News Archive
Students
-
Studies show that as few as 4% of former foster youth complete a four-year college degree by age 26. On April 21, the Trojan Guardian Scholars (TGS) Graduation Gala celebrated thirteen USC Class of 2023 graduates who overcame those odds.
-
Each year, the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work honors students who have made significant achievements in their academic careers and contributions to the community. We are proud to recognize the following students for their outstanding accomplishments.
Gladys M. Salit Award
Recognizes outstanding potential to contribute to the profession of social work. This award honors the professional life of distinguished alumna Gladys Salit.
-
They did college the way they’ve always done everything: together.
They got together often for meals. Two lived in the same residence hall during their freshman year. Text threads rarely rested.
The Shute triplets, born in 2001, are completing their four-year stint at USC. Their degrees, like their personalities, are different.
-
Since 2017, the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work has organized the data collection, analysis and reporting for the Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA). For three months of the year, teams of three or four trained surveyors depart from the USC campus every day in the early hours of the morning, crossing the county to administer a 58-question survey to unhoused individuals.
-
In May of 2022, Sara Jimenez McSweyn, senior lecturer at the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work, took over the reins of the Trojan Guardian Scholars (TGS) program as it moved to its new home at the school.
-
As the country celebrates National Native American Heritage Month and the U.S. Supreme Court deliberates on the future of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), Erika Salinas, PhD candidate at the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work, is keeping the connection to her Native community the focus of her work.
-
Single mother and domestic abuse survivor Yvonne Elliott applied to the Master of Social Work (MSW) program at the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work with a singular, career-changing goal in mind: to become a private practice therapist in order to better support her two children. However, almost immediately after started the program, she discovered a greater purpose.
-
As a child, Jennifer Weck always knew she wanted to work in a school. When other kids were pretending to be doctors or astronauts, she was pretending to be the school principal. Now, after a career in health and fitness and having two children, Weck has come full circle. She will complete her Master in Social Work (MSW), with an emphasis in school social work, in May 2022.
-
Many people fear the places Hector Jiminez needs to be. He relies on his battlefield experience — and his studies at USC, where he’s earned two graduate degrees — almost every day.
In environments where gang violence stalks communities, Army veteran Hector Jiminez is unafraid. He served eight years in Iraq and Afghanistan in the 1990s before returning to Southern California, where he followed a meandering path to a military social work degree at USC.
-
Each year, the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work honors students who have made significant achievements in their academic careers and contributions to the community. We are proud to recognize the following students for their outstanding accomplishments.
Social Work Alumni Association Award
Recognizes great potential to contribute to the social work profession and the USC alumni community.