With support from Professor Mark Testa, students Alecia Mitiguy, Katie Pollard, Erin Adams and Angela Krider launched a research initiative last March to bring attention to the financial and training needs of kinship care providers and to help improve the state's process for licensing foster parents.
In memory of Rachel Dedmon, Ph.D.
UNC School of Social Work associate professor emerita Rachel Dedmon died on Nov. 29, 2019, in Pawleys Island, S.C. Smith joined the UNC School of Social Work faculty in 1974.
“I am determined to find a way to make mental health services more accessible to those who most need them. This degree will enable me to create a safe space for healing and to better understand the experiences of marginalized clients. [The] investment in my future will pay off through the hundreds of clients I will serve in the years to come."
Linda Kendall-Fields, who coordinates the Rethinking Guardianship project with professor Gary Nelson (principal investigator), was interviewed for the WRAL-TV investigative report, "North Carolina guardianship program stirs concern."
Recent alumni updates
Laurie Graham, Ph.D. ’19, received an honorable mention for the 2020 Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR) Outstanding Social Work Doctoral Dissertation Award. Graham’s dissertation, "What is the national burden of intimate partner violence related deaths, and how might we begin to explain their occurrence?" was selected, in part, for “its contribution to knowledge in social work and social welfare,” noted SSWR President Ruth Dunkle. Graham will receive her award during SSWR’s annual conference in Washington, D.C. in January.
Mary Shannon Thomas, MSW ’10, was featured in the Lowell Massachusetts Sun newspaper article, “Lowell streamlining homeless services.” Thomas, a licensed clinical social worker, was hired as the city’s director of Homeless Initiatives in November.
Mick J. Rogers, MSW ’80, defended his dissertation on “Best Practices in Teaching Advanced Micro, Mezzo and Macro Advocacy Skills to MSW IIs” and earned his Ph.D. from Smith College School for Social Work.
Training opportunities
Year-End Giving
This holiday season, help us to brighten the upcoming year for our MSW and Ph.D. students or support our work with under-served populations. Consider an end-of-the-year gift to the Tiny Homes Village fund or contribute to a specific scholarship fund, such as the Iris Carlton-LaNey Scholarship or the Maeda and David Galinsky Scholarship Fund.
Your support makes a real difference in our students’ lives and in our work with communities. Thank you!
