Faculty & Research

The numbers are the problem for Associate Professor of Social Work Carrie Pettus at Florida State University.

More than 12,000 people are released from state and federal prisons each week, and 77% of formerly incarcerated individuals return to prison within five years.

“If you can imagine going to a doctor and they say here’s this medical intervention that works 23 percent of the time, would we continue to use that intervention? No,” Pettus said.

Florida State University has launched a new online professional development certification to assist educators with early childhood social and emotional behavioral support and interventions.

Family cohesion and regular religious attendance play a critical role in positive mental health outcomes for Asian Americans, according to new research from Florida State University.

It is a common experience for young adults to struggle when they get to college. These struggles are often compounded for students who lack a support system, particularly first-generation students and children who become independent early in adulthood due to experiences in foster care or the child welfare system.

Dr. Yaacov Petscher, an FSU College of Social Work faculty member, was promoted this year to full professor. He reached this academic achievement through a unique and personal scholastic journey, one directed by his guiding principles – intellectual curiosity and humility.

After graduating with her MSW in 1996 and her Ph.D. in 2006 from the Florida State University College of Social Work, Dr. Lisa Johnson returned in 2018 as an Assistant Teaching Professor and co-Program Coordinator for the College of Social Work at FSU Panama City.  In addition, she served as the area coordinator and faculty field liaison for the online MSW program. She returned to the College of Social Work in Tallahassee in 2020 as a Visiting Teaching Professor where she taught courses remotely due to the Pandemic.

“The Uncanny Chronicles,” a comic book focused on the realities of dyslexia will soon be available nationwide as a graphic novel thanks to an agreement between Florida State University and Ventris Learning.

The Florida Center for Reading Research at Florida State University and University of St. Francis have partnered with education officials in India to establish the National Center for Reading Interventions and Research (NCRIR) in India.

The Resiliency Project, an online health and wellness kit created at Florida State University to help provide students with the tools to build coping and stress management skills, is now available nationwide to colleges and universities that asked for help to achieve similar successes.

A Florida State University professor is paving the way for social workers, psychologists and transplant teams across the country to increase the quality of life for children who have received organ transplants.

Assistant Professor of Social Work Michael Killian has published a new study that takes a step back and examines current data related to assessment tools for pediatric organ transplant recipients to improve these children’s quality of life and ensure a successful transplant.