Students

Growing up as a student-athlete, MSW student Kara Guinan was often surrounded by disordered eating. This concern led her to pursue a bachelor's degree in nutrition and exercise science at Keene State College in New Hampshire. While finishing her undergraduate coursework during the height of the pandemic, Guinan took an epidemiology class where she was introduced to different social, environmental, and biological factors that shape health outcomes.

Beren Crim Sabuncu, a doctoral candidate with the FSU College of Social Work, was awarded a 2026 Doctoral Student Research and Creativity Award in the Social and Behavioral Science disciplinary category at Florida State University. The FSU Celebration of Graduate Student Excellence event brought together many fellowship, grant, and award winners from across campus in April 2026.

Undergraduate social work student Felix Preston is getting first-hand experience on one of the emerging ways that artificial intelligence, or AI, can effectively and ethically support clinical social work practice.

Thirteen social work undergraduate and graduate students spent their 2026 Spring Break experiencing international social work in the East Caribbean. For more than a decade, the College of Social Work has offered an Alternative Spring Program that introduces social work students through collaborations with organizations in Grenada, West Indies.

Relay For Life at FSU is supporting the fight against cancer and getting ready for its annual fundraising event. The student organization raised more than $34,000 in one day for cancer research and patient support, in partnership with the American Cancer Society (ACS), through recent events ahead of the fundraiser on April 11.  

Sanoop Valappanandi, a doctoral candidate in the FSU College of Social Work, was awarded a fellowship from the Grand Challenges of Social Work program this spring.

Since 2012, the FSU College of Social Work has enjoyed an international partnership with Jönköping University in Sweden, offering an exchange program for both universities’ undergraduate students. Students participating in the program can take a full-time course load for a full semester at their host university.

Two doctoral students from the Florida State University College of Social Work, Oluwaseun "Jay" Jegede and Ngondwe "Pons" Ponsiano, received highly competitive 2026 Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR) Travel Awards to support their participation in the annual conference held in January 2026. Each year, SSWR awards a limited number of travel stipends to doctoral students nationwide selected as presenting authors at the conference.

MSW student Sarah Lovins Bacani is both an FSU student and an FSU employee working within FSU Advising First, a part of the Division of Undergraduate Studies. "I currently work in the Center for Academic Guidance, where we specialize in early response interventions for students who are beginning to show signs of academic disengagement or risk of dropping out," she shared.

The FSU College of Social Work welcomed its newest cohort of Student Ambassadors for the 2025-2026 academic year. These student leaders are taking a forward-facing role at the college, acting as representatives of the college and its mission in multiple roles.