The 2016-2017 academic year has been a busy year to date for the Department of Social Work. Faculty including Dr. Denise Levy, Ms. Heather Thorp, Dr. Emily Dakin, Dr. Kelly Williams, Dr. Leah Hamilton and Dr. Kellie Reed-Ashcraft co-presented at the Annual Program Meeting of the Council on Social Work Education held in Atlanta, while Dr. Rachel Wright co-presented at the Sexuality and Social Work Conference in Olten, Switzerland.
In addition, Dr. Mike Howell presented at the Lilly Conference in Asheville, while Dr. Denise Levy and Ms. Heather Thorp co-presented at the North American Association of Christians in Social Work in late November in Cincinnati, and Drs. Kelly Williams, Emily Dakin and Maureen MacNamara presented at the Gerontological Society of America in New Orleans, also in November. Department faculty Dr. Peter Fawson, Dr. Rachel Wright, Dr. Robert Broce, and Dr. Maureen MacNamara co-presented at the Society for Social Work Research in New Orleans in January 2017.
Presentation and poster topics were wide-ranging in social work education: field placements, the expressive arts, distance education, gerontological content in MSW curricula, written feedback and the use of technology to support team-based learning. Other presentation topics included LGBT older adults in southern Appalachia; dating violence and mental health; sexual assault prevention; social work’s agenda regarding womens’ health; reproductive predictors among an university population; the use of labyrinths to promote spiritual and personal development, and an intergroup dialogue on Christianity and sexual orientation.
We appreciate the active scholarship of our faculty at national and international conferences, and look forward to their continued sharing of their scholarship in and out of the classroom.