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News Archive

  • This fall, the USC School of Social Work will be offering for the first time a dual-degree program that will allow students to earn both master’s and doctoral degrees in social work concurrently.

    The MSW-to-PhD direct program is designed for exemplary students who meet and exceed the admission requirements of both the Master of Social Work and Doctor of Philosophy of Social Work programs.

  • The USC School of Social Work has hired four new professors, bolstering its profile in the areas of child welfare and maltreatment, sociology, gangs, substance use and social policy.

    A team of researchers from the University of Houston—professor Avelardo Valdez, research professor Charles Kaplan and assistant professor Alice Cepeda—are bringing a wealth of expertise in the social and public health consequences of drug use and violence among high-risk populations.

  • Marilyn Flynn will stay on as dean of the USC School of Social Work for another five-year term, announced Elizabeth Garrett, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs.

    Originally appointed in 1997, this latest term was offered by USC President C. L. Max Nikias after a fourth-year review of Flynn's leadership at the school. This included a survey sent to full- and part-time faculty, staff and students, as well as the Board of Councilors and community members.

  • Anthony Hassan, director of the Center for Innovation and Research on Veterans and Military Families (CIR) at the USC School of Social Work, recently attended the Clinton Global Initiative America jobs summit, a meeting hosted by former President Bill Clinton on driving job creation and economic growth in the United States.

  • A new study has found that researchers at the USC School of Social Work authored some of the profession's most cited journal articles of the past decade.

    Five publications penned by researchers at the school ranked in the top 100 articles cited between 2000 and 2009, according to findings published in the British Journal of Social Work.

    "I knew the article was cited very often, but I didn't realize it was that influential," said Michàlle Mor Barak, a professor at the USC School of Social Work.

  • Marleen Wong, assistant dean and clinical professor of field education at the USC School of Social Work, has been appointed to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Advisory Council for three years, beginning Aug. 1.

  • John Brekke, the Frances G. Larson Professor of Social Work Research, has been named a fellow of the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare, the first national society honoring excellence in the research and practice of social work.


  • While homeless men are very aware of the risk of unprotected sex, they are not very educated on how to protect themselves from sexually transmitted diseases, a USC study found.

    Researchers interviewed dozens of men on Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles to understand how they viewed the risks of sexual encounters with women.

    While more than half of the respondents had been tested for HIV, most held medically inaccurate beliefs they used to judge their partner's chances of having a sexually transmitted disease.

  • USC Professor of Social Work Dorian Traube builds upon current studies that show young men who have sex with men are more likely to participate in dangerous behavior, such as drug use and unprotected sex.

    In a new study, published this month in the Psychology of Addictive Behavior, Traube looks at the building blocks of why young gay men are more prone to drug and alcohol use.

    "The underlying factor here, adolescence when you have the bulk of development, is normally an incredibly vulnerable time," said Traube, the lead author.

  • Hoping to address a critical health gap among the youth of the United States, Julie Cederbaum, assistant professor at the USC School of Social Work, is participating in two new studies on the disproportionate effect of HIV/AIDS and substance use on young African-American men and adolescents.