Clinical Social Work Caucus
Walks for Dollars and to Raise Awareness About Mental Illness
The USC Clinical Social Work Caucus participated in the 2007 National Alliance on Mental Illness Walk-a-thon in October to raise money and awareness about the need for a better treatment and recovery system for people with mental illness. The caucus recruited 23 walkers, who raised $2,686 to support the Campaign for the Mind of America. "The NAMI event was a great way to connect with the mental health community many of us serve," said Kate Alson, vice chair of the caucus. "We also are pleased we could actively support what we consider an important group, which conducts family education, training to clinicians, advocacy and research." The caucus plans to make the NAMI walk an annual event.

Carlos Moran
Wins Scholarship for His Passion to Help Others
Carlos Moran, a master of social work student, has been awarded a $2,500 scholarship from the Gabe W. Miller Memorial Foundation, which the USC School of Work matched via a tuition credit. Established in memory of aspiring social work graduate student Gabe Miller, the foundation provides financial support to social service students who share his passion of improving the lives of the disabled, disadvantaged and dispirited. Moran has mentored delinquent and neglected teens as a case worker and worked with children and families through internships at Hathaway-Sycamores Child and Family Services and Pacific Clinics. A child of foster care, he legally adopted his two brothers and sister who were still in the system, uniting them under one roof, and now serves as parent, along with his other roles of graduate student, social activist and volunteer. Read More »

Monica Paz
Awarded Scholarship to Pursue Mental Health Career
Monica Paz, a master of social work student, has been awarded a $3,000 Consuelo W. Gosnell Scholarship from the National Association of Social Workers for her interest in pursuing a social work career helping Hispanic and Latino children and adolescents. Paz hopes to work in a mental health clinic, providing resiliency training and teaching coping methods to underrepresented children from families that are often unaware of the services available to them. "I want to empower these children to make better life choices and take advantage of their academic resources so they will have better opportunities available to them later in life," she said. Read More »

Amber Schindler
Will Present at South Africa Social Work Conference
MSW student Amber Schindler has had a poster presentation accepted for the 34th Biannual Congress of the International Association of Schools of Social Work, which will take place this summer in Durban, South Africa. Schindler's presentation, "International Social Welfare, Social Work and Social Development: A Comparative Analysis on the Social, Political, Economic and Historical Context of the Country of South Africa and the U.S.,” is based on her course work for Assistant Professor Kristin Ferguson's International Social Work and Social Development: Global Dimensions in Social Welfare Policy and Practice class. The presentation examines the relationship between colonization and apartheid and its effects on the economic development of South Africa, as well as the challenges presented to the public health and social services in the country by the HIV/AIDS pandemic, and how policy is created to deal with the situation. Schindler also chairs the International Social Work Caucus.

Audrey Tousant
Wins Scholarship for Good Deeds
Audrey Tousant, a master of social work student, has been awarded a $2,500 scholarship from the Gabe W. Miller Memorial Foundation, which the USC School of Work matched via a tuition credit. Established in memory of aspiring social work graduate student Gabe Miller, the foundation provides financial support to social service students who share his passion of improving the lives of the disabled, disadvantaged and dispirited. She has helped match families in need of legal services with pro bono attorneys, developed academic enrichment workshops, facilitated parent workshops and managed agency programs. Tousant plans on working in community building and educational improvement to reduce the problems of child and youth populations. Read More »

Anjanette Wells
Earns Fellowship for Cancer Research
The National Institutes of Health has presented Anjanette Wells, a PhD candidate in the USC School of Social Work, a $31,000 Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award. The pre-doctoral fellowship, which is given to doctoral students working with an advisor in the field of cancer research, will help fund the study she is conducting alongside social work professor Kathleen Ell on retention of low-income and minority cancer patients in depression treatment programs. Wells' research focuses on figuring out why cancer patients drop out of treatment programs that help them deal with depression that often results from the disease, and how to design programs that will best serve patients and keep them participating. She is especially interested in assisting low-income and minority patients. Read More »