Moving to South Florida from New York in high school in the 1980s meant Tracy McDade witnessed first-hand the influx of Cuban refugees coming to Florida. Volunteering with various organizations in the South Florida community, McDade heard accounts from these refugees of maltreatment, poverty and injustice. This experience affirmed her desire to improve the lives of disadvantaged individuals, families and whole communities.
“I love seeing students take their classroom learning and apply it in the real world,” said Brenda Legaspi, a new social work faculty member at the College of Social Work (FSU CSW). Legaspi joins the college as an assistant teaching professor focused on working with distance learning students in the Online MSW Program. “My primary interest has been field education, the signature pedagogy of the social work profession.”
FSU College of Social Work Associate Professor Carrie Pettus-Davis addressed congressional leaders as part of a panel on social work and policing. On June 30, 2020, four experts convened to discuss social work's role in the future of policing. Moderated by Charles E. Lewis, Jr., the panel included Derrick Jackson, George T. Patterson, Desmond U. Patton, and Carrie Pettus-Davis.
A team from Florida State University has received more than $400,000 from the National Institutes of Health to investigate how closely children who receive a heart, liver or kidney transplant adhere to medication regimens post-surgery.
Michael Killian, an assistant professor at the FSU College of Social Work, was awarded the two-year grant to explore pediatric patient medication adherence and test what factors might predict specific patient trajectories. The team believes this could improve accuracy in the prediction of post-transplant health outcomes.
As the COVID-19 pandemic gained a foothold in the US and colleges and universities were moving online, Carol Campbell Edwards, an assistant teaching professor at the FSU College of Social Work, was inspired to develop a Spring 2020 webinar series that would promote virtual engagement for social work students who were suddenly disconnected and isolated.
The FSU Office of Research Development organized its eleventh Collaborative Collison event to bring faculty from various departments across the university to work together on projects that specifically target the current COVID-19 pandemic.
This semester, two FSU College of Social Work faculty members were honored for excellence in teaching, Keithen Mathis and Shalay Jackson. As student-oriented awards, recipients are nominated by students and alumni and selected for their outstanding efforts that lead to successful teaching and learning.
Dr. Shalay Jackson has made it her mission to engage her students in the content and courses she teaches, which later translates to competence in the social work field. This approach is especially important for courses like her Social Work Practice with Communities and Organizations course (SOW4360) as excitement and enthusiasm for community engagement is imperative for immersion and appreciation of the coursework. She received a 2020 FSU Community Engaged Teaching Award for her community-centered instructional approach.
A team from Florida State University’s College of Social Work has received a $200,000 grant to develop a new evidence-based curriculum related to substance use disorders.
The FSU Center for the Study and Promotion of Communities, Families, and Children (CFC Center) based at the Florida State University College of Social Work received a 2020 Expansion of Practitioner Education grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
The current Coronavirus pandemic has drastically increased the need for resilience interventions, but social distancing and isolation have made connecting a challenge. When Dr. Machelle Madsen Thompson first heard about the effect the pandemic was having in the beginning, she knew she wanted to help. She made it her personal mission to help address trauma and resilience in ways that improved the lives of children and families.
