Welcome

We’re halfway through our 2024—25 academic year already and it’s been a busy one for our School of Social Work. As I reflect on some of our research and community engagement highlights from the past six months, the impact our faculty, students and staff have made at the local, state, national and global levels continues to reinforce our School’s mission of advancing equity, transforming systems and improving lives.

Some of these notable achievements include new grants and awards, state advisory board discussions, and global presentations and conferences that brought researchers from around the world together to tackle society’s most pressing issues.

I’d like to first recognize a trio of our faculty researchers who were honored at the University and national levels for their contributions to the field of social work. This fall, Associate Professor Cynthia Fraga Rizo was named one of five recipients of the University’s Thomas Willis Lambeth Distinguished Chair in Public Policy. Funded by the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, Rizo is just the second School of Social Work recipient of the honor in its 20-year history.

Sandra Reeves Spears and John B. Turner Distinguished Professor of Social Work Trenette Clark Goings was presented the University’s 2024 Edward Kidder Graham Faculty Service Award. One of two major faculty and staff awards presented on UNC-Chapel Hill’s University Day, the honor was established in 2010 to recognize outstanding service by a member of the UNC voting faculty. The award was presented in recognition of Goings’ research efforts to advance the quality of life for residents in underserved and marginalized communities.

Finally, we celebrate Smith P. Theimann Jr. Distinguished Professor of Ethics and Professional Practice Kim Strom, who in October was named a Social Work Pioneer at the National Association of Social Workers’ 18th annual Social Work Pioneers program and luncheon.

I want to thank all three for their service and research contributions to the field.

I’d also like to highlight the success of this fall’s Global Social Development Innovations (GSDI) Global Symposium. The event centered on the themes of health equity, economic security and holistic education, and included efforts to improve outcomes for young people around the world. Social work practitioners from more than 20 countries participated in the three-day event, interacting with globally renowned scholars through a host of plenaries, workshops and panel sessions.

In the latest installment of our digital Impact Report, we provide an update on research in two of our primary research programs — child, youth and family well-being and older adults and long-term care. You’ll read about scholars who comb through big data sets to learn more about domestic violence and the child welfare system; who develop evidence-based parental strategies to help emerging adults — those between the ages of 18-25 — manage stress; who are bolstering the geriatric mental health workforce; and who play an integral part in a new national center that aims to support states in evaluating and enhancing their plans for dementia-related care.

I’d also encourage you to visit past installments of our Impact Report, all gathered together on this site, to learn more about the cutting-edge contributions from our School’s research centers, institutes and labs; and the individual and collaborative scholarship found in our programs around health, mental health and behavioral health, economic security, and system- and service-level research.