The USC School of Social Work has partnered with USC Libraries to publish the university's inaugural collection of Outstanding Academic Papers by Students (OAPS) as part of a joint initiative to recognize excellence in academic writing and research and to preserve exemplary works for perpetual access.

"We're proud to be a part of this wonderful project that raises the visibility of the quality work our students produce and provides long-term access to their research," said Cherry Short, assistant dean of global and community initiatives at the School of Social Work, who presented the papers at the OAPS Task Force Meeting in Xiamen, China, in April.

The City University of Hong Kong (CityU) initiated OAPS in 2004 to help students acquire proper research and writing skills and instill in them academic honesty and respect for intellectual property, as well as provide an important global resource for academic information. CityU selected USC as the first North American university to participate, in cooperation with respected academic institutions in Asia, and USC Libraries invited the School of Social Work to be the first USC academic unit to contribute student papers.

A review committee of USC faculty chose 10 papers written by social work graduate students for their superior research, writing and presentation, as well as creativity and thoughtfulness. Faculty recommended papers based on their students' exceptional ability to analyze and apply social work theories and their expertise in conceptualizing and pursuing their own evidence-based research.

The papers have been published in a book and will be preserved digitally by the USC Libraries to share with international researchers and students along with USC's academic community and OAPS partners.

The selected students were presented a certificate and a copy of the book at the Dean's Recognition Ceremony on May 7. Those honored included Amelia Abernathy, Deborah Bauman, Erin Dowler, Jennifer Gebauer, Lorene Gingerich, Sarah Jacobus, Carolina Rodriguez, Heather Stephens, Iman A. Turner and Krystal Wang.

Dowler's paper focused on how to evaluate a new program utilizing a social worker to provide client support within the Immigrants' Rights Project (IRP) at Public Counsel. IRP offers legal representation to low-income individuals seeking asylum and in cases involving compelling humanitarian or public policy issues. The first social worker to collaborate with IRP attorneys, Dowler found a dearth of data on proven social work methods in a legal setting, which she thinks makes this a one-of-a-kind program.

"This project has made a very positive impact on my education seeing how my research paper has translated into useful knowledge, which can help others in my field in the U.S. and internationally," she said.

Gingerich's paper examined cross-cultural skills building for the Program for Torture Victims (PTV) clinical staff. PTV is a non-profit in Los Angeles whose mission is to alleviate the suffering and health consequences of state-sponsored torture by providing medical and social services to torture survivors and their families.

She found a growing need for PTV employees to improve their knowledge of cultures, traditions and beliefs, especially as world conflicts and wars escalate. By expanding training to include skills building and cultural adaptive interventions, staff will be able to provide more valuable and needed client services.

"Having my paper published is something I thought only PhD students achieve, so I am delighted. This has provided graduate students like me a means of sharing our work globally," said Gingerich.

Marilyn Flynn, dean of the School of Social Work, believes there is significant value in sharing these papers with international scholars and the USC community.

"We think others can learn from this research and that it will enable them to better understand people with diverse experiences and different cultures," she said. "Moreover, it's a great opportunity for our students to receive recognition and for us to promote stellar examples of scholarly work to a worldwide audience that is representative of what USC has to offer."

Dean Catherine Quinlan of USC Libraries intends to extend the program to other academic units across campus to develop an in-depth repository of exemplary works across multiple disciplines that will promote scholarly communications and serve as a teaching resource.