Rafael Angulo
Named Social Worker of the Year
Rafael Angulo, clinical associate professor, was crowned 2007 Social Worker of the Year by the Southern California Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers at an awards ceremony on March 28 at the Huntington Hospital in Pasadena. The award honors a member of the association who exemplifies the best of the profession's values and achievements through specific accomplishments. Angulo, who has been with the USC School of Social Work since 2001, was nominated by his students for his groundbreaking Media in Social Work class that teaches aspiring filmmakers how to utilize a universal medium for social justice and advocacy. Read More »

Margarita Artavia
Receives “Remarkable Woman” Award from Students and Peers
Margarita Artavia, clinical associate professor, was honored March 7 at the fifth annual Remarkable Women Awards for outstanding contributions to her field and to the university. Sponsored by the Office of Campus Activities and the Women's Student Assembly, the awards honored 12 USC women for their commitment to students and women's issues, community involvement, leadership accomplishments and professional honors. Artavia, whose students, fellow field instructors and social work faculty submitted letters on her behalf, has been a member of the field education faculty since 1996. She serves on the Work & Life concentration committee, which helps society’s workforce, especially women, immigrants and workers of diverse backgrounds meet the challenges of balancing the demands of work, family and life. She also coordinates the foundation year immersion program, which is a specialized learning experience to engage students in the culture of a Southern California neighborhood different from their own.
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Ron Astor
Wins Outstanding Book Award
Ron Astor, a professor in the USC School of Social Work and USC Rossier School of Education, has won the 2007 Outstanding Book Award from the American Educational Research Association. School Violence in Context: Neighborhood, Family, School and Gender, published by Oxford University Press, was co-authored with Professor Rami Benbenishty of Hebrew University. The award, which is given for the best book-length publication in educational research and development, was presented at the association's 88th annual meeting in Chicago on April 11. To be considered for the award, a book must be concerned with improving the educational process through research or scholarly inquiry. In awarding the association's top honor, the selection committee noted the book's "compelling analysis of all forms of school violence and victimization [which] examines the context and influence of individual, school and community factors and reveals the continuity of many of these factors across cultures and national boundaries. It is cogently written and substantially advances understanding of violence in schools." Read More »

Concha Barrio
Joins Scientific Advisory Committee for NIMH Conference
Associate Professor Concha Barrio has been invited to be part of the scientific advisory committee for the 19th National Institute of Mental Health Conference on Mental Health Services Research to be held in Washington, DC, in July. This year’s conference, which takes place every two years, will be called “Enhancing the Impact of Mental Health Services Research.” Barrio will also be presenting in the pre-conference workshop for new investigators and pre-doctoral students.

Gil Carmona
Runs for NASW Vice President of Membership
Assistant Dean Gil Carmona has been nominated for vice president of membership and organizational services for the National Association of Social Workers – California Chapter in the spring 2007 election. This position plays a key role in the development of the chapter’s membership plan and will serve on the Membership Committee, Affirmative Action Committee and Communications Committee. An active member of NASW, Carmona has held state office for several years and was elected to serve as a California delegate at-large member to the NASW Delegate Assembly in 2005. Since 2001, he has directed the Orange County master of social work satellite program. Carmona has worked in both profit and non-profit sectors, and currently maintains a private practice working with at-risk adolescents and families in crisis.

Iris Chi
Wins Grant to Expand Studies on China's Elderly
Iris Chi, the Chinese-American Golden Age Association/Frances Wu Chair for the Chinese Elderly, is part of an inter-school collaboration that has been awarded $15,000 for research on the aging population in China from the USC U.S.-China Institute. The grant will be used to expand existing research on the needs of the elderly population in China and to explore their impact on Chinese society as a whole. The project, “Population Aging in China: Social, Health and Policy Implications,” a team effort between the USC School of Social Work and the USC Davis School of Gerontology, where Chi holds a joint appointment, will be investigated with Merril Silverstein, a Davis School professor of gerontology and sociology. Read More »

Kristin Ferguson
Selected as U.S. Chair for International Consortium for Social Development Symposium
Assistant Professor Kristin Ferguson has been chosen as the stateside chair of the International Consortium for Social Development’s 2009 symposium to be held in Monterrey, Mexico. Ferguson will serve alongside her Mexican colleagues, Manuel Ribeiro Ferreira and Raul Eduardo Lopez of the School of Social Work at the Autonomous University of Nuevo Leon (UANL) in Monterrey, who will serve as co-chairs. ICSD is an organization of practitioners, scholars and students in the human services who aim to bring about economic and social improvement in the lives of people around the world. The USC School of Social Work is a member of ICSD and will serve as the U.S. sponsoring school for the symposium. “Our school will benefit from involvement in organizing the 2009 symposium by strengthening our partnership with the UANL and creating opportunities for U.S.-Mexican faculty to collaborate on cross-national research and teaching initiatives,” Ferguson said.

John Gaspari
Establishes the Disaster Mental Health Response Team
John Gaspari, executive director of the Center for Work & Family Life, started the Disaster Mental Health Response Team on campus, which utilizes different disciplines, including specialists in mental health and spirituality, as a component of the university's overall emergency preparedness plan. The group, which also includes Carrie Lew, Elizabeth Pringle-Hornsby and Doni Whitsett, will present to the university's crisis management team in April.

Carrie Lew
Wins Scholarship to Higher Education Institute for Women Administrators
Carrie Lew, director of alumni relations and career development, has been selected as the university's scholarship recipient to attend this year's Summer Institute for Women in Higher Education Administration at Bryn Mawr College in suburban Philadelphia. The summer institute offers three weeks of intensive training addressing issues currently facing higher education, management and governance of colleges and universities, and new perspectives on teaching, research and service. The program began in 1976 with the goal of improving the status of women in the middle and executive levels of higher education administration, an area in which women traditionally had been underrepresented. Nearly 2,000 women faculty and administrators from around the world have participated in the residential program. Read More »

Diane Meadows
Earns NASW Lifetime Achievement Award
The National Association of Social Workers (Region F) has honored Diane Meadow, an adjunct professor and licensed clinical social worker, with a Lifetime Achievement Award for her excellence in teaching and outstanding service to individuals, marginalized populations and her community. Professionally, she has provided services to the Orange County Department of Social Services, Jewish Family Service, Hamburger Home for Girls, Camarillo State Hospital, Rancho Los Amigos Hospital and the San Bernardino County Welfare Department, while maintaining a private practice for more than 30 years. In addition to her teaching and administrative responsibilities at USC over the course of 20 years, which have also included overseeing the USC Orange County master of social work degree program, she has taught local social work students at California State University, Fullerton; Hebrew Union College and the Wright Institute, as well as at Bryn Mawr College in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Meadow also frequently conducts continuing education courses and licensure preparation workshops. She is a graduate of the USC social work doctoral program.

Michalle Mor Barak
Takes on Leadership Roles in University-Wide Committees
Michalle Mor Barak, the Lenore Stein-Wood and William S. Wood Professor in Social Work and Business in a Global Society, has committed to serving on a number of university committees, including the Provost's Strategic Planning Committee; the University Committee on Curriculum, which advises the Provost on all matters pertaining to the adoption, elimination and revision of courses and programs; and the Social Sciences Sub-committee on curriculum, which she co-chairs. The Provost deems serving on a university committee as one of the most important ways faculty can contribute to the mission of the University of Southern California.

Dorothy Scott
Becomes School's New Student Services Advisor
The Office of Academic and Student Affairs at the USC School of Social Work welcomed a new student services advisor, Dorothy Scott, who will work closely with part-time students, dual-degree students and international students. She will also take on the undergraduate minor, Children and Families in Urban America, and offsite programs. An employee of the university since 1987, her most recent responsibilities were in the Graduate School.

Cherry Short
Awarded Honorary Doctorate from University of Wales
Cherry Short, assistant dean for global and community initiatives, has been awarded an honorary doctorate degree from the University of Wales for her work in improving race relations in Britain. In a ceremony on March 30 at the University of Wales’ Trinity College in Carmarthen, Wales, she was acknowledged for her public policy achievements, specifically in social work practice and academics. Short, who was born in the West Indies but calls Britain her home, joined the USC School of Social Work a little more than a year ago. She had previously spent the last decade as commissioner for racial equality in Wales and as a member of the Commission on Race and Equality, the British regulatory body that administers the United Kingdom Race and Equality Act of 1976. After serving an exemplary first term, Short was the only commissioner to be re-appointed for a second term. In 2006, she was declared a Commander of the British Empire, the United Kingdom's highest public service position, for promoting racial equality in Wales. Read More »

Barbara Solomon
Honored with USC Faculty Lifetime Achievement Award
Barbara Solomon, professor emerita at the School of Social Work, vice provost emerita and the first African American to hold a deanship at the University of Southern California, was honored with the USC Faculty Lifetime Achievement Award on March 8 for her outstanding contributions as a scholar, teacher, mentor and leader. The USC alumna, who holds a doctoral degree in social work from the school, has helped build her alma mater into a model for diversity and community outreach. Solomon has made a difference in the lives of countless people through her insightful research and her advocacy on behalf of veterans, children, the mentally ill, the elderly and the dispossessed. Awarded to select retired faculty at the annual Academic Honors Convocation, the USC Faculty Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes eminent careers and notable contributions to the university, the recipient's profession and the community. Read More »

Gary Wood
Online Course Selected for USC Innovation Showcase
Clinical Associate Professor Gary Wood was selected by USC Stevens Institute of Innovation as a participant in the “Innovation Showcase,” an exhibit of interactive demonstrations featuring a sampling of USC's most cutting-edge research and breakthroughs. The display was a part of a special event called “A Celebration of Innovation in Southern California” at the USC Davidson Conference on Mar. 28 to christen the new $22-million USC Stevens Institute of Innovation whose mission is to harness and advance creative thinking and to enhance the societal and economic impact of research. Wood was chosen from scores of entries from other USC faculty, staff and students to demonstrate his online distance learning course Diagnosing DSM, which he spent two years pioneering.