Apply Now for 2025

Summer 2025 Advanced Standing and Fall 2025 
Applications NOW OPEN for On-Campus MSW

USC University of Southern California

News Archive

Research

  • Too often, overzealous politicians rally voter support to initiate public policies based on little or no solid evidence to back them up. Many of these policies are rooted in social, behavioral and educational interventions that frequently prove ineffective, even causing more harm than good. An international network of interdisciplinary scholars, professionals and policymakers called the Campbell Collaboration hopes to change that.

  • The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) has awarded John Brekke, Ph.D., the Frances G. Larson Professor of Social Work Research at the USC School of Social Work and director of the Hamovitch Center for Science in the Human Services, a $3-million-multi-year grant to increase the effectiveness of community mental health rehabilitation. The proposed project, entitled "Biosocial Factors in Rehabilitation of Schizophrenia," aims to quickly move research findings into active care settings.

  • Nearly one-fourth of low-income minority women with cancer suffer from depression, but few are diagnosed or treated for it, according to a study published in the May issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

    Twenty-four percent of women met standard criteria for major depressive disorder, said Kathleen Ell, professor of social work at the University of Southern California and lead author of the study. That figure doubles the percentage found in existing research of middle- and upper-class, predominantly white women.

  • As part of an ongoing relationship with the Korean-American community in Los Angeles and abroad, the USC School of Social Work hosted a reception at the Radisson Wilshire Plaza Hotel on April 6 to announce the grand opening of the newly endowed Center for Asian Pacific Leadership Development.

  • Janet Schneiderman, R.N., Ph.D., assistant professor at the USC School of Social Work, and Roseann Mulligan, D.D.S., M.S., professor and associate dean for community health programs at the USC School of Dentistry, have received a USC Urban Initiative Grant to evaluate the oral health and adherence to follow-up care among individuals with cognitive impairments.

  • While the backbone of today's global economy is an increasingly diverse workforce, many individuals still perceive themselves as outsiders, according to a new book by University of Southern California Professor Michàlle Mor Barak.

  • In recognition of their exemplary public service, scholarly accomplishments and distinction in teaching, Ron Astor, Ph.D. and Jacquelyn McCroskey, D.S.W. have been promoted to the rank of full professor, announced Dean Marilyn Flynn of the USC School of Social Work.

    "We are fortunate to have such outstanding leadership on our faculty," Dean Flynn said.

  • The National Association of Latino Elected & Appointed Officials (NALEO) Educational Fund has invited Associate Professor Maria Aranda, Ph.D., to be a presenter for the "Latino Mental Health: Youth, Women, and the Elderly" session of the California Policy Institute on Health: Mental Health and Substance Abuse conference on Feb. 12 in Palm Springs, Calif.

  • The National Institute of Mental Health has awarded Kathleen Ell, D.S.W, $2.95 million to research the treatment of major depression among Hispanic patients with diabetes, which comes on the heels of a similar grant for $2.6 million from the National Cancer Institute to examine depression among Hispanic patients with cancer.

  • Bullying, weapon use and sexual harassment in schools are an interrelated, global and damaging problem, especially among grade-school children, according to a new book by professors at the University of Southern California and Hebrew University.

    School Violence in Context: Culture, Neighborhood, Family, School and Gender (Oxford University Press) examines the relationships between forms of school violence and the influence of family, community and cultural factors. The book also offers solutions for this worldwide issue.