UW News

February 21, 2008

School of Social Work nationally recognized for leadership

Faculty in the UW School of Social Work received national recognition for leadership in practice and research.


Amy Ai, associate professor of social work, received the prestigious Leadership Award from the Association for Gerontology Education in Social Work. This award recognizes a faculty member who has made significant contributions in research, teaching, and scholarship related to aging—through publications, grant-funded research, major conference presentations, and curriculum development. Ai, who was named a Fellow of the American Psychological Association in 2007, is also Hartford Geriatric Faculty Scholar and Affiliated Researcher of Integrative Medicine in the University of Michigan (UM) Health System, as well as principal investigator for the Templeton Project on Spirituality and Cardiac Rehabilitation at UM.


Gunnar Almgren, associate professor of social work, is the winner of a 2007 American Journal of Nursing Book of the Year Award. His recent book, Health Care Politics, Policy, and Services: A Social Justice Analysis (New York: Springer Publishing Company) won in the community/public health category.


Richard F. Catalano, professor of social work and director of the Social Development Research Group (SDRG), was the recipient of the 2007 August Vollmer Award from the American Society of Criminology. Catalano was recognized for a lifetime of scholarly achievement that has contributed to the prevention of health and behavior problems among children and youth at risk for delinquency. Over the last 28 years, the UW School of Social Work has received nearly $100 million in research grants to support SDRG’s multidisciplinary research. SDRG tests preventive interventions and strategies to enhance young people’s positive development.


Mark E. Courtney is the inaugural holder of the first endowed chair in the School of Social Work, the Ballmer Endowed Chair for Child Well-Being. Courtney, former director of the esteemed Chapin Hall for Children at the University of Chicago, is also executive director of Partners for Our Children. Partners for Our Children is a unique private-public collaboration among the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services, the UW, and the private sector committed to making positive changes in the Washington state child-welfare system.


Nancy Hooyman, Hooyman Endowed Professor of Gerontology in the School of Social Work, continues her longstanding national leadership in gerontology. She is co-principal investigator for a National Center for Gerontological Social Work Education initiative funded 2004-2011 by the John A. Hartford Foundation to promote the preparation of gerontologically competent social work graduates. She also co-authored the 8th edition of the most widely used textbook in the field, Social Gerontology: A Multidisciplinary Perspective; worked with national colleagues to plan a National Center for Family Care Initiatives; completed a three-year term as chair of the Social Research, Policy, and Practices Section of the Gerontological Society of America, and, at UW, was part of the core leadership faculty for the Center for Interdisciplinary Geriatric Research that focuses on health promotion and quality of life for elders.


Jennifer Romich, assistant professor of social work, has been honored with the 2008 Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR) Excellence in Research Award for her research entitled “Difficult Calculations: Low-Income Workers and Marginal Tax Rates” (Social Service Review 80:1, 27-66, 2006). Social work doctoral student Min Jung Kim received the 2008 SSWR Doctoral Fellows Award for her dissertation,” Youth Violence Prevention: Social Development Model Approaches to Predicting and Preventing the Progression of Childhood Aggression into Youth Violence.” These prestigious awards from this international organization recognize the significance of the problem addressed in the recipients’ research, the rigor of the analysis, and its contribution to knowledge in social work and social welfare.


David Takeuchi, professor of social work and associate dean for research in the School of Social Work, received the Family Research Consortium (FRC) Legacy Award in June 2007 to recognize his distinctive contributions to research on race, ethnicity, immigration, and health and to training the next generation of scholars researching these issues. FRC is funded by the National Institute of Mental Health. Takeuchi also received a national leadership award from New York University for his research contributions to the study of health in diverse communities. Recently he accepted the Department of Health and Human Service’s invitation to serve as a member of the Community Influences on Health Behavior Study Section, Center for Scientific Review, for the term ending June 30, 2011.


Karina Walters, associate professor of social work, the William P. and Ruth Gerberding University Professor, and director of the Indigenous Wellness Research Institute (IWRI), received a U.S. Senior Fulbright Award to conduct research with Maori communities and lecture at universities across New Zealand from September 2007 to June 2008. Her work as a research fellow at Nga Pae o Te Maramatanga, the National Institute of Research Excellence for Maori Development and Advancement at the University of Auckland, is related to IWRI’s international mission of supporting indigenous people’s rights to reach complete health and wellness. Walters is working with Maori colleagues to translate and develop indigenous research methods to promote the health of indigenous people in New Zealand and the United States.



For more information about the School of Social Work, please contact JenaPatterson at jeanjp@u.washington.edu or 206-685-9845.