matters SOCIAL WORK
T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F U TA H C O L L E G E O F S O C I A L W O R K
Shining a New Light on Gender and Race in Criminal Justice Emily Salisbury
2020 – 2021 SOCIALWORK.UTAH.EDU
2020 – 2021
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FEATURES
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Responding to Racism Micro, mezzo, and macro ways faculty are working to eliminate racism
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New Director to Shine the Light on Gender and Race in Criminal Justice Meet Emily Salisbury
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A Generation of Philanthropy How a family legacy inspired one young man to help other students
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CONTENTS 3 From the Dean 4 Social Work News 9 Honors & Awards 12 Faculty Updates 18 Donors
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FROM THE DEAN
SOCIAL WORK
matters The University of Utah College of Social Work 2020-2021 Dean Martell Teasley, PhD, MSW Editor Jennifer Nozawa Art Direction University Marketing & Communications Contributing Writers Emily Breen Stephanie Dawson Pack Lisa Himonas Jennifer Nozawa Martell Teasley Contributing Photographers Ana Belmonte Austen Diamond iStock Richie Landward Merritt Loomis Jennifer Nozawa Reggie Pack Dave Titensor Brooke Tittle Social Work Matters is published annually by the University of Utah College of Social Work socialwork.utah.edu
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Dean Martell Teasley
A Message from the Dean My first job was collecting soda bottles in the bingo hall where my grandfather worked. I’ve worked in a major league baseball park and a steel mill, for the U.S. Army, and at two other large universities. None have been quite as special as the College of Social Work at the University of Utah. While I am very pleased with the hard work the College has done since I arrived in Salt Lake City, I am especially proud of how our faculty, staff, and students responded in the face of uncertainty this year. The College as a whole has stepped up to overcome the challenges posed by the COVID-19 crisis. Faculty and staff have worked diligently to transition to online learning and working remotely, while offering the best possible opportunities to the individuals who inspire us to work in higher education—the students. During this unusual time in our lives, I am incredibly proud of the students in the College of Social Work and am overjoyed to congratulate the Class of 2020! Most students likely did not expect their academic journey in the BSW, MSW, or PhD program to end with a mandatory quarantine, online classes, and virtual graduation ceremonies—yet they completed their degrees in stunning fashion. Their tenacity and
resiliency in the face of unprecedented challenges is a promising indication of the excellent social workers they will become. The world of social work that these recent graduates are entering looks a bit different than the world we were used to. This pandemic has altered everything, yet I have tremendous confidence that our students are going to excel, even as treatment modalities change and the profession itself adapts. I look forward to seeing the new heights these students will reach. As a College and as individuals, we will follow the example of our students and find a way to push through this pivotal moment in our lives. We will emerge from this experience different than we entered it—but we must keep moving forward, embracing the challenges as opportunities, seizing the chance to define the future we want to build together.
Martell Teasley, PhD, MSW Dean and Professor President, National Association of Deans and Directors of Schools of Social Work SOCIAL WORK MAT TERS
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SOCIAL WORK NEWS
Responding to Racism
Dean Elizabeth Kronk Warner and Dean Martell Teasley during their September discussion, “Continuing the Conversation on Race and Racism.”
“Racial inequality is at the core of so many of the problems we face as a society, and requires not only vigilance, but actions.”
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In June, in the emotional wake of the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor, Dean Martell Teasley released a statement regarding racism to the College of Social Work community. “Racial inequality is at the core of so many of the problems we face as a society, and requires not only vigilance, but actions to change policies that separate groups within our society, marginalizing some, and lead to deep mistrust, fear, and hatred,” he wrote. View the full statement online for details on how the College is working toward anti-racism.
Events: Dean Teasley and Dean Elizabeth Kronk Warner of the S.J. Quinney College of Law participated in a pair of U of U Alumni Association conversations on race and racism, in which the deans shared their experiences and insight while discussing books on racism in the United States. The Utah Criminal Justice Center produced the “UCJC Dare to Care” series, consisting of three events focusing on the intersection of race and law enforcement that each challenged guests to reject apathy and silence.
Task Forces: CSW faculty members are responding to racism both at the University and on the national stage. Dave Derezotes will serve as the chair of the University’s Faculty Senate Advisory Committee on Diversity, while Tiffany Baffour will serve on the Council on Social Work Education’s Taskforce to Advance Anti-Racism.
The New Grand Challenge: The Grand Challenges for Social Work announced the addition of a new challenge: the Grand Challenge to Eliminate Racism. Dean Teasley, who advocated for the addition of this challenge, will spearhead the effort alongside Michael S. Spencer of the University of Washington.
Reading: The College’s Diversity and Social Justice Committee compiled a list of books, podcasts, films, and organizations supporting the journey toward anti-racism, including steps to take immediate action. Additionally, this year Dean Teasley selected the book “Mindful of Race: Transforming Racism from the Inside Out” for the annual faculty and staff book discussion.
SOCIAL WORK NEWS
A College in the Time of COVID As the novel coronavirus began to spread to Utah, the College of Social Work quickly worked through challenges that the virus presented. Beginning on March 16th, the College moved entirely online, with faculty and staff working remotely to deliver lessons to students virtually. Faculty members quickly mastered online teaching and left students pleased with the quality of their education. While the transition to online education was carried out smoothly, the changes in the practicum experience presented a greater challenge for students, faculty, and staff. Practicum agencies reacted quickly to the virus, resulting in some students moving to telehealth platforms, and some leaving agencies entirely. The practicum team worked tirelessly to ensure that all students were able to complete their practicum and graduate on time—a daunting task considering the number of students that were displaced due to COVID-19. After successfully altering a Grand Challenges event in March to an online event, the College was inspired to offer online events over the summer, beginning with a virtual graduation ceremony. Dean Teasley hosted five “QuaranTalks with Teasley” webinars throughout the summer, during which faculty members presented their research. The first few webinars were particularly useful for first responders, health care professionals, and social workers navigating their way through caring
for clients, and themselves, during a pandemic. The College’s Community Advisory Board also developed a series entitled “Talking Telehealth” focusing on the increasingly essential world of telehealth (see page 15). Continuing education units were offered for each of the webinars, with the usual fee waived by Dean Teasley. Faculty and staff members have adjusted to the many unusual circumstances that are associated with working from home during a quarantine—including a few new furry co-workers for some members of the College. A “Coping with Quarantine” blog post featured the many things that faculty and staff have been doing during quarantine. Activities outside of work included at home haircuts, birdwatching, knitting, and finding new ways to entertain children from dawn until dusk.
Assistant Professor Alysse Loomis (left) with her new baby, and Assistant Dean for Development Lisa Himonas (right) working with her fluffy officemate.
The results of the survey and focus groups are still being analyzed, but even in the initial analysis, Drs. Baffour and Castillo are excited about what they’re learning. “It’s findings from studies like this that help us move the conversation forward so we can do better the next time around.”
MSW Director Tiffany Baffour and PhD student Kwynn Gonzalez-Pons’ MSW class, Social Policies.
Pandemic Priorities: Students’ Stories This spring, associate professors and program directors Tiffany Baffour and Jason Castillo were concerned about how to support their students in the middle of a uniquely difficult time. Though they found literature that discussed how universities and students responded to natural crises—earthquakes, hurricanes, floods—there was no data about pandemics similar to COVID-19. Wanting to gain particular understanding, they crafted a set of survey questions designed to understand social work students’ perceptions of how various entities responded to COVID-19, as well as the impact COVID-19 has had on their physical and psychological health, well-being, and academic performance. Additionally, they held focus groups to deepen their understanding of how the students were accessing campus services.
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Pooping in a Bucket… for Science!
Operating under the “leave no trace” ideology, the team packed-in and packed-out all of their food, water, equipment, and personal waste.
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Last October, over fall break, a group of 21 professors and environmental scientists loaded into heavy-duty river rafts and headed down Utah’s Cataract Canyon for an interdisciplinary learning and teaching experience like no other. Scholars and researchers from the University of Utah, the United States Geological Survey, and the Returning Rivers project all donned life jackets and slathered on sunscreen for the adventure. The grand purpose: to discuss research, educational, and collaborative opportunities, as well as explore the future use of the river as an experiential classroom for university students. Over the course of the week-long trip down a spectacular, 85-mile stretch of the Colorado River, navigating the river’s rapids was sandwiched between morning and evening lectures offered through the lens of a wide variety of disciplines. Each of the participating scholars presented their peers with a lesson on their particular area of expertise and its intersections with climate change. Environmental science, geology, art, philosophy, sociology, biology, and social work were all represented. Operating under the “leave no trace” ideology, the team packed-in and packed-out all of their food, water, equipment, and personal waste. Yes, these accomplished scholars and scientists spent a week pooping into a bucket. “The ‘groover’ is much nicer than a bucket,” assures Richie Landward, an assistant professor/lecturer in the U’s College of Social Work and one of the self-funded trip’s organizers.
Prof. Landward has more than two decades of experience guiding trips down Cataract Canyon. It is a special place to him, and one he is eager to share with future scholars, scientists, and outdoor enthusiasts. In addition to teaching his colleagues about the impact of climate change on our collective and individual social and emotional wellbeing, he taught them about all aspects of how a river works and gathered pre- and post-trip data on the participants’ relationships with their surroundings. “I hope that by helping people better understand their environment, and the science behind it, we can cultivate an emotional connection and motivation to take action around climate change,” said Prof. Landward. It seems the groover was not a deterrent, since the group planned to further explore teaching, learning, and research opportunities in the area this fall. Although COVID-19 put that plan into dock, Prof. Landward and his collaborators are looking forward to their next opportunity to build understanding and support for this unique classroom.
A Series of Solutions to the Grand Challenges
In October of 2019, Dean Teasley premiered the Grand Challenges for Social Work event series with an overview of the challenges deemed the toughest but most critical social issues that can be rectified with evidencebacked solutions. These challenges are divided into three categories: individual and family wellbeing, stronger social fabric, and just society. Each event in the series focused on a topic that works toward addressing at least one of the challenges. The first event, “Ending Conversion Therapy: Effecting Change through Policies and Practice,” which highlighted the challenge of ensuring healthy development for all youth, was held in November. Matthew Shurka and Shannon Minter spoke about their conversion therapy experiences and how legislative bodies across the U.S. are working to end the practice. Local advocates Lisa Hansen and Clifford Roskey then joined for a conversation moderated by Tammer Attallah regarding the state of conversion therapy in Utah. Two months later, legislators banned licensed therapists from conducting conversion therapy on minors in the state of Utah. The second event, held in February, emphasized the challenge of achieving equal opportunity and justice. “Race, Higher Education, and the Grand Challenges for Social Work” concentrated on historically Black colleges and universities’ role in the conversation about a new grand challenge regarding racism. At the time, many felt racism was inherently included within the challenges. Dean Sandra Edmonds Crewe discussed racism in education and supported the idea of a new challenge to end racism—an addition that Dean Teasley also advocated for. In the following months, the killings of Black individuals opened the
eyes of many to the systemic racism in the country, just as a new challenge was approved and announced: the Grand Challenge to Eliminate Racism. The final event, “Dying in Vein: The State of the Opioid Epidemic—Clinical and Policy Updates,” which was held virtually in March, related to the challenges of closing the health gap and advancing long and productive lives. Guests viewed PhD alumna Jenny McKenzie’s film about substance use disorder and the broken treatment system, then tuned in for a webinar featuring Dr. McKenzie, Associate Dean Eric Garland, and individuals from the film. This series stressed the need to prioritize and tackle these challenges—two of which have since seen major strides in the right direction. The College will continue to highlight the importance of the Grand Challenges through upcoming events, and hopes to see similar advancement in relation to the topics covered.
The second year of the Grand Challenges for Social Work event series kicked off in September with an event on the Grand Challenge to End Homelessness.
A panel of local and national experts discussed research, policies, and legislation around conversion therapy. SOCIAL WORK MAT TERS
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Disproportionate Minority Contact Solutions Although the topic has gained more salience in recent days, Derek Mueller, a senior research analyst in the Utah Criminal Justice Center (UCJC), has spent years studying differences in rates of contact with the police between non-white and white youths—also known as disproportionate minority contact, or DMC;. Mr. Mueller said that although there isn’t currently a wide body of research to show how effective different interventions are in achieving change, there are general guidelines for ways to approach DMC successfully. He had the following suggestions: • Use a top-down approach. “Once the administration of a department buys into the realization that DMC exists and wants to try to address that, it gets a better sense of buy-in from the officers.”
Basic Needs for Student Success
Leaving home at age 13, Sarah Elizabeth Garza-Levitt became a single mother at age 15. After earning her GED at age 16, it took her 23 years to earn her associate’s degree from Salt Lake Community College. “During that time, I dropped out, 8
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• Generate awareness, particularly through the role of the state DMC coordinator. “It’s important to have someone that can use state level and agency-specific data to help inform officers on this issue and talk through it more, breaking down the barriers of resistance to the idea that DMC exists or the narrative that DMC is an attack on them specifically. This is a larger problem than related to individual officers.” • Use a community policing strategy. “When you have officers in the community serving as mentors for youth, helping with sports and after school programs, the community is able to see that their jobs are more than large scale raids. You’re showing that this is not just a brute force cop coming in to your community in search of making an arrest.”
• Hire officers that represent the communities they are serving. “Officers that represent the community have the most cultural insight into the community’s differences. How things operate across different cultures is important and someone from one culture won’t have that lived insight into another culture.”
I failed out, I left due to medical issues, I left because of a variety of things … some were basic needs,” she said. “I didn’t know the resources that were available to me.” Graduating from the U with her BSW in 2019, today Ms. Garza-Levitt is earning her MSW as an advanced standing student. Her story explains why she is such a passionate advocate for struggling students, and why her face lights up when she talks about her latest project: the Basic Needs Center (BNC). The BNC is a product of the Basic Needs Collaborative, which Ms. GarzaLevitt helps lead. The interdisciplinary group recognizes a student’s capacity to meet their basic needs—economic, food, and housing—has a direct impact on their health, well-being, and ability to succeed. With the goal of bridging services and supporting comprehensive and coordinated basic needs on campus,
the Collaborative is piloting BNC services and planning the build-out of a BNC in the Student Union in the spring of 2021. Ms. Garza-Levitt worked with the U’s Women’s Resource Center leadership to involve social work practicum students who will complete assessments at the BNC, then provide a warm handoff to the partnering centers and resources a student might need to access. While such multifaceted centers exist at other universities, this is the first such center in Utah … but not for long. Ms. Garza-Levitt is communicating with other Utah colleges and universities as they work to build similar programs. “It’s a pervasive issue among students that impacts retention and completion, safety, equity, diversity, and inclusion within institutions across the state,” she said. “I know what it is to struggle. Helping others is very personal for me.”
U Police Capt. Shawn Bryce talking with students during Move-in week 2020. Capt. Bryce is in charge of the police department’s community outreach program.
H O N O R S & AWA R D S
Kudos!
Tiffany Baffour
Sarah Canham
The Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) appointed Associate Professor and MSW Program Director Tiffany Baffour to a major taskforce. Dr. Baffour will serve on the Taskforce to Advance Anti-Racism to integrate anti-racism pedagogy and methods into social work education. Dr. Baffour has also been re-appointed for another three-year term as the Chair of the Council on Conferences and Professional Development at CSWE. The Gerontological Society of America (GSA) selected and officially inducted Associate Professor Sarah Canham as a fellow. Dr. Canham will be recognized for this significant achievement alongside other new GSA fellows at the GSA Annual Scientific Meeting in November. The University’s Faculty Senate Advisory Committee on Diversity selected Professor David Derezotes to serve his first term as the chair of the committee. Dr. Derezotes will work with the committee to further develop plans for diversity and inclusion within the University.
David Derezotes
Jeremiah Jaggers
Assistant Professor Alysse Loomis was selected to join the Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Taskforce within the Council on Social Work Education. As part of the taskforce, Dr. Loomis will work with other scholars in the field to develop a competency guide for mental health in young populations. The National Association of Deans and Directors of Schools of Social Work re-elected Dean Martell Teasley as president. Dr. Teasley will continue to represent the College and the social work profession on a national stage as he completes his second three-year term. Research Assistant Professor Chad McDonald was appointed to the Executive Advisory Council of National Staff Development Training Associations, one of nine affinity groups of the American Public Human Services Association. As a member of the council, Prof. McDonald will share ideas about organization development, staff development, and training.
Assistant Professor Jeremiah Jaggers was selected to join the 2019-2020 University Foundation Fellows Program. During this sevenmonth program, Dr. Jaggers received structured support for his research and scholarly activities while further enhancing his capacity to receive funding for his work in the future.
PhD candidate Hanna Morzenti, who successfully defended her dissertation proposal in April, was selected for a University Graduate Fellowship for the 2020-2021 academic year. The fellowship will support Ms. Morzenti as she works to develop diagnostic and treatment recommendations for high functioning individuals with autism within the criminal justice system.
Alysse Loomis
Chad McDonald
Martell Teasley
Hanna Morzenti
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New Director to Shine the Light on Gender and Race in Criminal Justice
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hen Emily Salisbury, the new director of the Utah Criminal Justice Center (UCJC), arrived in Salt Lake City, she hit the ground running— getting to know her new team via Zoom, coordinating a complex licensing agreement, and launching the UCJC Dare to Care discussion series. Yet, she also made time to introduce herself to our College of Social Work community. Social Work Matters: Tell us a bit about you. Emily Salisbury: I grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma, but I don’t have an accent because my parents were transplanted New Yorkers. I was an all-state tennis champ in high school and earned my bachelor’s on a tennis scholarship at William Jewell College in Missouri. I moved on to Castleton State College [now Castleton University] in Vermont, where I earned my master’s. They had one of the only research programs in forensic psychology; most forensic psych master’s programs are clinical. I got to serve as the managing editor for the journal housed
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there, Criminal Justice and Behavior, which is one of the top-tier journals in criminology and penology. The experience was instrumental in improving my writing and analytical skills, and really got me involved in the peer-review process. I later served a five-year term as editor-in-chief of that journal. I felt very fortunate to earn my PhD from the University of Cincinnati in criminology and criminal justice. I had great mentorship and it was there that I helped co-develop and create the Women’s Risk Needs Assessment (WRNA) tool. My first academic position was at Portland State University, where I earned tenure, then spent the next six years at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Now I’m happy to be at the U! SWM: What drew you to the U and the Utah Criminal Justice Center?
ES: I focus on the intersection of mental health, psychology, and criminal justice, which is why it’s such a natural fit for me to be here. Social workers look at the whole person in the environment, which is how I sort of see my work. In criminology, we’re still debating whether trauma is a meaningful construct for how people behave in the system, especially in the risk assessment world. But I don’t have to have that debate with social workers— they understand the complexities of how trauma matters in people’s lives. UCJC is also so well positioned in this state and in this region to do incredibly important work. It already has a board with all the key stakeholders in the state, so relationships are already embedded in the governance of UCJC. I will have accomplished my
SOCIAL WORK NEWS
goals if I can help both the University and the region understand what incredible work UCJC really does, and have an influence on public policy and practice in the state and in the region. I want it to be a center of excellence around recognizing and understanding how both gender and race matter in criminal justice and law. In the work that we do, lives really are at stake. SWM: Although most of our faculty and staff will continue to work remotely through the fall, tell us about some special item that will be in your office at the College of Social Work.
ES: I have a basket that was woven by incarcerated women in Namibia, which represents so much to me. It was given to me as a gift when I was doing a WRNA training there. It’s in a display case in my last department in Las Vegas, so they have to send it to me. SWM: Speaking of Las Vegas, what’s the best show you got to see? ES: Elton John had a residency at Caesars Palace with his Million Dollar Piano show, and one year he hosted a big weekend event to raise money for the Elton John AIDS Foundation. He brought in a bunch of former top tennis players to play
The Women’s Risk Needs Assessment (WRNA) tool is the only peer-reviewed, validated, risk/needs assessment specifically designed for justice-involved women. Developed with federal funds through the National Institute of Corrections, in partnership with the University of Cincinnati, WRNA examines psychosocial risks, needs, and strengths in gender- and trauma-responsive ways. “It was really designed, from the bottom up, for system-involved women,” explains Dr. Salisbury, who co-developed the tool. “Women clients often say, ‘Thank you for asking questions that really matter to me.’” The tool involves three elements: a case file review, a semistructured interview (with both gender-neutral and women-specific questions), and a self-report survey. This well-used tool has been implemented in more than 50 agencies across the U.S., as well as around the globe, including in the Czech Republic, Namibia, Singapore, and the United Kingdom. Thanks to Dr. Salisbury, the U now has a non-exclusive license agreement with the University of Cincinnati to sublicense WRNA to agencies, and UCJC has developed a fully online interactive training.
an exhibition match. Being a tennis player, I donated and got tickets to the exhibition match, the silent auction with the tennis players, and the Million Dollar Piano show. Before the show, I spotted Billie Jean King! She was a formative person in promoting gender equity in sports. I ran up to her and quickly said, “Billie Jean, I just have to say thank you for all the work you’ve done for women,” and then ran away. I got to sit in the third row! I was dressed to the hilt, and was one of the few people standing up in the auditorium and dancing, having a great time. Then Elton John starts to play the song “Philadelphia Freedom.” He wrote that for Billie Jean; they’re besties. I turn around, and she’s 15 rows behind me, and I look at her. Because I had run up to her before the show, she recognized me. I pointed to her, like, “Oh my gosh!” and she pointed back, and she and I had this moment, in front of thousands of people, as Elton John starts playing her song! After the show, I had to run up to her again and ask for a selfie with her.
Emily Salisbury (left) in Las Vegas with tennis legend Billie Jean King (right).
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FA C U LT Y & S TA F F U P D AT E S
NEW FACULTY In August, Sumiko Anderson was hired as an assistant professor (clinical) in the College. She is a licensed clinical social worker, who spent the last 21 years with the Department of Workforce Services (DWS), most recently as a licensed clinical therapist supervisor. She has also worked as an associate instructor in the College since 2018. Stephanie Bank, assistant professor (lecturer), has maintained her own private practice since 2003, specializing in a variety of issues including anxiety, grief, and parenting. When Ms. Bank joined the BSW Program as an adjunct instructor in 2015, teaching quickly became her new passion. She has embraced technology and is always looking for new ways to help students get the most out of their education. Emily Bleyl began her role as assistant professor (clinical) in April. She has served Utah’s social work community for over 25 years as an educator, clinician, and administrative leader. Her primary interests are the intersection of social work practice and policy, field education, ethics, and professional socialization. Tonie Michelle Hanáázbaa’, assistant professor (clinical), has significant experience in the field of substance use disorders, mental health, and trauma-informed care. She is passionate about social justice; issues of power, privilege, and oppression of historically marginalized populations, and helping historically underrepresented students in higher education succeed in the classroom and field education.
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Research Assistant Professor Mi Seong Kim comes to the U from Texas Tech University, where she taught and conducted research in the College of Human Sciences. Her current research focuses on: the contextual frame of elder mistreatment, coping and resilience of older adults exposed to elder mistreatment, and how elder mistreatment is sharing time and space with other types of family violence. Assistant Professor Elizabeth Siantz takes a systems-level approach to research that addresses health disparities among persons with serious mental illness. She will join the College in January of 2021, after completing a post-doctoral fellowship in the Department of Family Medicine and Public Health at the University of California San Diego. Tamber Snarr-Beesley joined the practicum office as an assistant professor (clinical) in January, but worked within the College as an adjunct faculty member, field advisor, and Practicum Advisory Committee member for several years before that. She brings with her a wealth of experience in medical social work, grief and loss, and social work education.
“These skilled clinicians, scholars, and mentors will benefit thousands of future social workers and the communities they will serve.” —Martell Teasley, Dean
FA C U LT Y & S TA F F U P D AT E S
School Social Work: The Heart of a Profession This fall, the College of Social Work added a School Social Work Career Path to its offerings. This sequence consists of six credit hours of course work, in addition to a school-based practicum in a student’s first or second year in the MSW Program. The career path is designed to orient social workers to the unique challenges of school social work, with specialized training in counseling, assessments, and interventions that center the social and emotional learning of K-12 students. Due to the particular demands of the school context, school social work students will learn to work at the mirco, mezzo, and macro levels simultaneously. There’s a lot to deal with in this field. The needs of young students vary from basic need fulfillment (like getting breakfast), to help dealing with trauma, to feelings of isolation, to stress over family adversity and beyond. To an outsider, it can sound overwhelming. How do you take care of so many needs? Richie Landward, one of the chairs of the School Social Work Career Path and a former school social worker, emphasized the importance of specialized education and experience. “The cause for being overwhelmed is a gap in training,” he explained. “A well trained social worker can make organization out of chaos.” He added, “Is it emotionally exhausting? Yes. But it’s more rewarding—times ten more—than it is exhausting.” When asked why he does this work, Prof. Landward’s passion was palpable. “The biggest impact social workers can make is in schools with kids and families. If you look at Jane Adams, what she was
about when she founded social work, it wasn’t about micro work; it was about poverty and oppression, social justice and equality. And that’s what school social workers do—we help kids succeed. And we help them overcome those challenges of poverty and inequity and oppression and discrimination. And we make it right in the school. We do that through systematic work, policy work, creating processes and programs that are fair and equitable. It changes lives.” Assistant Professor Tasha Seneca Keyes, also a former school social worker and the other chair of the School Social Work Career Path, added, “What Rich is talking about is system change. We talk about using system theory in our profession all the time. But it’s in schools that we’re really able to do system change.” She added, “School social work is at the heart of our profession.”
“A well trained social worker can make organization out of chaos.” He added, “Is it emotionally exhausting? Yes. But it’s more rewarding…”
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2020 GRADUATES: STUDENT SPOTLIGHTS Ebony Miller completed her BSW degree as an online student in Fernley, Nevada. A scholarship and award recipient, Ms. Miller excelled academically while keeping busy within the College and her town. Along with raising a family, teaching fitness and hip hop classes, and volunteering as a victim advocate, she participated in the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program, researching eyewitness identification with Professor Joanne Yaffe. Ms. Miller is grateful to have worked with Dr. Yaffe, saying that “she pushes me to go past what I think I can do.” Ms. Miller has pushed past what she thought she could do since age 13 when she began taking care of her two younger siblings after losing their parents. Her childhood experiences taught her to “understand someone’s story instead of judge, and forgive and support instead of attack or criticize.” Ms. Miller plans to earn her MSW, then become a juvenile probation officer or marriage and family therapist. Matilda Yellowhorse took the long way to an MSW degree. She worked in a variety of jobs, striving to provide for her and her son, but when he moved from home, Ms. Yellowhorse thought it was time to go back to school. One job that really left a mark was her work as a teacher’s assistant for Native American students. She wanted to do more to help them and their families. “I always felt like something was missing,” she said. “I wanted greater confidence in helping them.” After graduating in the spring, Ms. Yellowhorse started working with Sacred Circle Health Clinic as a clinician and health educator to help Native American families in the Salt Lake City community and on the Ibapah, Utah reservation.
Watch the College of Social Work’s 2020 Virtual Graduation Ceremony at: bit.ly/usocialworkgrad20
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Just before beginning her PhD Program, Anne Baker hiked 550 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT)—a 2,650-mile trek from Mexico to Canada. Through an arrangement with her mentor, each summer, she took a break from her classes and her work in the College’s C-MIIND lab to hike the PCT. Usually covering about 30 miles a day, she spent much of the often solitary time listening to audiobooks, the birds, or her footsteps. She thought about her life and values and sometimes her research area—pain. “This is not a pain-free process by any means, so I definitely spent some time thinking about pain,” she said. In 2019, she felt overwhelmed as she finished her third and final 1,400-mile section of the PCT and crossed into Canada. “It was joyful and I felt incredibly proud,” she said. A year later, in August of 2020, she reached another major milestone, graduating with her PhD and moving on to a postdoc position at the Duke University School of Medicine.
SOCIAL WORK NEWS
Launching Telehealth Care— from Frantic to Familiar IN THE MIDDLE OF DIFFICULTY LIES OPPORTUNITY. –ALBERT EINSTEIN The College of Social Work Community Advisory Board (CAB) held its final 2019-2020 meeting on Zoom. It was mid-April and most of us were still adjusting to the virtual world into which we’d plunged weeks earlier. The dean had much to share on the College’s swift move to online classes and the dramatic adjustments to practicum placements. The College’s dedicated community advisors—a mix of alumni and non-alums who share a collective interest in social work and community service—listened attentively and shared valuable first-hand experiences from their respective organizations. Clearly, the learning “curve” was a fast and jagged line headed up and off the chart. As they spoke of their own challenges and successes, an idea emerged for a CAB-led webinar series that would provide a venue for sharing lessons learned, responding to a growing list of questions, and seize the opportunity to expand and improve telehealth care moving forward. Within weeks, board members Tammer Attallah, Shawn McMillen, Clifton Uckerman, Janet Spafford Wilson, and Rebecca Mabe, along with their co-workers and community partners, planned and launched a College-supported, three-part webinar series called “Talking Telehealth.” Telehealth Technicalities focused on platform options and guidelines for providing online care; Telehealth Techniques addressed ways to provide quality care screen-to-screen, rather than face-to-face;
Telehealth Tomorrow considered where we could and should go with a therapy that was gaining acceptance, serving some clients particularly well, and opening electronic doors that had seemed tightly locked mere weeks earlier. These webinars aimed for dialogue rather than definitive answers to telehealth care. Mr. Attallah, who moderated two of the webinars, was excited to be part of the effort and pleased with how engaged attendees were. “We heard about some really creative approaches to telehealth care,” he said. “Providers are being incredibly thoughtful about how to adjust traditional approaches to these new treatment modalities.” Mr. McMillen agreed, adding, “Many organizations faced a ‘Fire, Ready, Aim’ approach to telehealth in the pandemic. The webinars provided an opportunity to consider what the future might hold.” Recordings for these webinars, other virtual webinars since May 2020, and registrations for upcoming webinars are available at: socialwork.utah.edu/events.
Tammer Attallah
“Many organizations faced a ‘Fire, Ready, Aim’ approach to telehealth in the pandemic. The webinars provided an opportunity to consider what the future might hold.”
Shawn McMillen
Bringing Social Isolation into Focus A fan of National Geographic from the time he was a child, Charles Hoy-Ellis, assistant professor in the College of Social Work, was gobsmacked when they contacted him about contributing to one of their articles. Aware that their pieces tend to focus on natural and hard sciences, Dr. Hoy-Ellis was heartened to see the magazine tackling the “softer” issue of social isolation in older LGBTQ+ adults. “It’s important to reach the broader public because at the end of the day, it’s the broader public that is most impacted by the issue,” he said. “It’s not hard to imagine a random reader who knows an older adult who is socially isolated but doesn’t recognize that they are. Maybe reading an article like that might prompt them to spend more time with that person. As important, if not more so, is an isolated older adult reading the piece. Invisibility is part and parcel of social isolation. An isolated older adult might think that ‘they are the only one.’ Just to know that one is not the only one can be empowering.” SOCIAL WORK MAT TERS
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A New Generation of Philanthropy
Kenzo Okazaki
Kenzo Okazaki’s generous support of College of Social Work scholarships strikes familiar chords—he speaks eloquently of a strong family legacy, a deeply ingrained belief in the value of education, and a crystal-clear commitment to philanthropy. It is a sincere and seasoned message for someone who just turned 21. Kenzo is a rising senior at Middlebury College in Vermont who will graduate in May 2021 with a double-major in history and philosophy. He represents the third generation of Okazaki family members to support the College of Social Work—following grandparents Edward and Chieko Okazaki and parents Ken and Kelle Okazaki who, over the course of nearly 30 years, collectively inspired and supported the Edward Yukio Okazaki Endowed Scholarship and Award and the Edward Yukio and Chieko Nishimura Okazaki Community Meeting Room. All of this reflects long ties to the College, and to higher education in general. Kenzo appreciates both connections. “I was brought up to believe in education for me personally, but also that there’s a responsibility to support others in education,” he says. The message—absorbed through 16
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family lines and many family conversations—was that, through education, there are opportunities to make life better for yourself and also for others. “My grandparents shared that message with my father and uncle, and it has been passed down to me as well.” Although his grandfather died well before Kenzo was born, the younger Okazaki appreciates that Edward Okazaki’s work in the social work arena inspired the family. “He’s always been a role model for me,” Kenzo notes. “He encouraged success not just for one’s self, but felt that extended to a responsibility for others and the community.” So, as Kenzo entered college and began earning his own money and joining family philanthropy discussions, he became excited to do something that would be a credit to his grandfather. Kenzo was particularly interested in supporting underrepresented groups, in light of the discrimination his Hawaiian-born grandparents of Japanese descent faced when they arrived in Utah 70 years ago. Their history directly influenced his own keen focus on increasing access to education for those facing unique and sometimes formidable circumstances. Kenzo’s contribution to social work student scholarships accomplishes this goal and more. His support
Kenzo’s grandparents, Edward and Chieko Okazaki, with their sons, Kenzo’s father and uncle.
“I was brought up to believe in education for me personally, but also that there’s a responsibility to support others in education,”
is part of a uniquely engaging matching opportunity through the Undergraduate Studies Community Partners Scholarship program—a program that provides students with scholarships and pairs them with mentors as they complete their junior and senior years of study. “Having met two recipients on paper,” Kenzo observes, “it gives me lots of hope.” He respectfully adds, “To see them get through their challenges and succeed, with the goal of serving others, is personally inspiring.” In addition to forging a new scholarship path within the College of Social Work, Kenzo has also become increasingly involved in family discussions regarding the Edward Yukio Okazaki Endowment. His parents’ support for this legacy honor has inspired him and shaped his own long-term philanthropic goals. “Through my dad, I developed this sense of responsibility—it was an important lesson for my dad to lead the way.” Of Kelle Okazaki, Kenzo says, “My mom is one of the most generous people I know.” His mother recently made a directed gift to the family’s endowment through her business; Kenzo happily stepped up to help write the requisite letter to the company to coordinate the contribution. Kenzo explains that his mother “was very close to my grandmother. She wants to support my dad with this endowment and this was an opportunity for her to do so directly.” Kenzo believes this shared family value of philanthropy would be important to his grandparents. For his part, he thinks that seeing the impact their family support can have serves to increase their commitment as a whole to social work scholarships. “In social work, the scholarship allows for direct support of students— but it also extends to those they serve and so supports people working to improve the well-being of society in general.” Kenzo concludes, “As much as on paper it’s me and my family giving something back, it is a great privilege to do something that’s doing so much good. We feel lucky to have this program.”
A LOT OF HELP FROM OUR FRIENDS Each spring, the Edward Yukio Okazaki Award in the College of Social Work is given to a graduating MSW student for demonstrated achievement and professional promise in gerontology. In 2020, amidst the chaos of quarantines and aftershocks, as the celebratory dinner was cancelled and commemorative plaques simply mailed—Ken, Kelle, and Kenzo Okazaki generously increased the monetary honor associated with their award—twice! The initial change came in response to news of how helpful and encouraging the awards would be this year; days later, they increased the honor again when they learned recipient Natasha Fjeldsted and her spouse, parents of a six-month old, both lost their jobs as the pandemic raged. “I was ecstatic to receive this meaningful award,” said Ms. Fjelsted. “I am incredibly grateful to the Okazaki Family for increasing the funds associated with this award—they were critical to helping us navigate the first month of the pandemic.” For their part, Ken, Kelle, and Kenzo Okazaki were glad to know their support truly made a difference.
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DONORS
Donor Honor Roll WE GRATEFULLY ACKNOWLEDGE THE GENEROSITY OF DONORS WHO GAVE JULY 1, 2019 – JUNE 30, 2020.
Foundations & Corporations $25,000 or more The Callon Family Trust
$10,000-$24,999 Ron McBride Foundation Joseph and Kathleen Sorenson Legacy Foundation TKJ Charities, Inc.
$1,000-$9,999 The B. W. Bastian Foundation The Castle Foundation Herbert I. & Elsa B. Michael Foundation Wells Fargo Educational Matching Gifts
$1-$999 Holy Cross Ministries Hopeful Beginnings Utah Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, Inc. Utah State Division of Substance Abuse
Individuals $25,000 or more Richard V. and Tanya N. Andrew Dan and Gisella C. Chace Roger M. and Mary F. Lowe
$10,000-$24,999 John D. Williams and Robin Arnold-Williams * Jane W. Bebb Colin W. Brown Lee S.* and Christine Pugmire Skidmore
$2,500-$9,999 Jon E. and LeNore T. Bouwhuis Norma J. Harris Garth T. and Carmen R. Harrison Elise K. and R. Paul* Hutchings Katherine M. Mason
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Kenneth A. and Kelle Okazaki Freida S. and Harvey Croix Sweitzer David T. and Anna Ayres Thackeray John R. and Cheryl M. Thackeray Milton H. and Sandra W. Thackeray Elizabeth Tsai Susan R. and Keith M.* Warshaw Julia M. Watkins and Dennis Arthur Watkins
$1,000-$2,499 E. Daniel and Margie E. Edwards John Fleming and Susan L. Thomas Ann E. Henderson Frederick V. Janzen* Robert A. and Gloria Jacobs Johnson David B. and Lisa Goldstein Kieda David E. and Helane B. Leta C. Kai Medina-Martinez John F. and Joan Moellmer John O’Farrell Kenzo Edward Okazaki D’Arcy Dixon Pignanelli and Frank R. Pignanelli Donald L. and Sylvia Schmid William R. and Janine Kay* Smith Martell L. and Bonita Teasley
$250-$999 Cora M. and Harold Adams Glenn L. Bailey Debra S. Daniels and Johna Sue Gustin Caren J. Frost Matthew David Hansen Stephanie L. and Timothy P. Harpst Lisa E.M. and Deno G. Himonas S. Blair Hodson and Amy F. Sorenson Marian Kaye Knudson and Kenrick K. Bontoft
Lawrence H. and Gail J. Liese Margene Luke Duane J. and Marilyn K. Luptak Susan C. and Walter H. Notter Jennifer Nozawa Charles S. Pohl and Patricia J. Blatter Roger G. and Susan Santala Mary Selecky Mary Beth Vogel-Ferguson and Steve Ferguson Don G. and Megan P. Wardell Janet Spafford Wilson and Del Wilson Susan Winckler Joanne Yaffe Koong-Yu and Janet Yang
$100-$249 Carolyn Andersen Tammer M. and Gina M. Attallah Lewis and Nancy Hogarty Baker Gene E. and Marghi E. Barton Joanna E. Bettmann-Schaefer and Peter Schaefer James S. and Aubrey Bullough Lindy J. Christensen Jennifer Crist Geraldine G. and Gordon S. Daines Gardiner F. and Daphne C. Dalley Jon D. Davis Robert L. and Lucy C. Deaton William C. and Sandra M. Descary Kenneth R. Dubois Marylis J. Filipovich Erika Duersch Fontana Stephen M.* and Jessica T. Gledhill Christina E. Gringeri and Armando Solorzano Erin Grover
Janet A. Hansen and Lucile Jensen Charlie Hoy-Ellis Debbie Keefer-Smith Robert E. and Wendy B. Lewis Donald A. and Susan P. Lewon Lana M. Lorenzen Brad W. and Stacy Lundahl Rebecca Ann Mabe Sonya Lynn Martinez-Ortiz and Ernesto Ortiz Shawn M. and Mary Jo McMillen Rose Anna Miller Justin Marcus Nelson Susan L. Pizitz Tesla Poore and Joshua Ryan George and Mary M. Reade Ray M. and Patricia A. Ross Thomas J. and Shirley C. Rossa Christian Marie Sarver and Stephen Smith Darlene Anne and Michael E. Schultz Allen C. Sherwood and Sandra Allen Craig L. and Marianne R. Skousen Tony J. and Kathleen F. Strelich Lana Lambert Stohl and John L. Stohl Tomokazu and Tetsuko Suzuki Linford and Doris J. Taylor Paul I. Thorpe Clifton Reuben Uckerman W. Roy and Kathleen D. Van Orman Georgia D. Wagniere Jessica Franchesca Waters Megan Lenna Waters
$1-$99 Nils G. Abramson John B. and Alison G. Ackerman Sumiko Chuntel Anderson Cerise Ardell Nord David F. Arguello and Trinidad De Jesus Arguello
Tiffany Sanders Baffour Marcia L. Bailey Stephanie A. Bailey Troy Robert and Ame R. Bennett Emily W. and Steven B. Bleyl John E. and Amanda M. Bogart Breanna Boppre Christopher Miles Bowman Emily Anne Breen Aaron Bruce Bryant Diane W. Buck Casey Burton Kara Ann and Spencer Byrne Shawna Cales Christopher Bryon Cambron Terrell Campbell Bruce Canham Jason T. Castillo Dhiraj Veer Chand Timothy W. Clark Raquel Cook Richard William and Kelly Clifford Cook Jerry Costley Collin G. and Frances S. Cowley Kate Coy Sandra W. Danse Janet Snarr Davidson Douglas Jay and Lori Ellen Davis Tarah R. Davis Melinda Dee Mark and Lorene de St. Aubin Kenwyn Derby Barbara Jane Dobbs William S. Francis and Ramona G. Sierra Ritvij Gautam Laurel George Sarah B. George and Rick Ford Jo Ann M. and Charles E. Gettig Leeann Glass Devan G. Glissmeyer Ellen E. Goldberg and Clinter Perschon
DONORS
Abigail Gonzalez Yvette Gonzalez Taralyn Graham Courtney Gramoll Heather Grauke Cailey Michele Green Chelsea Griffin James Griner Anthony Guzman Dorothy Hall Kimberly A. Hall Ashley Hamlin Marci Hankins Deborah Harless Karen Harward Aaron M. and Jill Harvey Catherine E. Haskins Luann Hawker Robyn Ann Heckman Marcus Hernandez David Isaac and Melissa Heath Herrera Bart Hill Yennhi Hoang Maria Rosaria Holmes Wolfgang Christian and Delva W. Hommes Allyson Jordan Hooper
Rodney W. and Mary Janet Hopkins Rebecca Huff Lucy Hightower Izard Sara Lyndsay Jensen Jamuna A. Jones Heather Kelly Tasha Seneca Keyes Julia J. and William M.* Kleinschmidt Richard S. Landward and Amber M. Roderick-Landward Jeanne Mitchell Lee Jeffrey G. and Brooke Barlow Lewis Robert Gary Lippmann* Alysse M. Loomis Lauren Magee Paula Louise Maloof Aaron Tyson and Jessica Xaiz Mann Kathy N. McCall Chad McDonald David Edward and Katherine Sagers McGlynn David S. McKell Jessica Mertlich Kelly J. and Gina Ann Millard Kathleen Miller
*Deceased
Our goal is to express our gratitude to each of our investors with accuracy. Despite our best efforts, however, errors sometimes occur. In that event, please notify our Development Office by calling (801) 587-8387 or email lisa.himonas@socwk.utah.edu.
Meeyoung O. Min Radha Moldover Kent E. Morgan* Mark D. and Polly Mottonen Luana M. Nan Calvin J. and Madalyn Nash Elaine Perez Navar J. Dena Ned Kerri Nielsen Benjamin Nielson Marsha Nielson Cynthia E. Olivier Cambria A. O’Neal Aaron Joseph Orlowski Denice L. Pacheco Stephanie Dawson Pack and Reginald Pack Angelo J. Papastamos Morriss Henry and Donna Markle Partee Ana Maria Perez Tara Petersen Spencer and Brooke Pohlman Jennifer Poulos Allen J. Proctor Amanda Quist Linda Jeri Rhees
Lynette H. Rich and Robert O’Neal Rich Paul M. Ricks Michael A. and Shauna M. Robbins Tamara K. Roberts Gaben Cetrola Sanchez Luciano A. Santa Cruz Alicia Santillo Pamela Seager Janet Y. Shiozawa Larry L. Smith Rebecca Lee and Eric Smith Mindy Smolka Cagney Anne Smullin Jessica Solano Elizabeth Sollis Luci Sorensen Scott R. Sorensen Amy K. Stewart Diana Strock-Lynskey Katherine Perry and Mark A. Supiano Michelle Rebecca Swenson Kristina and Scott Matthew Swickard Leilani Anne Taholo Aster S. Tecle
Jenna Templeton Barbara Thompson Clint Jakop Thurgood Brenda Tolman Carmencita Totua Wayne Trice Georgina Trujillo Denise Waagen Zakury Walters M. Kimball and Janet H. Weaver Peggy C. Weber Diane Weeks Frances E. Wilby and Lonnell Griffith Aurene Wilford Glenda Amelia Wilkinson Kathryn Wingard David Lee and Kelly Rigby Winslow Steven C. Wong and Mary Lou Oland-Wong Rebecca B. Worst Erin Becker Worwood and Ben Worwood Jaehee Yi Kammy Yorgason Jennifer Zenger Tammy Lynn Zundel
Message to Our Donors Thank you for Stepping up for Social Work! Thank you. Thanks to all of you listed on these pages—those who stepped in with incredible, transformative contributions during a global crisis; those who kept their sustaining gifts coming each month; those whose interest was sparked by an exciting project afoot; those who chose this year to pay it forward, honor a loved one, or celebrate a memory with a contribution. Thank you for stepping up in ways that changed the lives of many students, advanced our mission to provide outstanding teaching and training, and supported our ongoing efforts to advance the transformation of policies, practice, and interventions to alleviate human suffering, enhance well-being and promote social justice. Social workers are essential workers—and at this pivotal time in our lives, we need more social workers in our community, indeed, in our world. Together we’ll keep doing all we can to meet this need.
MSW & MPA Student Chandice Commeree
— Lisa Himonas, Assistant Dean for Development
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Grab your trusty smartphone and scan the QR code to get centered (and informed).
DAILY MINDFULNESS Working from home. Helping the kids with their online classes. Keeping up with laundry, cooking, and cleaning, not to mention current events. Seriously, who has the time (or the space) for self-care these days!? Yet, we know it’s critical for our wellbeing.
Assistant Professor Adam Hanley has some good news: you can incorporate mindfulness into your daily chores and still experience the benefits of this centuries-old practice. Dr. Hanley created a series of videos that not only guide one through mindfully washing dishes or quietly cultivating awareness of one’s body, but also explain the research and science behind the benefits.
