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News Archive

Research

  • The School of Social Work at the University of Southern California has been awarded two new grants totaling $6.5 million for its military social work and veteran services teaching and research activities.

    In less than two years, the program has now attracted almost $10 million in funding, with Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard playing a key role in facilitating the initiative's growth and pointing out the need for comprehensive services for military members, veterans and their families.

  • For children in military families, a parent's wartime deployment can be a frightening and traumatic experience. But one USC School of Social Work professor will use a $1.8 million federal grant to help prevent long-term mental-health disturbances, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), from developing in this vulnerable population.

  • The USC School of Social Work convened its first military social work conference for more than 25 multidisciplinary scholars at the USC San Diego Academic Center on Mar. 4 to explore collaborative military family-themed research opportunities.

  • USC School of Social Work Dean Emeritus Rino Patti and Professor Kathleen Ell have been named inaugural fellows of the newly formed American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare — the first national society honoring excellence in the research and practice of social work.

    The two are among 30 professionals from universities, institutions and practices nationwide selected to join the academy, which will hold an induction ceremony this spring at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

  • The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Investigator Award in Health Policy Research, a competitive, national funding program focused on addressing challenging health policy issues, has selected Professor John Brekke from the USC School of Social Work to receive a grant to study mental health system transformation in America.

    The Frances G. Larson Professor of Social Work Research was awarded a three-year, $400,000 grant jointly with Joel Braslow, associate professor of psychiatry, biobehavioral sciences and history at the University of California, Los Angeles.

  • Media coverage of mass school shootings in recent years has led the public to believe school violence is on the rise, when it is in fact at its lowest levels in decades.

    More pervasive forms of aggression, such as name calling and racial or gender slurs, affect thousands of students, but tend to remain out of the public consciousness.

  • USC Provost C.L. Max Nikias presented the inaugural Pearmain Prize in Research on Aging to Kyriakos S. Markides—a leading scholar on aging and health issues—at USC Town and Gown on Feb. 16 as part of a celebration of the USC Edward R. Roybal Institute on Aging.

  • Associate Professor Kristin Ferguson of the USC School of Social Work has received a $742,033 federal stimulus grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to engage homeless youth in a vocational training program integrated with clinical services designed to improve their employment opportunities and mental health.

    Homeless youth with mental illness face employment barriers and challenges inherent in living on the streets, including limited education and job skills. Moving these youth off the streets requires more than finding them low-wage jobs.

  • The University of Southern California's School of Social Work has joined the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) to launch an advanced practice in military social work education initiative to bridge the gap between the number of available prepared practitioners and the demand for social services with military personnel and their families. The initiative began Feb. 4 with a meeting of 35 experts from various social work higher education, professional association and military backgrounds.

  • William Vega, one of the nation's leading experts on health disparities that affect aging ethnic minority populations, has been named executive director of the Edward R. Roybal Institute on Aging, now based at the USC School of Social Work.

    Named for the late Rep. Edward R. Roybal, the Roybal Institute is dedicated to translational research, policy advocacy and training that improves the health, mental health and care of older persons, particularly those from low-income and multiethnic backgrounds.