News Archive
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Graduate students from the USC Price School of Public Policy and the USC School of Social Work partnered to organize the first Students of Color and Allies Policy Forum, which examined policy, planning, development and social work issues within the context of race, ethnicity, class and social justice.
More than 70 USC Price and social work students came together to discuss how to address racial and social justice issues in their fields. In addition to sharing their own experiences, the students heard from academic and community experts at the half-day event.
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USC Master of Social Work student Amanda Cockrell comes from a family with a history of helping others.
Her grandmother helped introduce family planning in West Africa, opening clinics and delivery centers while teaching people about pregnancy and contraception. Cockrell’s mother continues to run one of the clinics, offering vaccinations, surgeries and general treatment for the people of Dakar and doing her best never to turn down anyone who cannot afford care. Cockrell wants to continue this legacy of helping people in need and bringing awareness to their plights.
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The Center for Innovation and Research on Veterans & Military Families (CIR) at the USC School of Social Work received funding from the Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) to help publicize the unique transitional challenges facing National Guard and Reserve service members.
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In the lush, verdant hills of India, Bhagavan Kani rises from his bed.
He spends a few serene moments gazing at the early morning sun as it crests the horizon, sipping water infused with a local spice leaf called tulsi. Kani eats a simple breakfast of raw vegetables and fruits. Barefoot, he sweeps the leaves from a dirt path in his garden and climbs steep stone steps to take a stroll through the hilly village. Later that day, he sits outside his coconut-leaf-thatched hut, recites tribal songs, and talks to plants and animals.
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For many students, attending a university can be tough. There are so many new experiences to navigate – finding a place to live, deciding on a course of study, taking multiple rigorous classes at once – that it can be overwhelming.
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The last time I visited Tacloban City in the Philippines was 2007. I stayed with a local family who warmly welcomed me into their lives. They lived in abject poverty in a seaside shanty town of plywood and corrugated steel.
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Vern Bengtson, a senior scientist with the USC Edward R. Roybal Institute on Aging at the USC School of Social Work, is the recipient of the 2014 Eugene Litwak Award from the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University.
Each year, a distinguished social scientist whose research addresses the social dimensions of health and illness is honored by Columbia’s Mailman School and invited to give a public lecture. The event was established in honor of Eugene Litwak, professor emeritus of public health, social work and sociology at Columbia University.
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For decades, young people who ran afoul of the law found themselves in dismal locked facilities, surrounded by barbed wire and chain-link fences.
These jail-like structures, featuring large dormitories and staff members who relied on a controlling and coercive model of oversight, have proven to be ineffective and harmful, leading to increased recidivism, lower academic achievement, issues of alcohol and substance abuse, and mental health problems among youths.
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If you ask Kimberly Finney to list her accomplishments, you’d be hard-pressed to get a response—not because there haven’t been noteworthy moments in the retired U.S. Air Force officer’s career, but because that’s not her style.
“It’s just part of my training. If there’s something to be done, you just do it,” said Finney, a clinical psychologist and clinical associate professor with the USC School of Social Work. “I very rarely take time to pause to look at what I’m doing or what I’ve done until someone points it out to me.”
Luckily, someone has pointed it out.
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For Shawn Cervantes, going back to school began as a personal desire to help her family, but it has since grown into a drive to change her community.
An Army wife for 25 years, Cervantes’ main role was caring for her three children during her husband’s multiple deployments. It was his last deployment in 2005—when his vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device—that led her back into the classroom.
“When he came home, he wasn’t interested in getting any type of care. He was an old Army soldier,” she said.