From the field: Spotlight on David Salmon in South Sudan
There
is reportedly one psychiatrist in all of South Sudan. There are no drug
treatment programs, medicine is scarce, and mental health treatment is
non-existent.
So begins one of David Salmon’s (MSW ’90) blog posts from South Sudan.
Employed by the Alaska Native Corporation Alutiiq through a contract
with the U.S. Department of State, Salmon moved to South Sudan in
February to help the new nation create a juvenile justice system. South
Sudan became independent in 2011 after more than two decades of civil
war, and the nation is hard at work to provide services to its citizens,
including health care, infrastructure, education and access to water
and sanitation.
Two mentally-ill twins in their
twenties wander around naked, except for a light coating of dust. You’ll
see one in one part of town and then a half hour later, see the other
in another part of town and go, “Hey, how did he get over here so
fast?
Salmon brings extensive experience in clinical social
work, project management and juvenile justice to the South Sudanese. His
blog conveys a sense of realism and urgency to the country’s plight. He
writes often about the prison system and, in particular, the
difficulties faced by children. There is the 11-year-old offered as
compensation to the victim’s family for a murder during a cattle raid
and a 16-year-old girl released after five months in prison for stealing
money from a home.
While touring Torit County Prison, a man started speaking to me
in English.... He had a chain around his ankle which is something that
often accompanies condemned prisoners or those the South Sudanese deem
‘lunatics.’ Sometimes the mentally ill are detained under a ‘public
nuisance’ law and may have not committed any criminal offense at all. There’s just no other facility for them.
Having
worked with data and research for 10 years, Salmon is excited about the
thought of putting what he’s learned into practice. “It’s not often you
get the chance to help build a system almost from the ground up,” he
says.
School and alumni updates
More than $100,000 raised at spring scholarship breakfast
The 4th Annual School of Social Work Scholarship Breakfast, held
March 20 in the newly renovated HUB on the UW Seattle campus, raised
more than $100,000 for need-based scholarships for future MSW students. New York Times best-selling author and video game designer Jane McGonigal shared
her insights on how video games can make the world a better place.
Norman Johnson (BA ’71, MSW ’73), executive director of Therapeutic
Health Services, emceed the event, which attracted nearly 250 guests.
Sponsors included Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Casey Family
Programs, Regence BlueShield, Era Living and the National Association of
Social Workers, Washington Chapter. Read more about McGonigal's speech
in Geekwire, a Portland-based Web publication, which covered the breakfast and McGonigal’s talk.
Miguel Ferguson voted one of this year's "Texas 10"
Miguel Ferguson (PhD, ’99), associate professor of social work at the
University of Texas at Austin, was nominated by UT alumni as one of the
university’s top 10 teachers. Ferguson developed a passion for social justice when he attended
inner-city schools. He remembers asking himself: "Why do we have such
inequality in the midst of plenty in this country?" and has
devoted his career to exploring that question. Ferguson teaches classes
on poverty, social policy, welfare reform and social
justice. The award was announced in the March-April 2013 issue of The Alcalde, the alumni magazine of the University of Texas.
Awards and accolades
Beth Farmer receives Robert Wood Johnson Foundation leadership award
Beth Farmer (MSW '08) is one of 10 recipients of the Robert Wood
Johnson Foundation Community Health Leaders Award. Selected from
hundreds of applications nationwide, she received $125,000, which will
be used in part to fund further study. Farmer was recognized for her
pioneering work to develop an effective assessment tool that screens for
anxiety and depression among refugees. Called Pathways to Wellness, the
tool identifies refugees at risk, connects them to care, builds
provider capacity and strengthens systems integration. In the past,
refugee resettlements rarely dealt with mental health issues. Now,
Farmer’s tool has dramatically altered how refugee health is viewed and
treated. Pathways is being used by about 70 percent of the 1,800
refugees coming into King County and in more than 35 other locations
nationwide.
James DeLong winner of the UW distinguished contributions award
James DeLong was recently selected to receive the 2013 UW
Distinguished Contributions to Lifelong Learning Award. The awards
committee cited his
many years of leadership at the School of Social Work, where he
supported educational access for working adults and other nontraditional
students as part of the Extended Degree program. Under DeLong's
direction, the program's reach and scope were greatly expanded to
include diverse groups of experienced and engaged social workers
practicing in urban and rural settings.
He attributes his success to the hard work of the faculty and staff
who supported him over the decades. “While I was fortunate to have a
pivotal role in access for nontraditional students,” he said, “I see
this award as a celebration of the School’s collective accomplishments.”
DeLong will be honored at an awards ceremony on Thursday, June 13, at
3:30 p.m. in Meany Hall Auditorium, followed by a reception in the
lobby. Both the ceremony and reception are open to all.
Multi-million-dollar NIDA grant goes to Social Development Research Group
Dr. Rick Kosterman and his colleagues at the School-affiliated Social
Development Research Group recently received a five-year $2.6 million
award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Their study will
explore mechanisms linking social and built environments to the health
of people in their 30s. It follows a longitudinal sample from the
Seattle Social Development Project.
Indigenous Wellness Research Institute team honored by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Dr. Bonnie Duran and the School-affiliated IWRI team were recognized by
the CDC for their pioneering efforts to reorient conventional models of
research toward those that promote community-based participatory
research, cultural humility and indigenous ways of knowing. The research
conducted by Duran, associate professor, Department of Health Services,
and IWRI will help communities design public health treatment and
prevention efforts that are more empowering, culture-centered,
sustainable and effective.
In the news
James Herbert Williams honored with 2013 distinguished alumni award
James
Herbert Williams (PhD '94) is the 2013 School of Social Work
Distinguished Alumni Award winner. Dr. Williams grew up in rural North
Carolina, one of seven
children of a sharecropper father and mother who prized education. His
parents died when he was 10, and he was subsequently raised by his
grandmother. "When you don't grow up in privilege," says
Williams, "you never assume that you've arrived."
Today, Dr. Williams is the dean of the Graduate School of Social Work
at the University
of Denver. His research on health promotion and disease prevention,
mental health, delinquency and social issues affecting the
African-American community has been widely published in leading
scholarly journals. He is the current president of the National
Association of Deans and Directors of Schools of Social Work and a
member of the Commission on Educational Policy for the Council of Social
Work Education.
This prestigious award honors a School graduate for exceptional
service, social innovation or professional leadership. Past awardees
include Wendy Lustbader, Norman Johnson, Ken Weinberg, Eric Pettigrew,
Leah De Roulet, Perry Wien, Joe Bell and James Kelly.
Dean Williams will receive the distinguished alumni award at a
reception preceding the School’s graduation ceremony on June 13 at the
Alaska Airlines Arena in the Hec Edmundson Pavilion on the UW campus. The
reception will be held from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. in the Pavilion's Founders Club. Please RSVP to attend. Guests attending the
reception are welcome to attend the graduation celebration.
For details, please contact Greg Ross or call 206-221-7735.
Diana Pearce weighs in on poverty in letter to the NYT editor
In a recent letter to the editor of the The New York Times, Diana
Pearce, senior lecturer and director of the Center for Women’s Welfare,
discussed the importance of better-paying jobs in the war against
poverty as well as more support for working parents and equal wages for
women and people of color. “When we force people to choose between being
successful workers and successful parents, the country loses,” Pearce
wrote. “It is equally important to ensure that parents can both care for
their children and provide adequately for them.” Her letter and several
other opinions on the subject appeared February 9 in the Sunday
Dialogue, a regular feature of The New York Times.
Biren "Ratnesh" Nagda celebrates new book and teaching recognition award
As higher education institutions become more diverse, campus
demographics are shifting. This change can lead to a more dynamic
learning environment
or it can raise tensions and reinforce stereotypes. Intergroup dialogue
can bring together students from different groups to share perspectives
and learn from each other. In Dialogue Across Difference: Practice, Theory, and Research on Intergroup Dialogue (Russell Sage Foundation,
2013), Professor Biren “Ratnesh” Nagda, director of the Intergroup
Dialogue, Education and Action (IDEA) Center, and his colleagues show
that intergroup dialogue is a useful model to improve relationships
among different groups not only in a university but in other settings as
well.
Nagda was recently selected to receive a Faculty Recognition Award
from the Office of Minority Affairs & Diversity for being a vital
campus partner who has “engaged staff, taught students and made their
campus experience enlightening and successful.” The University has
appointed Nagda as a full professor, effective September 2013.
Upcoming events
UW Class of 2013 includes 290 School of Social Work graduates
The School of Social Work will graduate 290 individuals on Thursday,
June 13. The ceremony takes place 6–8:30 p.m. at Alaska Airlines Arena,
with a reception to follow. Tickets are not necessary, but RSVPs for graduates and guests are requested. More information is available on our graduation Web page.
Milestones
Chizuko Norton leaves a rich legacy
Chizuko Norton (BASW ’49, MSW ’51), a dedicated Seattle social worker
for more than 50 years, died March 2. The child of Japanese immigrants,
during World War II “Chiz” and her family were sent to an internment
camp in California, where she spent her teenage years. After the
war, she earned degrees in social work from the University and married
Thomas Norton, who became a professor in the University’s Department of
Urban Planning.
During her long career, she worked at Children’s Home Society of
Washington, Ryther Child Center and United Way of King County, before
turning her focus to education. She was hired as a faculty member in the
School of Social Work, teaching and overseeing student field
placements. In 1984, Norton and two colleagues founded Separation and
Loss Services at Virginia Mason Medical Center, where she remained as
director until 1993. She continued in private practice for many years
after that.
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