2020 News Archive

Congratulations to Assistant Professor Melanie Sage, Clinical Assistant Professor Todd Sage, and their colleagues on the publishing of their article, "Internet use and resilience in adolescents: A systematic review."

Kudos to PhD alum Rebecca Rouland, Assistant Professor Mickey Sperlich, PhD student Connor Walters, and their colleagues on the publication of their article, "Looking back, looking forward: Examining the processing of abortion expereinces using public abortion narratives" in Affilia.

Congratulations to Associate Professor Filomena Critelli, Clinical Associate Professor Laura Lewis, PhD alum Asli Cennet Yalim, and colleague for the publication of their article, "Labor migration and its impact on families in Kyrgyzstan: A qualitative study" in the Journal of International Migration and Integration.

Congratulations to DSW student Alexis Glennon on being named a National Social Work Health Futures Fellow. Glennon is one of 26 social work experts from around the U.S. and Canada who will spend the next 18 months learning about how to apply a futures lens to some of the most challenging problems of society. Glennon states that, "I am honored and excited to join Dr. Nissen and the other fellows on this journey to explore concepts surrounding the future of social work, specifically around anti-racist practices and technology. This focus is important to explore to ensure that the social work profession continues to stay relevant and current within the social justice lens and the global evolution of technology." 

Congratulations to Laina Y. Bay-Cheng, professor and associate dean for faculty affairs, on receiving the Excellence in Graduate Student Mentoring Award. The Excellence in Graduate Student Mentoring Award (EGSMA) is given on an annual basis, to members of the UB Graduate Faculty.

Congratulations to Professor Isok Kim, Professor Wooksoo Kim, and PhD alum Asli Cennet Yalim on the publication of their article, "'Mental Health Is for Crazy People': Perceptions and Barriers to Mental Health Service Use among Refugees from Burma," in Community Mental Health Journal.

Congratulations to Associate Professor Annahita Ball, PhD student Candra Skrzypek and Clinical Assistant Professor Michael Lynch on the publication of their article, "The family engagement practice framework: A comprehensive framework developed from the voices of school-based practitioners" in Family Relations: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Applied Family Studies.

The CARES Program (Counseling, Advocacy, Referral, Education and Service), a nationally recognized collaboration between the University at Buffalo Schools of Dental Medicine and Social Work, was created as an innovative solution to address access to oral health care issues faced by a diverse population in Western New York.

Congratulations to PhD student Seventy Hall and his colleagues on publishing their article, "Working with transgender and nonbinary youth in the child welfare system," in Social Work and Health Care Practice with Transgender and Nonbinary Individuals and Communities.

Congratulations to Professor Hilary Weaver on being selected the 2020-2021 Insley-Evans Public Health Social Worker of the Year by the Public Health Social Work (PHSW) Section of the American Public Health Association (APHA).

Congratulations on PhD student Hannah Ginn and her colleagues on the publication of their article, "Perceptions of service providers regarding the agency and capacity of people with intellectual disability to vote," in Education and Training in Autism and Developmental Disabilities.

Congratulations to Associate Professor Nadine Shaanta Murshid and PhD student Andrew Irish on the publication of their article, "Suicide ideation, plan, and attempt among youth in Bangladesh: Incidence and risk factors," in Children and Youth Services Review.

The UB School of Social Work's curriculum offers a wide variety of courses with different themes. In light of the current social climate in support of Black Lives Matter and other social justice movements, we wish to highlight courses that have a significant racial equity/justice focus in the course description. These courses help students improve understanding of structural racism, anti-racist practice strategies and diversity. 

Congratulations to Professor Clara Bradizza and her colleagues on the publication of their article, "The Conditional Association of Problematic Drinking with Suicidal Ideation by Alcohol Expectancies," in Addictive Behaviors. 

Congratulations to Associate Professors Isok Kim and Wooksoo Kim, PhD student Krisztina Baltimore, and colleagues on the publication of their article, "Simple contents and good readability: Improving health literacy for LEP populations," in International Journal of Medical Informatics.

Congratulations to Professor Hilary Weaver on being named a National Association for Social Workers (NASW) Social Work Pioneer®. The program honors members of the social work profession who have contributed to the evolution and enrichment of the profession. The Pioneer Program identifies and recognizes individuals whose unique dedication, commitment, and determination have improved social and human conditions. Weaver is only the fourth Native American to be inducted into the NASW Pioneers Program. This honor will be celebrated virtually in October 2020. 

With the start of the new academic year, Dean Nancy J. Smyth took to video to convey a message of welcome and reassurance to all students in the UB School of Social Work. 

The UB School of Social Work is bringing big data to the study of social work with the addition of Maria Y. Rodriguez, PhD, as our new assistant professor. 
 
Dr. Rodriguez joins UB from Hunter College/CUNY, where she founded the caretLAB, the first lab dedicated to computational research methods in the public interest housed in a school of social work. Her caretLAB work will continue under the auspices of the UB School of Social Work. 

With the addition of Dr. Rodriguez and her caretLAB, UB School of Social Work adds important expertise to the school’s research enterprise, the Buffalo Center for Social Research. Dr. Rodriguez will continue her research into extracting insights from big data about how humans live their lives and find ways to turn those insights into interventions to support marginalized communities, as well as addressing other issues social workers are poised to tackle.
 
“The intersection between big data and social policy is the next great frontier for social workers,” said Nancy Smyth, Dean of UB’s School of Social Work. “We are excited to welcome such an accomplished professional to our community of scholars." 

In her role at UB, Dr. Rodriguez will be teaching MSW students (policy and macro practice), continuing the lab’s current portfolio of research projects on algorithmic decision-making in human services and social media, as well as working to support the broadening of social work research to include computational research methods.

Congratulations to PhD Alum Braden Linn and Professors Paul Stasiewicz and Clara Bradizza and colleague on the publication of their article, "The Great Disrupter: Relationship of Alexithymia to Emotion Regulation Processes and Smoking among Pregnant Women," in Substance Use & Misuse.

The UB School of Social Work's curriculum offers a wide variety of courses with different themes. In light of the current social climate in support of Black Lives Matter and other social justice movements, we wish to highlight courses that have a significant racial equity/justice focus in the course description. These courses help students improve understanding of structural racism, anti-racist practice strategies and diversity. 

Congratulations to PhD alum Braden Linn and Professors Paul Stasiewicz and Clara Bradizza and colleague on the publication of their article, "The Great Disrupter: Relationship of Alexithymia to Emotion Regulation Processes and Smoking among Pregnant Women," in Substance Use and Misuse. 

Congratulations to Assistant Professor Elizabeth Bowen and PhD Student Andrew Irish on the publication of their article, "Trauma and principles of trauma-informed care in the U.S. federal legislative response to the opioid epidemic: A policy mapping analysis," in Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy. 

Congratulations to Dean Nancy J. Smyth on being elected a Distinguished Fellow of the National Academies of Practice (NAP). NAP is a non-profit organization founded in 1981 to advise governmental bodies on our healthcare system. Distinguished practitioners and scholars are elected by their peers from fourteen different health professions to join the only interprofessional group of healthcare practitioners and scholars dedicated to supporting affordable, accessible, coordinated quality healthcare for all. NAP firmly believes that close collaboration and coordination of different healthcare professions, aligned through a common vision, can advocate for patients and model excellence in interprofessional and preventive care. NAP is dedicated to lifelong learning from, with, and among different healthcare professions to promote and preserve health and well-being for society.

Congratulations to Professor Gretchen Ely and her colleagues on the publication of their article, "Family planning trends among community‐dwelling African refugee women," in Public Health Nursing. 

Congratulations to Clinical Assistant Professor Michael Lynch on his article, "Virtual Field Education: Harnessing Technology and Campus Partnerships to Provide Learning Opportunities," on Teaching & Learning in Social Work. 

The horrific death of George Floyd at the hands of members of the Minneapolis Police Department comes on the heels of so many deaths of Black people and other People of Color by law enforcement, as well as through other racist violence. These acts need to be named for what they are–violations of globally accepted human rights, such as the right to life, human dignity, and freedom from violence and discrimination. They are rooted in systems of structural racism and unequal access to social and economic rights and protections that disproportionately affects the health, safety, and economic security of communities of color.

Congratulations to Professor Hilary Weaver on the publication of her article, "Indigenous Peoples in the United States: The Challenge of Balancing Inclusion and Sovereignty," in the Journal of Progressive Human Services. 

Congratulations to Professor Clara Bradizza and her colleagues in the publication of their article, "Effect of e-cigarette flavors on nicotine delivery and puffing topography: results from a randomized clinical trial of daily smokers," in Psychopharmacology. 

Congratulations to Professor Gretchen Ely, PhD/MSW student Jessica Mencia and their UB colleagues on the publication of their article, "Family Planning Practices in Appalachia: Focus Group Perspectives on Service Needs in the Context of Regional Substance Abuse," in the International Journal of Environmental Research & Public Health.

Congratulations to PhD student Josal Diebold on the publication of her article, "Applying Transformative Organizing Theory to White Antiracist Organizing," in the Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare. 

Congratulations to Assistant Professor Christopher St. Vil on the publication of his chapter, "Black male mental health and prison," in Black Males and the Criminal Justice System.

Congratulations to Assistant Professor Melanie Sage and colleague on their whitepaper publication, "Remote Casework: For Child Welfare Stakeholders in the Time of COVID-19," through the Institute for Healthy Engagement and Resilience with Technology (iHeartTech). 

Congratulations to Associate Professor Yunju Nam on the publication of her article, "Parents' financial assistance for college and black-white disparities in post-secondary educational attainment," in Children and Youth Services Review. 

Congratulations to PhD Student Sarah Richards-Desai and her colleague on the publication of their article, "Reconnecting in exile: Reviewing informal group work for refugee women resettled in the United States, in Perspectives on Social Work. 

Congratulations to Assistant Professor Melanie Sage on the success of her article, "A Love Letter to Social Workers on the Front Lines of COVID-19," posted on LinkedIn. It is a moving tribute to all of those social workers who are out there fighting along with the rest of the essential workers. It has been shared and liked on social media countless times.

Congratulations to PhD Student Seventy Hall and MSW Alum Maur DeLaney on the publication of their article, "A Trauma-Informed Exploration of the Mental Health and Community Support Experiences of Transgender and Gender-Expansive Adults," in the Journal of Homosexuality. 

Congratulations to PhD alumna Whitney Mendel, Assistant Professor Mickey Sperlich and their colleague on publishing their article, "The Doulas of the Priscilla Project: Understanding the Experience of Refugee Women Navigating the U.S. Maternity-Care System," in the Journal of Refugee Studies.

Congratulations to Assistant Professor Nadine (Shaanta) Murshid and her colleague on publishing their article, "Techno-market fix?' Decoding wealth through mobile money in the global South," in Geoforum. 

Congratulations to PhD Student Temitope Oke and his colleagues on the publication of their article, "A syndemic of psychosocial health problems is associated with increased HIV sexual risk among Nigerian gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (GBMSM)," in AIDS Care. 

Congratulations to Professor Hilary Weaver on the publication of her chapter, "We are beauty and we walk in it: Native American women in leadership roles," in Routledge Handbook of Postcolonial Social Work. 

Congratulations to Associate Professor Wooksoo Kim on publishing her article, "Healthy mahjong, little mahjong: social gambling among older Chinese immigrants in the U.S," in International Gambling Studies. 

Congratulations to PhD alum Nancy Kusmaul and Molly Wolf, Clinical Professor Susan Green, Research Professor Thomas Nochajski, and their colleague on the publication of their article, "Client Experiences of Trauma-Informed Care in Social Service Agencies," in the Journal of Social Service Research. 

 

Congratulations to Assistant Professor Christopher St. Vil and his colleagues on the publication of their article, "Interpersonal Gun Violence Research in the Social Work Literature," in Health & Social Work.

Congratulations to Associate Professor Filomena Critelli and PhD Alum Asli Cennet Yalim on the publication of their article, "Improving access to domestic violence services for women of immigrant and refugee status: a trauma-informed perspective," in Journal of Ethnic & Cultural Diversity in Social Work.

Congratulations to Professor Paul Stasiewicz, Professor Clara Bradizza, Adjunct Instructor Braden Linn, and their colleagues on the publication of their article "The Identification of Pretreatment Trajectories of Alcohol Use and Their Relationship to Treatment Outcome in Men and Women With Alcohol Use Disorder," in Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.

Congratulations to Associate Professor Kelly L. Patterson and her colleague on the publication of their article, "The Best Laid Plans Often Go Awry: An Analysis of the Implementation of Small Area Fair Market Rents," in CityScape: A Journal of Policy Development and Research. 

Congratulations to PhD Student Seventy Hall on the publication of their article, "A conceptual mapping of three anti-adultist approaches to youth work," in the Journal of Youth Studies. 

Congratulations to Professor Laina Y. Bay-Cheng and her colleague on the publication of their article, "'Are my pants lowering your test scores?' Blaming girls and girls’ empowerment for the “boy crisis” in education."

Congratulations to Assistant Professor Elizabeth Bowen and her colleagues on the publication of their article, "Socioeconomic determinants of pediatric asthma emergency department visits under regional economic development in Western New York."

Congratulations to Assistant Professor Melanie Sage and her colleague on the publication of their article "A narrative review of digital storytelling for social work practice."

Congratulations to Assistant Professor Mickey Sperlich, Assistant Professor Noelle M. St. Vil and their colleague on the publication of their article "Preference, knowledge and utilization of midwives, childbirth education classes and doulas among U.S. Black and White women: Implications for pregnancy and childbirth outcomes."