Leo Cabassa
Granted Joint Appointment
Leo Cabassa, assistant professor, now holds a joint appointment with the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the USC Keck School of Medicine. His research centers on understanding the causes of racial and ethnic disparities in mental health care and in developing culturally tailored interventions aimed at reducing these disparities. His scholarship and publications have focused on access to mental health services, acculturation theory and measures, depression in the Latino community, suicidal behavior among Latina teens, the effects of language and ethnicity in the psychiatric diagnostic process and the quality of care in the social services.

Center for Work & Family Life
Wins Best Practices Award for Support of Employees’ Psychological Health
The USC Center for Work & Family Life has been honored with a best practices award by the California Psychological Association, the professional organization for psychologists, for its approaches to addressing the psychological health of its workforce. USC was the only university recognized by the association. Criteria for the awards are quality of vision/mission statement; quality of work environment; employee involvement; family support; employee growth and development; and health, safety and security.
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Annalisa Enrile
Honored for Work with Filipino-American World War II Veterans
Clinical Assistant Professor Annalisa Enrile recently received an award for her nearly 10 years of service to Filipino-American veterans of World War II. Given by UCLA’s Justice for Filipino-American Veterans and People’s Coalition for Organizing, Reform, and Empowerment (PCORE), an Echo Park social service agency, the honor recognized Enrile’s long-term dedication and service to veterans whose benefits for fighting as U.S. soldiers in the Asia Pacific Theater during World War II were later rescinded by the United States at the end of the war. In what came to be known as the Bataan Death March, thousands of Filipino and American soldiers died or were killed during the forcible transfer of prisoners of war. Today, hundreds of Filipino-American veterans of World War II have yet to see their benefits. In spring 2006, Enrile served as the keynote speaker for the Veteran’s Equity Bill Conference at UCLA to address this issue.

Kristin Ferguson
Named to the Gabe W. Miller Memorial Foundation Advisory Committee
Assistant Professor Kristin Ferguson has been appointed to the Gabe W. Miller Memorial Foundation advisory committee. The foundation, inspired by its namesake who died in 2005 while an MSW student at the University of Denver, collects and distributes funds to individuals who can deliver, as Gabe did, service to those who need it most – physically and mentally disabled adults and children, rehabilitated former prisoners reintegrating into society, children in need of support and role models and other such groups.

Carmen Frierson
Promoted to Associate Dean
Senior administrator Carmen Frierson has been promoted to associate dean for administration, a position that will encompass a more strategic role in the school’s fiscal management and growth. During her tenure, she has been instrumental in the implementation of information technology systems, budgeting processes, physical space planning, staff supervision and employee relations.

Dianne Golden
Joins Social Work Field Faculty
Clinical Associate Professor Dianne Golden has joined the USC School of Social Work field faculty, bringing more than 17 years of experience. A graduate of the school, Golden’s background includes extensive graduate and post-graduate level social work teaching and mentoring. Prior to USC, she was the director of social work for Pacific Clinics, a non-profit behavioral healthcare organization, where she was responsible for the master’s level training for social workers and marriage/family therapists. Additionally, Golden served as an internal liaison to graduate students and intern supervisors, and conducted clinical seminars for students. She will work primarily at the USC Orange County Center.

Karen Lincoln
Welcomed as New Assistant Professor
The USC School of Social Work has hired Assistant Professor Karen Lincoln, an expert in mental health inequalities across the life course, informal networks and negative social interactions, from the University of Washington. Her current National Institute of Mental Health-supported project examines how race, socioeconomic status, social relationships and stress impact depression among African American and white adults. Lincoln is a former Hartford Scholar and is currently a scholar with the National Institute of Mental Health's African American Mental Health Research Scientist Program. She earned two master's degrees and her doctorate in social work and sociology from the University of Michigan.

Paul Maiden
Appointed New Vice Dean
R. Paul Maiden has been named the USC School of Social Work's new vice dean of faculty and student affairs. He brings 27 years of expertise in the field of workplace human services and social work administration, most recently with the University of Central Florida's School of Social Work. Maiden is editor of the Journal of Workplace Behavioral Health and has published extensively in the areas of employee assistance programs, substance abuse and workplace legislation, AIDS in the workplace and addictions. He also has extensive international experience and was twice the recipient of Senior Fulbright Scholar awards to Russia and South Africa. Read More »

Ferol Mennen
Receives Sterling C. Franklin Distinguished USC Social Work Faculty Award
Associate Professor Ferol Mennen was presented the Sterling C. Franklin Distinguished USC Social Work Faculty Award during commencement ceremonies in May. The honor recognizes a faculty member who has achieved recognition in the scientific community and addressed solutions to important social problems. Mennen has contributed extensively to the literature on the psychological effects of child abuse and neglect. She is a consulting editor for Families in Society, the oldest and one of the most respected journals in North America on social work. She is also affiliated with the CHILD Center (Child/Family Health Initiatives and Leadership Development) as an evaluator for Project ABC, which will prepare a framework for providing mental health services in early education.

Jacquelyn McCroskey
Partners with the Healthy City Project
Jacquelyn McCroskey, who holds the John Milner Professorship in Child Welfare, has been selected to be a partner in the Healthy City Project in which she will help govern its development and oversee programmatic, financial and technical decisions. The not-for-profit Healthy City Project is an interactive online website that provides free access to the most comprehensive database of health and human services in Los Angeles County. The information portal uses mapping software to pull together demographic, economic and health data from a host of government and private agencies, and then breaks it down by city, census tract, zip code, even intersection. Community leaders and policy makers can use this data to generate snapshots of every community's social-services needs to help them with resource referrals, policy advocacy and resource planning. McCroskey has spent her career advising policy makers, administrators and philanthropists on using data to improve program planning and track how the results impact the lives of children and families in Los Angeles County.

Michalle Mor Barak
Wins Best Management Book Award
Social work and business professor Michalle Mor Barak has won the 2007 George Terry Book Award from the Academy of Management, making her the first USC author to earn the prestigious honor. She received the accolade for Managing Diversity: Toward a Globally Inclusive Workplace (Sage Publications), which judges deemed this year's most outstanding contribution to the advancement of management. She said this honor sends a message that diversity management is taking center stage in an increasingly globalized workforce. Read More »

Named Fellow of Corporate Global Roundtable
Michàlle Mor Barak was named a fellow of the Global Workforce Roundtable, which is sponsored by the Boston College Center for Work and Family, in recognition of her contribution and expertise in the area of global diversity management and following her presentation at the inaugural 2006 Global Corporate Roundtable summit in London. The Global Workforce Roundtable was formed to provide a forum for a multicultural exchange of information, best practices and lessons learned among leading corporations seeking to enhance their global workforce strategies. In her role as a fellow, Mor Barak will provide consultation to corporate executives who lead their companies in implementing new initiatives to make their organizations more sensitive and accommodating to employees from diverse backgrounds in balancing work, family and life. 

Valerie Richards
Given Jane Addams Faculty Award
Clinical Assistant Professor Valerie Richards was presented the Jane Addams Faculty Award during commencement ceremonies in May. The honor recognizes a faculty member whom the graduating students have nominated for their academic, administrative and moral support of students. At the heart of the MSW program are caring and dedicated faculty like Richards, who approach teaching and learning with a sense of responsibility and a deep-seated conviction that they can make a difference. Students call her passionate and actively engaged. One example of her commitment is her decision to include graduate students in the cultural sensitivity training workshops she conducts for Teen Line volunteers, which gave both sets of students a new learning experience.

Michal Sela-Amit
Promoted to Clinical Assistant Professor
Michal Sela-Amit was promoted to clinical assistant professor, ending an extensive two-year search for a candidate capable of giving leadership to the curriculum in the area of practice and related fields. Sela-Amit is active in the school’s Families and Children concentration with interests in child welfare, family violence, immigration, international social work, practice and qualitative research. She has been a member the school’s adjunct faculty since 2003, taking on numerous administrative roles including that of international student adviser. She received her Master of Social Work degree (cum laude) from the University of Haifa, Israel and her doctorate from the USC School of Social Work. 

Cherry Short
Joins Governor's Fight to Rehabilitate California Prison System
Cherry Short, assistant dean of global and community initiatives, has been asked to be part of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's rehabilitation strike team focused on implementing radical policy change within the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). She will be one of 20 experts from universities, community organizations and state government agencies to participate in the overhaul of the CDCR policies and programs, including reforming California's prison rehabilitation programs and expediting the construction of correctional facilities. Read More »

Penny Trickett
Earns Grant to Further Research on How Genes, Environment Affect Mental Health
Penny Trickett has been awarded an Advancing Scholarship in the Humanities and Social Sciences grant from the USC Provost’s Office for more than $20,000. The prize will be used to further her current research study, “From Nature vs. Nurture to Nature x Nurture: Investigating How Genes Interact with Child Abuse and Neglect." Specifically, she will examine how the environment that children grow up in – which may include situations of child abuse and/or neglect – interacts with the genes they were born with and how it produces mental health problems. She would like to be able to better predict what factors play a part in a child’s development of abusive traits while simultaneously preventing adverse outcomes for these adolescents. Read More »