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News Archive

Grand Challenges

  • Regina Nadir

    For 13 years, Regina Nadir has worked for the District of Columbia Public Schools — as a school social worker, dean, director of climate and culture, and now as a district-level social worker providing programming for special education students, and working with the families of students at private, religious and nonpublic facilities.

  • Padgett, Abrams, Henwood

    The co-chairs of the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare (AASWSW) Grand Challenge to End HomelessnessBen Henwood, associate professor at the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work, and Deborah Padgett, professor at the New York University Silver School of Social Work―ass

  • Deborah Villanueva

    Doctorate of Social Work student Deborah Villanueva saw the gaps in support and programs for the Native American youth population she works with daily at the American Indian Counseling Center in Cerritos, California. So she decided to do something about it.

  • Climate Change and Social Work

    As climate change becomes an ever-present reality, communities across the globe must find new ways to address the environmental and socioeconomic repercussions. Can local organizations help at-risk populations fight back? 

  • As a call to action on urgent problems such as homelessness, the health gap and mass incarceration, the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work is taking part in the Grand Challenges for Social Work. Organized by the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare, this a national effort to achieve societal progress by identifying specific challenges that social work can play a central role in overcoming.

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    The USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work’s global immersion program in Mexico concentrates on the social, mental and physical health of immigrants.

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    Though Los Angeles is making progress on homelessness, there’s still a long way to go. Learn what USC is doing to raise awareness and strengthen community partnerships.

     

  • Emily Martinuik, left, CSH Speakers Bureau; Father James L. Heft; and Sam Randolph

    One day in 2011, Emily Martinuik, then 59, found herself standing on a freeway overpass and contemplating suicide. Her youngest son had died at 19 in a bus accident, she struggled with what was later diagnosed as bipolar depression, had lost her business and her home, and was facing the prospect of living on the street. But instead of jumping, she decided to climb down and check herself into Olive View hospital in Sylmar, beginning the process of turning her life around.

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    Bullying is an unfortunate reality at most K-12 schools — but are we any closer to stopping it? One professor may have a viable solution.

    Bullying in schools is not a new concept. Yet, with the advent of the internet and accompanying rise of cyberbullying, addressing the issue effectively has only become more complex. Kids victimize each other online in ways that their parents would never have imagined, and reports of sexual assault and violence are on the rise in schools.

  • USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work faculty Terence Fitzgerald, Karen Lincoln, Renee Smith-Maddox and Rafael Angulo.

    “My skin color is brown,” said Melissa Singh. “Being this skin color, I’ve always wanted to be included.”

    As a student, Singh, clinical associate professor of field education at the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work, always did extra reading on any subject she was studying to ensure there would never be a good reason to exclude her from a conversation. Now, as a professor, she seeks to incorporate all the voices in her classroom to have this discussion.