Bryn Mawr College

Faculty News

Dana Becker, One Nation Under Stress: The Trouble with Stress as an Idea
From the mundane beep of a cell phone announcing the arrival of yet another new message to the horrors of the evening news, stress, it seems, is all around us.
But what if we’ve become too stressed about stress? Might it be keeping us from paying more attention to the problems that are making us all feel so stressed out?
That’s one of the questions asked in the new book. read more
Other publicity.

Darlyne Bailey Keynote Speaker at the Chester County Fund for Women and Girls 8th Annual Making a Difference Luncheon

Jenny Campbell, Ph.D. - Spring 2013 Speaking Engagements
American Society on Aging Annual Conference in Chicago (March 14) "The State of Guardianship in Pennsylvania, co-presentor with Diane Menio and Karen Reever".
Philanthropy New York, panelist, "Vulnerable Populations and Disasters: Lessons from Katrina and a Sandy Update" New York City (February 27, 2013).
Jenny Campbell, PhD, MSW, has a consulting practice and works with non-profit agencies where she provides strategic planning, training, program development, program evaluation and grantwriting. Jenny also advises students at Bryn College Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research.

Julia Littell presented at International Conference in Dhaka, Bangladesh
In mid-December 2012, Littell delivered the opening plenary address as well as presented three half-day workshops at an international conference in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The conference focused on use of systematic reviews of research to inform international development efforts. Attendees included scholars (from many countries) and policy makers (mostly from South Asia). (Littell Interview) Littell's workshops covered: 1) the scientific foundations of research synthesis, 2) formulating questions for systematic reviews of research, and 3) meta-analysis.

Sandy Schram Speaks in Israel
Sandy Schram recently spoke about his work on
change research at the School of Social Work at Hebrew University in Jerusalem on December 16, 2012, and at the School of Social Work at Haifa University, on December 17, 2012.

Pictures--above - Hebrew University (in a roundtable setting) and left - Keynote speaker at a conference at Haifa University attended by over 200 faculty, students and community activists.

Sanford Schram, “The End of Social Work: Neoliberalizing Social Policy Implementation”

Julia Littell Summer 2012 Speaking Engagements (read more)

Sanford Schram receives the 2012 Oliver Cromwell Cox Book Award
Schram receives the 2012 Oliver Cromwell Cox Book Award for Disciplining the Poor: Neoliberal Paternalism and the Persistent Power of Race, co-edited by Joe Soss and Richard Fording. This annual award honors the memory of Oliver Cromwell Cox. The award recognizes sociologically related books published in the last two years (2010 or 2011 publication date) that make a distinguished and significant contribution to the eradication of racism.

Leslie Alexander receives 2012 McPherson Fellowship
At Commencement 2012, Professor Leslie Alexander was presented with the most notable "McPherson Fellowship" for excellence in teaching and service; an award named in honor of our College's 6th President, Mary "Pat" Patterson McPherson.
Leslie's long-standing contributions to both our School and College make her the perfect recipient of this award. Both her research and classroom teaching reflect our professional values of critical thinking, ethical standards, and collaboration. These same practices are evident in her leadership of our College's Institutional Review Board.

Sandy Schram awarded The Michael Harrington Book Award
Visiting Professor Sandy Schram, co-author with Joe Soss and Richard Fording of Disciplining the Poor: Neoliberal Paternalism and the Persistent Power of Race (Chicago, 2011), has been awarded the Michael Harrington Book Award by the New Political Science Section of the American Political Science Association. The Michael Harrington Book Award is given yearly to an outstanding book that demonstrates how scholarship can be used in the struggle for a better world. The selection committee wrote: "While there were many good books that were nominated, the committee unanimously agreed that your book embodied an incredible commitment to scholarship with a deep concern for human justice." Schram's first book Words of Welfare: The Poverty of Social Science and the Social Science of Poverty (Minnesota,1995) was selected for the Harrington Award in 1996. Schram is the first scholar to have authored two books to win the Harrington Award. Schram was also selected as the 2012 recipient of the Charles McCoy Career Achievement Award from the American Political Science Association. This summer he is a Visiting Professor at Johannes Kepler University in Linz, Austria, where he is teaching a course on comparative social welfare policy. He recently completed a book entitled "On Becoming a Footnote: An Academic Memoir" (to be published by Forum Books). His new research projects are on the failure of reentry programs for ex-felons in the U.S. and Islamophobia in European welfare administration.

Professor Jim Martin quoted in USA Today, April 2, 2012 article

Sandy Schram 2012 recipient of the Charles McCoy Career Achievement Award
Sandy Schram, Visiting Professor, has been selected the 2012 recipient of the Charles McCoy Career Achievement Award from the American Political Science Association (APSA). The award is given annually since 2000 by the Caucus for a New Political Science section of the APSA and goes to a scholar and professor whose career has demonstrated excellence in teaching and research consistent with the goals of the Caucus. Prior awardees include Frances Fox Piven. Schram is slated to receive the award at this year's APSA meeting, this year to be held in New Orleans, Louisiana, August 30-September 2, 2012.

Jim Baumohl panelist on public radio show "Scholars' Circle"
Professor Jim Baumohl; Community Psychologist Sam Tsemberis; and Anthropologist Kim Hopper were panelists on the public radio show "Scholars' Circle" taped on March 1st to dicuss homelessness. Baumohl is a former tenant and welfare rights organizer, founder and first director of Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency, a social service and community organizing agency in the San Francisco East Bay. Tsemberis is the founder of Pathways to Housing, the pioneer in the "housing first" approach to homelessness. In addition to his scholarship on homelessness and community mental health, Hopper is a founding member of both the New York Coalition for the Homeless and the National Coalition for the Homeless. "Scholars' Circle" is produced by NPR affiliate KPFK in Los Angeles and is broadcast at various times and on different days throughout the country.
For more information on the program, its distribution, and an archive of shows: http://www.armoudian.com/radio/

Sandy Schram spoke in Austria about his new book, Disciplining the Poor, Neoliberal Paternalism and the Persistent Power of Race, in December, first at the University of Vienna on December 14th and then at Johannes Kepler University in Linz on the 16th. Disciplining the Poor is co-authored with Joe Soss and Richard Fording and published by the University of Chicago Press. Schram will return to Linz for the first three weeks of June 2012 to lead a comparative social welfare policy seminar where students will draw on Disciplining the Poor among others sources for their term papers.

Thomas Hurster, presenting at American Group Psythotherapy Association Annual Conference, March 2012. Workshop: Adolescent Group Psychotherapy in the Age of Facebook - Clinical Dilemmas and Possibilities. (link)

Thomas Hurster, Adjunct Faculty Member of Clinical Social Work at Bryn Mawr College Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research awarded Fellow status in the American Group Psychotherapy Association. The AGPA Fellowship is an honor bestowed by the Association recognizing outstanding leadership and contributions to the field of group psychotherapy.

Thomas Hurster delivered Keefer and Keefer Lecture in Humanities at Beloit College last April, entitled Psychotherapy in the Age of Facebook: Some Ethical Implications. (read more)

Sandy Schram, co-author, Disciplining the Poor, Neoliberal Paternalism and the Persistent Power of Race
Disciplining the Poor explains the transformation of poverty governance over the past forty years—why it happened, how it works today, and how it affects people. Joe Soss, Richard C. Fording, and Sanford F. Schram analyze diverse forms of data to explicate the racialized origins, operations, and consequences of a new mode of poverty governance that is simultaneously neoliberal—grounded in market principles—and paternalist—focused on telling the poor what is best for them. (read more)
Listen to interview.

David B. Landsman-Wohlsifer, PhD, LCSWm, Adjunct Faculty Member, speaker at PSCSW Annual Meeting, Brains in Love: A Neurobiological Approach to Couples Therapy
Friday, November 4, 2011 - Integrating elements of Attachment Theory with current updates in interpersonal neurobiology, Landsman-Wohlsifer will look at the “Mind Science” of relationships. (read more)

Jim Martin - Keynote Speaker
On September 23, 2011, Professor Jim Martin was the Keynote Speaker for the NY State Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers Annual Conference, Social Work Practice with Veterans through the Lifespan.
To read more on Martin's presentation, To War Then Home: Supporting Resiliency Within Returning Veterans & Their Families,visit: http://www.adelphi.edu/hudsonvalley/veterans/presentations.php

Sandy Schram recent publication
Change Research: A Case Study on Collaborative Methods for Social Workers and Advocates By Corey Shdaimah, Roland Stahl, and Sanford F. Schram “Change Research demonstrates the power of participatory action research for identifying creative alternatives to neoliberal housing policy. The authors reveal the limits of traditional policy research and share insights gained from negotiating the [...] (link)

Sandy Schram - Moonstone Arts Center "Class Warfare in Philadelphia" Series
Professor Sanford F. Schram and local interest lawyer Lawyer Irv Ackelsberg facilitated a a discussion on the On-going Financial Crisis, the Financial Sector and Predatory Lending as part of the Moonstone Arts Center Educational Series on Class Warfare in Philadelphia on Sept 8th. (read more)

Jenny Campbell article in Aging Today, Caring for Elders During a Natural Disaster: We Can Do Better - but Are We?

Faculty member recognized with special honors at commencement

This year, The Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Foundation Award for Distinguished Teaching was presented at Commencement to Professor Tom Vartanian, a member of the GSSWSR faculty, in recognition of his exceptional teaching. Tom’s selection as the recipient of the Lindback Award is a testimony of our College community’s appreciation and respect for his fine accomplishments and contributions in the classroom.

Dana Becker presenter at the 36th Annual Association for Women in Psychology Conference in Philadelphia, PA

On March 5, 2011, Becker delivered a paper presentation at the 36th Annual Association for Women in Psychology Conference in Philadelphia, PA. Becker's paper is part of a panel, "What's a Feminist to Think?", and is entitled "The Other Mommy War:  The Discourse of Stress Meets the Narrative of Work/Family Balance." The theme of the 2011 AWP Generating Feminisms conference is intended to honor and reflect on the many ways in which feminists have collaborated in the ever-diversifying, ever-changing projects of feminisms.

Jim Martin partcipated at the University of Southern California's Center for Innovation and Research on Veterans and Military Families Consortium.
On January 5-6, 2011,Professor Martin was one of the 32 senior Department of Defense and Military Service behavioral healthcare leaders, distinguished academics, representatives from the Veterans Administration family programs, and other behavioral health care experts who convened in Los Angeles to develop competencies for the Care of Families Impacted by Military Service. The consortium participants were tasked with constructing an over-arching philosophy regarding the development of the competencies, as well as the scope of practice and definition of "military family." The guidebook Advanced Social Work Practice in Military Social Work, published by the Council on Social Work Education in 2010, was the source document used to guide this consortium's work.

 

Cynthia Bisman, Keynote Speaker at European Association of Schools of Social Work

In November, Professor Bisman gave a keynote address, “Social welfare practice: Ethical guidance for the difficult challenges of a global world” in London, England at a conference co-hosted by the European Association of Schools of Social Work, Ethics and Social Welfare journal and London Metropolitan University.

Cynthia Bisman presenter at the Annual Program Meeting of the Council on Social Work Education

Professor Bisman was involved in several events at the Annual Program Meeting of the Council on Social Work Education, held in October 2010 in Portland, Oregon. Among them included a paper on her recent work focusing on globalizing the social work profession: “A Global Consciousness: Toward Sustainability for Social Work;” and a panel with two other US associate editors of international journals: “Sustainability in Social Work: The Role of International Journals.”

Julia Littell delivered plenary address at Chicago conference

Professor Littell delivered a plenary address to 350 people from 41 countries at an international, multi-disciplinary conference on "Knowledge to action: The next generation of evidence-based practice." The conference was held in Chicago, IL on September 13-15, 2010.

David B. Wohlsifer, Ph.D., LCSW, Adjunct Faculty Member

Wohlsifer, Adjunct Faculty Member, co-wrote a chapter entitled "Sexuality" in the text book,   "The Expanded Family Life Cycle: Individual, Family, and Social Perspectives, Fourth Edition, Monica McGoldrick; Betty Carter; Nydia Garcia Preto, Editors.
In addition to his teaching, Wohlsifer has been working as an individual, couple, and family therapist for over 16 years.

Jim Martin recently participated in a two-day research meeting sponsored by the Department of Defense

As someone who works in the military family research and support community, Professor Martin was one of sixty individuals invited to attend the 2010 International Research Symposium on Military Families. This event, presented by the Military Family Research Institute at Purdue University and the Center for Deployment Psychology, was held on April 7-8, 2010, in Indianapolis, Ind. This invitation-only Symposium brought together leading military and civilian scholars who study issues relevant to military families to discuss cutting-edge research and theory with the goal of developing new research insights and agendas. Four half-day sessions focused on the following topics:

• Family Sequelae of Wounds and Injuries
• Parenting and Child Outcomes
• Marital and Family Functioning
• Single Service Members

Jim Martin Contributes to Guide for Educators and Those Working with Veterans and Their Families

Professor Martin is one of 35 national experts recently tapped by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) to create a new guide to help Schools of Social Work as they develop courses and programs for social-work students, community behavioral-health providers, and human-services agencies to better serve the needs of military members, veterans, and their families.

Martin has been joined in these efforts by other academics, veterans’ affairs and military officials, and representatives of the leading professional organizations for social workers. (read more)

Dana Becker, Women's Work and the Societal Discourse of Stress

Professor Becker's article, Women's Work and the Societal Discourse of Stress, was recently published in Feminism & Psychology Journal, SAGE Publications, "argues that the feminized, medicalized discourse of stress offers an ultimately unworkable resolution of societal tensions centering around work and family".
(Slate Blog)

Julia Littell recipient of the 2009 Pro Humanitate Literary Award

Professor Littell recipient of the 2009 Pro Humanitate Literary Award for "literary works which best exemplify the intellectual integrity and moral courage required to transcend political and social
barriers to promote best practice in the field of child welfare". This jurried award is for Littell's article, "Evidence-based or biased? The quality of published reviews of evidence-based practices", which appeared in Children and Youth Services Review in 2008. Read more on Littell's publications, research and presentations.

Jim Martin invited presentor at the Maryland National Guard sponsored Educators Forum on Returning Veterans Conference

Professor Martin delivered an invited presentation - “Behavioral health needs of returning Veterans” at the Maryland National Guard sponsored Educators Forum on Returning Veterans Conference hosted by Towson University, 12 January 2010. The Maryland National Guard and Towson University forum hosted more than 150 senior educators to address issues affecting Maryland's returning veterans in post-secondary education. More information, including resources, is available at the conference website: http://www.towson.edu/nationalguardexpo/higherexpo/index.asp

Sandy Schram and Linda Houser present at the Society for Social Work and Research in San Francisco, CA

Sandy Schram, Visiting Professor, and Linda Houser, Doctoral Candidate, presented a paper at the 15th annual meeting of the Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR), January 14, 2010, in San Francisco, CA. The paper is entitled "Child Care Subsidies and Caseworker Discretion in the Post-Welfare Reform Era" and is co-authored with Joe Soss, University of Minnesota and Rich Fording, University of Kentucky. The paper is the 8th paper from a mixed-methods case study of welfare reform in Florida. The book that relies heavily on the project is entitled Disciplining the Poor: Neoliberal Paternalism and the Persistent Power of Race (University of Chicago Press, forthcoming).

Jim Martin presenter at The Pro Bono Counseling Project

Professor Martin invited presentor: “Private Counseling for Public Service: Providing Behavioral Health Services to Soldiers, Veterans, and Their Families.” For The Pro Bono Counseling Project (a non-profit behavioral health organization serving Maryland citizens) presented on 4 December at the Community College of Baltimore County (Catonsville, Baltimore, MD).

Jim Martin presented a "Veterans Day" workshop at VCU

Professor Jim Martin was the guest of the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Social Work on 11 and 12 November.  Jim presented an afternoon "Veterans Day" workshop for the VCU faculty on the 11th of November focused on promoting understanding and research opportunities with military and veteran populations. On 12 November Jim, joined by Army and Marine Corps colleagues, presented an all day workshop – “Addressing Military and Veteran Behavioral Health Challenges” -for civilian social workers in the greater Richmond area. Approximately 120 social workers participated in this VCU sponsored event. Information from this workshop is available at http://www.socialwork.vcu.edu/education/events/index.html

Sandy Schram presents at the Northeast People of Color Legal Scholarship Conference

Sandy Schram presented a talk titled "Governing the Poor: Neoliberal Paternalism and the Persistent Power of Race" at the Northeast People of Color Legal Scholarship Conference, "America's New Class Warfare," October 23-24, 2009. The presentation is available for viewing at: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/2408469

Jim Martin delivered an invited presentation at the Maryland NASW Annual Clinical Conference

On September 24th, 2009 Professor Martin delivered an invited presentation titled “The Human Dimensions of Military Service:  Examining the Behavioral Health Challenges Confronting Our Soldiers, Veterans, and Their Families”  at the Maryland NASW Annual Clinical Conference held at The Maritime Institute of Technology, Linthicum Heights, Maryland.  

Jim Martin appointed as a member of the Maryland's Veterans Behavioral Health Advisory Committee

On September 21, 2009 Professor Martin received a commission from Governor Martin O’Malley appointing him as a member of the Maryland's Veterans Behavioral Health Advisory Committee for the period 2009 - 2011. Previously (2008-2009) Jim represented the Maryland Secretary for Veteran’s Affairs on this committee.

Julia Littell gave address at Decade of the Mind Symposium, Germany

On September 12, 2009, Professor Littell gave an address, Evidence Based Social Policy, at the Decade of the Mind Symposium, an international conference on neurobiology. . Held in Berlin, Germany, the conference focused on potential uses of insights from cognitive neuroscience to improve health, education and social policy. (http://dom2009.de/)

Julia Littell co-author of article

Professor Littell is co-author (with Aron Shlonsky) of a new article titled, Toward evidence-informed policy and practice in child welfare. This paper appears in Better Evidence for a Better World, a volume edited by Mark Lipsey and Eamonn Noonan and published by the Global Development Network (New Delhi, India, 2009) and it will also appear in the journal Research on Social Work Practice.

Sandy Schram will provide research for Women's Community Revitalization Project

Sandy Schram works on a continuing basis with the Women's Community Revitalization Project (WCRP) to provide research that helps with their advocacy efforts to create more affordable housing for low-income populations in Philadelphia. This initiative grows out a prior project where Schram with the assistance of Corey Shdaimah phd '03 and Roland Stahl phd '08 produced a report for WCRP and the Philadelphia Affordable Housing Coalition which played a role in helping create the City's new Affordable Housing Trust Fund that earmarks funding for both new rental housing and home repair of existing owned homes. According to that research, among major U.S. cities, Philadelphia has the highest percentage of families below the poverty line that own their own homes (often without mortgages), with many of the homes in a dilapidated condition. It turns out that home repair is a critical anti-poverty strategy in Philadelphia. A book based on the prior project, entitled Change Research: A Case Study in Housing Advocacy and Social Work Research, and co-authored by Schram, Shdaimah and Stahl, demonstrates how research and advocacy can work together and is forthcoming with Columbia University Press, slated to appear in 2010. The new project will involve both undergraduates and masters and doctoral students in social work in a continuing research agenda to develop information that helps promote more affordable housing for the poor in Philadelphia.

Julia Littell delivered keynote address at colloquium in Norway

Julia Littell delivered one of the keynote addresses, " Supporting policy and practice: Why systematic reviews matter" at the Campbell Collaboration colloquium in Oslo, Norway on May 18, 2009. Littell also delivered a peer-reviewed paper at the same conference, describing systematic review of research on Multisystemic Therapy. Read more on Littell's publications, research and presentations.

Wanda Moore, MSS/MLSP '09 - May 2009 Convocation Address

Sandy Schram ASA Press Release

Sanford F. Schram and a team of researchers conducted a multi-pronged analysis to determine how and why race influences sanctioning under welfare reform in the United States. The study combined real-life data from the Florida Welfare Transition program and experimental data from a survey in which case workers were asked to make sanctioning decisions based on hypothetical scenarios.

Julia Littell gave "capstone" paper at (SSA) June 2009

Julie Littell gave "capstone" paper at University of Chicago School's Social Service Administration's (SSA) Centennial celebration on evidence for social work practice, June 5, 2009. Read more on Littell's publications, research and presentations.

Sandy Schram to serve on advisory board Sage Publications' new series on Social Work in a New Century

Sandy Schram agreed to join leaders in the field of Social Work to serve on the advisory board to Sage Publications' new series on Social Work in a New Century. He joins a large group of prominent social work scholars including Mimi Abramovitz, Michael Austin, Rowena Fong, Cheryl Hyde, Bobbie Iversen, Leslie Leighninger, Deborah Padgett, Michael Reisch, Michael Sherraden, and others to plan a series of texts to help the field confront the challenges of the 21st Century.

Jane Kronick died on Thursday, 19 March 2009

Jane Kronick, Professor Emeritus of Social Work and Social Research, died on Thursday, 19 March 2009 at Chester Memorial Hospital.  Professor Kronick came to Bryn Mawr in 1959 after earning her B.A. at Barnard and her M.S. and Ph.D. at Yale, and served on the faculty for 38 years before retiring in 1997.  Her research, supported by grants from NSF, NIMH, USIA and other agencies, focused on national policy for environmental hazards.   She received the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching in 1987 and directed Bryn Mawr’s doctoral program in social work for over a dozen years. 
A memorial service will be held on Saturday, May 23 at 2 p.m. at Haverford Friends Meeting, 855 Buck Lane, Haverford, PA. Donations in lieu of flowers may be sent to Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, Development Office, 1515 Cherry St., Phila., PA 19102 or to Highlander Research and Education Ctr., 1059 Highlander Way, New Market, TN 37820. Questions can be directed to Professor Kronick's daughter, Rani Kronick, at PO Box 132, Greenwich, NY 12834. Condolences can be directed to Paul Kronick at 178 Crosslands Dr., Kennett Square, PA  19348.  

Sandy Schram speaker at a conference on "Women, Welfare Reform, and Access to Higher Education"

Sanford Schram spoke at a conference on "Women, Welfare Reform, and Access to Higher Education" at Brooklyn College, March 24th. His talk was based on a paper entitled "The Third Level of Welfare Reform: Neoliberal Pedagogy" (which is to be published later this year in the journal Citizenship Studies). The conference program is available at: http://www.brooklyn
.cuny.edu/pub/departments/documents/wolfe/WomensStudiesSymposium.pdf

Dana Becker guest speaker at Arcadia University

Dana Becker spoke on The Other Mommy War: Working Mothers and the Feminization of Stress at Arcadia University onThursday March 5th. The chameleon-like ability of stress to be represented as a physiological, psychological, emotional, and/or environmental condition gives it great cultural versatility. Today, the discourse of stress creates a social context of constraint for women—particularly for working mothers. If we do not manage stress, our health will be compromised by immune system breakdowns. We must guard against behaviors and attitudes that may adversely affect our health and practice behaviors, adopt attitudes, and purchase products that will decrease our stress. The feminization of stress has reinforced an age-old separation of the occupational and domestic spheres and obscures the sociopolitical origins of the tensions in the lives of many women. Dr. Becker has received research awards from the Association for Women in Psychology and the American Psychological Association. She has written extensively on the privatization and medicalization of women's problems. Her most recent book is The Myth of Empowerment: Women and the Therapeutic Culture in American (NYU Press 2005). (Lecture link)

Sandy Schram delivered keynote address in Olso, Norway

Schram delivered the keynote address at "The Welfare State from Below: The 20th Anniversary of the Social Welfare Research Centre" (University College of Olso, Norway, November 20, 2008). His talk was entitled “At the Frontlines of Neoliberal Poverty Governance: Bottom-Up Strategies for Change.”  The presentation was based on a new paper he is co-authoring with Linda Houser, a GSSWSR doctoral candidate, Joe Soss, the Cowles Professor of Public Service at the University of Minnesota, and Richard Fording, Professor of Political Science at the University of Kentucky. That new paper is entitled "The Recovery Model Comes to Welfare: Success Stories, Oblates, and the Medicalization of Welfare Reform" and uses field interviews with former recipients who are now welfare-to-work case managers. That paper will be published in a special issue of Citizenship Studies.

Jim Martin named member of Maryland’s Veterans Behavioral Health Advisory Board

Professor Jim Martin has been named a member of Maryland’s newly established Veterans Behavioral Health Advisory Board. Jim serves on the Board as the representative of the Maryland Secretary of Veteran’s Affairs.  This Board was established by the Maryland Governor in May 2008 and is chaired by Lt. Governor Anthony G. Brown.  The Board was the result of a new Maryland law intended to identify behavioral health service gaps impacting Maryland veterans and to make recommendations to the Governor, the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House, and the Secretaries for the expansion or development of behavioral health services for Maryland veterans and their families. This law includes the establishment of a behavioral health initiative with the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to assist veterans in rural Maryland with access to U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs care and where needed to fill any voids with state resources.

Cynthia Bisman is the U.S. Associate Editor for the journal Ethics and Social Welfare.

Bisman is the U.S. Associate Editor for the journal Ethics and Social Welfare.  Papers are published that represent diverse perspectives reflective of cultures internationally as well as a range of genres, from ethics as moral philosophy, to topical debates about values and issues in practice of concern to practitioners and service users.   Attention is to multi-professional perspectives, hence ‘social welfare’ rather than ‘social work’ in the title.  

The aim of the journal is to encourage dialogue and debate across social, intercultural and international boundaries on ethical issues relating to professional interventions into social life. Through this the hope is to contribute towards deepening understandings and to further ethical practice in the field of social welfare.

Please e-mail Cynthia (cbisman@brynmawr.edu) if you are interested in writing or serving as a reviewer for the journal or wish to be contacted about international conferences focusing on the above issues.

Professor Dana Becker article publication

Professor Becker recently had two articles critiquing the positive psychology movement published in Theory & Psychology and Social and Personality Psychology Compass .Co-authored with Jeanne Marecek, Professor of Psychology at Swarthmore.
Becker, D., & Marecek, J. (2008). Positive psychology: History in the remaking? Theory & Psychology, 18 (5), 591-604.
Becker, D., & Marecek, J. (2008). Dreaming the American dream: Individualism and positive psychology. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 2 (5), 1767-1780.

Sandy Schram presenter at Symposium in England

Sandy Schram, Visiting Professor of Social Work and Social Research, presented a paper at a symposium at the Open University in Milton Keynes, England, September 24-25, 2008. The symposium was entitled "The Pedagogical State: Education, Citizenship, Governing," and the paper was titled "Neoliberal Poverty Governance: The Punitive Turn in U.S. Welfare Policy." Schram's presentation and the others delivered at the symposium will appear in an upcoming issue of the journal of Citizenship Studies.

Professor Thomas Vartanian receives grant from US Dept. Agriculture

Thomas Vartanian has received a two year grant for $110,605 from the Economic Research Service at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The study is titled "Long-term Effects of Food Stamp Receipt during Childhood on Adult Outcomes." The goals of this project are to determine whether food stamp receipt during childhood within different types of neighborhoods affects adult outcomes such as Body Mass Index, overweight, obesity, food insecurity, health, and economic outcomes. Linda Houser, a doctoral student in the program, is included in the grant and will be conducting analyses for the project.

Jim Martin to serve as a member of the Council on Social Work Education’s Military & Veterans Joint Taskforce

Fall 2008, Professor Jim Martin was invited to serve as a member of the Council on Social Work Education’s Military & Veterans Joint Taskforce (and to Co-Chair of the Family Health Working Group). The Council on Social Work Education (CSWE), in its national leadership role, has a mission to maintain quality educational programs and stimulate the development of knowledge, clinical practice and service effectiveness, which enhances international, national, community and individual well-being while promoting social justice. To address the mounting needs of veterans, CSWE convened a joint task force with representatives from the national social work educational associations, including the Baccalaureate Program Directors, Council on Social Work Education, Group for the Advancement of Doctoral Education, National Association of Social Work Deans and Directors, and the St. Louis Group. The Task Force charge includes four over-arching areas: examine relevant social work educational issues relating to veterans; determine how these issues will be addressed; develop appropriate responses to these issues; and seek appropriate legislative support for policy and educational opportunities to realize these fundamental necessities for our veterans and their families.

Dr. Kevin Robinson receives award from the Centers for Disease Control

Dr. Kevin Robinson and two of his colleagues at the Public Health Management Corporation (PHMC), formerly Philadelphia Health Management Corporation, were awarded approximately $1 million from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to develop and evaluate a theory-based 6-session individual-level intervention, named “Connections”, to assist Black MSM/W to reduce their risk for acquiring and transmitting HIV infection. The evaluation design is a randomized controlled trial, using Respondent Driven Sampling (RDS) to recruit and interview 250 HIV-positive and HIV-negative Black bisexually-active men in Philadelphia. The research aims to examine and describe individual factors, interpersonal network factors, and socio-cultural factors that may affect risk behaviors for HIV infection and transmission among Black MSM/W. Moreover, the research will use these findings to develop recommendations for recruiting Black bisexually-active men and providing them with targeted HIV prevention interventions. The research will be conducted over four years.

Dr. Kevin Robinson presenter at APHA 136th Annual Mtg. & Expo

Dr. Kevin Robinson will be attending and presenting at the American Public Health Association's 136th Annual Meeting & Exposition, October 25-29, 2008 in San Diego, CA. "Getting The Facts: Using a Local Community Health Survey for Community Mobilization around HIV/AIDS" is scheduled for Tuesday, October 28, 2008.

Dr. Kevin Robinson faculty representative at reception with President McAuliffe

Dr. Kevin Robinson accepted the invitation offered by new Bryn Mawr College President, Jane D. McAuliffe, to join her for an alumnae/i reception at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, followed by a faculty/student panel discussion entitled, "Bryn Mawr's Philadelphia Classroom."  The purpose of the September 18, 2008 event was to introduce alumnae/i to President McAuliffe and to exciting faculty and students at the college.

Sandy Schram wins award for best paper on public policy

For the second time in three years, the Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research’s Sanford Schram has won the American Political Science Association’s annual award for the best paper on public policy.

Schram and GSSWSR doctoral student Linda Houser presented the paper at the annual APSA meeting last year and received the award in Boston on Aug. 28. The paper, co-authored with Joe Soss of the University of Minnesota and Richard Fording of the University of Kentucky, is titled: “Deciding to Discipline: A Multi-Method Study of Race, Choice and Punishment on the Frontlines of Welfare Reform.”

The paper will also appear in a forthcoming issue of the American Sociological Review.  A book based on this research, co-authored by Schram, Soss and Fording, is to be published by the University of Chicago Press. It is titled Disciplining the Poor: Neoliberal Paternalism and the Persistent Power of Race.

Professor Toba Schwaber Kerson received the Mary Hale Chase Chair

At Commencement 2008, Professor Toba Kerson was given the Mary Hale Chase Chair in Social Science and Social Work and Social Research.  The chair, held for five years, is awarded to a full time faculty member for excellence in teaching and scholarship. Kerson, a graduate of Chatham College with an MS from Columbia University School of Social Work, holds a DSW and a PhD in sociology from the University of Pennsylvania. She is the author of several books including Social Work in Health Care Settings: Practice in Context and Boundary Spanning: An Ecological Reinterpretation of Social Work Practice in Health and Mental Health Systems, and numerous articles, including some relating to her special interest in the depiction of seizures in film. She serves on several editorial boards and is Book Review Editor of Social Work in Health Care. Kerson serves on the board of the Gladwyne Free Library, and on several advisory boards including Jefferson Home Health and Hospice, the Planning Committee, of the Fourth International Conference of Social Work in Health Care, the Health Promotion for Women with Disabilities Project at Villanova University’s College of Nursing, the Center for Social Work Education in Maternal and Child Health. She is an active member of the Trustees’ Council of Penn Women. Kerson teaches Foundation Practice, Practice with Individuals, Families and Groups, Social Service Management and Health Care and Social Work Practice in the Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research.

Dr. Kevin Robinson presenter at Race and  Disparities Research Forum in South Africa

Dr. Kevin Robinson was invited to present "Power of the Possible: A Case Study of an African-American Gay Man Living with AIDS" at Race and Disparities: A Research Forum at the University of Cape Town's Graduate School of Business and The Breakwater Lodge located in Cape Town, South Africa. The forum, held July 14-16, 2008, focused on empirical and theoretical research of race and disparities in education, community development, healthcare, and other policy areas.

Littell Presenter New Zealand Ministry of Youth Development

This summer, Julia Littell has been invited by the New Zealand Ministry of Youth Development to conduct a series of workshops on "Systemic Reviews: Credible Evidence for Youth Related Policy and Practice." Julia Littell is the co-author of a new book, Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis, published by the Oxford University Press in February 2008.

Addressing the mental health needs of today's citizen-soldiers

In December 2007 Professor James “Jim” Martin, as the Health Care Team Leader of the Citizen-Soldier Support Program, organized and lead a day long conference workshop, “Building Support for Our Citizen Soldiers and Their Families: A Mental Health Response." The presentation, in Pinehurst, NC, targeted medical directors and clinicians, physicians, psychiatrists, counselors and other service providers, to train them on the challenges and consequences of military service.

The Citizen-Soldier Support Program is a civilian, community-based initiative aimed at reaching all military personnel and their families, especially those in the National Guard and Reserve. Its mission is to mobilize community organizations and services to support and strengthen local citizen soldiers, their families, and loved ones. As retired Army Colonel, with a 26 year career in the Army Medical Department, Jim brings a wealth of professional and personal experience to the Program. 

 

Becker Presenter at Association for Women in Psychology Annual Conference

Professor Dana Becker delivered a presentation at the Association for Women in Psychology Annual Conference in San Diego, Three Gendered Discourses and the Illusion of Choice. Her presentation: Women's Work and the Societal Discourse of Stress

Littell Keynote Speaker at International Conference

Professor Julia Littell gave the Keynote Address at an The JBI 2007 International Convention, Pebbles of Knowledge: Evidence for Excellence in Adelaide, South Australia, November 26th - 28th. Her presentation addressed research for practice and policy and how we know what works. Littell's other Fall speaking engagements included the Epidemiology and Health Research Conference, Cork, Ireland; Comparative Effectiveness Conference, Washington, DC; Global Forum for Health, Beijing, China; Campbell Collaboration Social Welfare Series, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Baumohl guest host on "Morning Jazz" radio

Professor Jim Baumohl was Gary Walker's guest host on "Morning Jazz" from 9-10 a.m. on Friday, November 2nd. Walker's show originates on WBGO, Newark, New Jersey. It's 88 on the FM dial and a live stream can be found at http://www.wbgo.org/.  The Tom Tallitsch Quintet,"Ceasefire" is one of Baumohl's selections for the play list and includes Paul Gehman on bass. Paul's partner, Joan Davitt, got her PhD from Bryn Mawr Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research and is currently social work faculty at U of Penn.

Becker publishes second book

Associate Professor Dana Becker recently published her second book, The Myth of Empowerment, Women and the Therapeutic Culture in America, NYU Press, New York, NY. Becker argues that ideas like empowerment perpetuate the myth that many of the problems women have are medical rather than societal; personal rather than political. Becker recounts the story of where women have been led and where the therapeutic culture is taking them. Her first publication, Through the Looking Glass, Women and Borderline Personality Disorder, Westview Press, offers a comprehensive exploration of the relationship between gender, the experience of psychological distress that we currently call borderline personality disorder, and the borderline diagnosis as a classification of psychiatric disorder.

Martin collaborator on What We Know About Army Families 2007 Update

Associate Professor Jim Martin was a collaborator on the What We Know About Army Families 2007 Update report in the summer of 2007 as well as on the first report that was undertaken in 1993 by the U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences. The goal was to disseminate research-based information and recommendations about Soldiers and their families throughout the Army community to help strengthen retention, readiness, and family adaptation to Army life. The Update provides  a summary of findings from recent social science research produced for the most part after the 1993 publication. The need for the 2007 Update is driven by the substantial changes that have occurred within the Army and its families, the U.S. military, and American society in general since the early 1990s.

Martin interviewed for New York Times Article

Associate Professor Jim Martin was recently interviewed by Lisa W. Foderaro of The New York Times for an article she was writing, Old Enough Now To Ask How Dad Died at War. Martin, a retired Army colonel and Associate Professor at GSSWSR has researched and written extensively on families of military personnel.

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