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News Archive

  • The Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR) has selected John Brekke to give the 2011 Aaron Rosen Lecture at its 15th annual meeting in January, recognizing his career accomplishments in mental health services research.

    "This is a very prestigious honor for only the most outstanding scholars," said Marilyn Flynn, dean of the USC School of Social Work. "It is highly appropriate that SSWR acknowledges John's cumulative achievements to advance the profession and society as a researcher and educator."

  • The USC School of Social Work's Network for Korean-American Leaders (NetKAL) fellowship program was honored for promoting service and leadership among young professionals during a gala in New York.

    NetKAL was among the honorees feted by the Korean American League for Civic Action (KALCA) during the organization's 10th anniversary gala on June 16.

  • In addition to lugging overstuffed backpacks loaded with books and binders to school each morning, students from military families are also carrying with them the invisible weight of a parent at war.

  • Ron Astor, the Richard M. and Ann L. Thor Professor in Urban Social Development at the USC School of Social Work, was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion during its Los Angeles graduation ceremony on May 17.

  • While many 18-year-olds spent the summer happily selecting the perfect sheet sets and shower caddies to accent college dorm rooms, Jessica Chandler was already homeless, hopeless and "waiting for the next bad thing to happen."
    It was hardly fair.

    Chandler had just accomplished what only half the foster children in California ever do. She'd earned a high school diploma, despite transferring schools a dizzying 13 times throughout the five years she'd bounced around the child welfare system.

  • Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke bluntly about the strains placed on American soldiers and their families while the nation continues its ninth year of war in the Middle East during a recent town hall event hosted by the USC School of Social Work.

    On June 11, Mullen addressed a crowd of more than 450 students, faculty and community members—including many active-duty personnel and veterans—assembled at the university's Town and Gown.

  • The USC School of Social Work has partnered with USC Libraries to publish the university's inaugural collection of Outstanding Academic Papers by Students (OAPS) as part of a joint initiative to recognize excellence in academic writing and research and to preserve exemplary works for perpetual access.

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    For 15 years during the 1960s and 70s, Frances Wu helped delinquent children work through personal problems. But she later discovered another group in need.

  • The most wrenching phone call Connie Rice received during her decades as a civil-rights activist and high-powered trial lawyer came from the manager of a Watts convenience store at 2 a.m.

    There'd been yet another gang shooting at the infamous Jordan Downs housing project, and the police had rounded up all the adults in a single family. But the authorities had left a 7-year-old boy, Tommy, and his baby brother behind. No one called a social worker.

  • After returning from a particularly violent tour of duty in Iraq, Col. David Sutherland caught himself scanning the lakes and canals scattered across his Texas town.

    The U.S. Army brigade commander wasn't admiring the scenery. He was on alert for the bodies of murder victims, like the many he'd pulled out of similar looking waterways on the other side of the world.