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Fall 2024 On-Campus MSW Application Main Deadline: April 1, 2024

News Archive

  • Lawrence Palinkas, the Albert G. and Frances Lomas Feldman Professor of Social Policy and Health and director of the Behavioral Health Research Cluster at the USC School of Social Work, has been appointed to the Institute of Medicine’s Committee on Ethics, Principles, and Guidelines for Health Standards for Long Duration and Exploration Spaceflights.

  • A new project led by Erick Guerrero, an assistant professor with the USC School of Social Work, will explore how recent health care legislation affects the ability of substance abuse treatment programs to serve racial and ethnic minority clients.

  • When Kristen Kavanaugh, MSW ’12, started the Military Acceptance Project, a website used to promote the equal treatment of all military service members, veterans and their families, she never really gave the idea of working in politics a second thought.

    But as the USC School of Social Work class project grew bigger and gained national attention – MAP was recognized as a Champion of Change by the White House last year – Kavanaugh realized that she could use her advocacy skills to achieve something on a larger scale.

  • As Steven sits in an office with colorful furniture and regularly used incense, his therapist Moira tells him, “We all make choices. It doesn’t mean that one choice is right and the other is wrong. But it does mean that we have to live with the choices we’ve made and the impact those choices have on others.”

    This cause and effect is a theme that runs throughout “Therapy,” a play written and directed by USC School of Social Work alumnus Jeff Bernhardt that shows how the line between professional and personal issues can become blurry.

  • Each year, the USC School of Social Work honors those faculty and graduating students who have made significant achievements in their academic careers and contributions to the USC and at-large communities. This year’s Dean’s Recognition Ceremony recognized new and past student leadership, those on the Dean's List and Dean's Honorable Mentions. Below are those who received scholarships and********** awards.

  • Marilyn Flynn, dean of the USC School of Social Work, has received the President’s Volunteer Service Award in honor of her commitment to strengthening the United States by making a difference through volunteer service.

    The award program, an initiative of the Corporation for National and Community Service, recognizes outstanding volunteers to set a standard for service, encourage a sustained commitment to civic participation, and inspire others to make service a central part of their lives.

  • When USC School of Social Work student Manako Yabe attended last year’s graduation ceremony, she and other deaf members of the audience had no way of understanding the commencement speech. And they weren’t alone: She noticed a large portion of the crowd — international families and the elderly in particular — having a similar difficulty as they watched the ceremony unfold on surrounding Jumbotrons.

    For her own graduation walk, though, things will be different.

  • For Maril Lloyd Sun, meeting Flynn, dean of the USC School of Social Work, changed the way he now looks at the world.

    As chairman of Maxwell College in Arcadia, Calif., Sun understands the value of education. But the businessman had never given social work as a profession and area of research a second thought until Flynn showed him how far-reaching and significant social work’s influence could be, domestically and internationally.

  • Retired Gen. David Petraeus, architect and namesake of the counterinsurgency doctrine that stabilized Iraq under U.S. and allied forces and former director of the CIA, will join the USC faculty this fall.

    Petraeus, whose appointment becomes effective on July 1, will be a Judge Widney Professor, a title reserved for eminent individuals from the arts, sciences, professions, business and community and national leadership. Judge Robert Maclay Widney was USC’s founder.

  • They are more likely to be depressed, abuse drugs and alcohol, and engage in self-mutilation. They are more likely to be obese, experience post-traumatic stress disorder and fail to complete high school. They are more likely to place their children at risk for abuse, neglect and developmental issues.

    They are women who were sexually abused as children.