News Archive
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A fast pitch competition isn’t usually associated with a school of social work. While business schools regularly employ the technique as an exercise in how to raise money for entrepreneurial pursuits, a fast pitch event at schools dealing in the social sciences is virtually unheard of.
Educators at the USC School of Social Work are changing that – one pitch at a time.
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Montgomery Ostrander has an MBA. He spent eight years at Microsoft in software development. And he now owns and operates a therapeutic elder care home.
Ostrander is not your typical social work student.
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The road to Pelican Bay State Prison led through majestic redwoods a stone’s throw from the stirring beauty of Pacific Ocean coastal waters. The concrete blocks of the prison rose up before us, concertina wire curled above electrified fences that surround the general population buildings with their tiny windows. The gathered windowless mass of the SHU (Security Housing Unit), where we would be meeting with prisoners in solitary confinement, seemed a different, even more ominous world. As we approached the sprawling fortress, I could feel my heart sinking.
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Wendy Smith, clinical associate professor and associate dean of curriculum planning and assessment at the USC School of Social Work, recently visited Cuba on an educational mission organized by Rep. Karen Bass, MSW '15, to learn about the country's child welfare and juvenile justice systems, as well as its culture, people and arts scene.
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Figuring out how to run a business doesn’t always come naturally to some, and many fail to invest time and effort into one of the most important aspects of it all – good communication.
Dorene Lehavi, PhD ’95, wants to change that.
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All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
–Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 1), adopted by the United Nations
General Assembly Resolution 217 A (III) of December 10, 1948 -
The USC School of Social Work established the first social work doctoral program in the western United States in 1953, and today continues the tradition of educating highly motivated, self-directed individuals interested in a career in research and teaching.
This year's four PhD graduates have studied topics as varied as HIV prevention among the homeless to health outcomes among older adults in rural China. One newly minted PhD, Weiyu Mao, is the first student to graduate from the School of Social Work's joint MSW/PhD program.
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Each year, the USC School of Social Work, the university and other service-oriented organizations honor faculty and students who have made significant achievements in their academic careers and contributions to the USC and at-large communities. Many were honored at this year’s Dean’s Recognition Ceremony, which also recognized new and past student leadership, those on the Dean's List and Dean's Honorable Mentions.
Student Awards and Recognition
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Jacquelyn McCroskey is the John Milner Professor of Child Welfare at the USC School of Social Work, co-director of the Children's Data Network, and a commissioner of the Los Angeles County Commission on Children & Families. Denise Herz is a professor at California State University, Los Angeles.
Each year, thousands of youth enter the juvenile justice system in Los Angeles County.
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At the age of three, Lynne Okon Scholnick, MSW ’72, and her older sister, Elsa, were taken to a foster care agency by their father. Her mother became institutionalized for what was then called melancholia, now known as depression, and never returned home. Until Scholnick graduated from high school, she would remain in foster care.
She lived in three different homes throughout her childhood. The first home was kind; the second, where she and her sister lived for 13 years, was not.