on the older generation.”
Later that day in the session “Linked Lives and Within-Family Processes,” Nina Kohn, J.D., Associate Dean for Research and David M. Levy L’48 Professor of Law, moderated five presentations. “Intergenerational Relationships and the Non-Transmission of Religious Values” was presented by Vern Bengston, Ph.D., Faculty Research Associate at the University of Southern California, which was a collaboration with Merril Silverstein. The two will continue their research on positive outcomes for older individuals, their families, and society related to religious engagement in later life with recently funded projects from the John Templeton Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.
“It was an honor for ASI to organize this conference for ISA,” says Debra Gamble. “It is our hope that the conference participants will build on the knowledge they gained and the professional connections made to further their research on aging and families.”
Social work professor Nancy Mudrick named Fulbright Scholar
Professor of Social work, Nancy Mudrick, has been selected for a Fulbright/Alsace Regional Award in France for Spring 2016 and will be hosted by Institut Supérieur Social de Mulhouse and Université de Haut Alsace. Her Fulbright project, Implementation of the 2005 French disability law at the local level; Strengthening a French-U.S. partnership in social work education, studies the implementation of the 2005 French disability law’s goals of self-determination and autonomy of people with disabilities. She will lecture on disability and evaluation methodology, consult on bachelor’s and master’s-level social work education, and further develop a collaborative course for SU and French social work students.
Her Fulbright application resulted from relationships built during the seven years that she has led MSW students to the RECOS seminar in Europe as part of SWK 710—Topics in Advanced Social Work Practice and Policy. Syracuse University students study comparative social work services across France, Germany and Switzerland with social work students from these countries.
The Fulbright Program, the U.S. government’s flagship international educational exchange program, is sponsored by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the United States Department of State. Since its inception in 1946, it has provided more than 300,000 participants with the opportunity to study, teach and conduct research, exchange ideas and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns.
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