News Archive
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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.
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During his first clinical rotation in the Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) program at the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work, Tyler Christy’s supervising physician was in the process of selling his practice. As the sole medical provider, he was overwhelmed and burned out. But this physician had not worked alongside a nurse practitioner before.
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For 15 years Lito De Luca was an accountant. Then he and his husband became the foster parents of two brothers, aged 4- and 18-months-old, and this event altered the trajectory of De Luca’s life — and career — forever.
“They became a part of our life and that started opening up inspiration,” De Luca said.” We helped other families too, nine or 10 kids in total, from little ones all the way up to teenagers.”
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Before he even walks the stage on May 12 to receive his Doctorate of Social Work (DSW) from the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work, Jonathan Spikes is already well underway on the pilot of his capstone project. Spikes launched the Affirming Youth Family Neighborhood School Partnership (AYFNSP) in January 2023 through a $1 million federal grant from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention at the U.S. Department of Justice.
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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.
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In Russellville, Arkansas, when the police respond to a domestic violence call during the week between 4 p.m. and 11 p.m., they now have Linda Bankston riding with them. As the new victim advocate, she starts every interaction with the individuals at the scene in the same way: “I’m Linda. I’m sorry that this happened. Do you need a hug?”
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Social work and police work have more overlap than is commonly thought. Approximately 80% of calls to police are social service related. Police are also frontline responders addressing situations involving people experiencing homelessness, substance use or youth-involved crime and often find themselves striving to deescalate a disturbance or connect people with social services.
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Homelessness has become more than a serious issue affecting society. It is also a public health epidemic nationwide. In Los Angeles, the crisis is particularly acute, with more than 69,000 people experiencing homelessness in 2022. For most, the problem appears unsolvable and the best we can hope for is to mitigate it.
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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.
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The USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work was honored with a visit from Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon who met faculty and staff of our Trauma Recovery Center (TRC@USC), the first comprehensive victim recovery behavioral health clinic at USC. TRC@USC clients are referred by a variety of public safety agencies and community organization partners, including the District Attorney's Office.