TSSW in the News
Passion for social work leads her to South Africa -- Dec. 12, 2011
Leah Krandel’s passion for addressing issues of diversity rings true in every word she speaks. For three months this fall, she took that passion to South Africa as part of her global field placement. Krandel is one of 91 students who graduated from the Tulane School of Social Work on Friday (Dec. 9)..
Social work students see advocacy in action -- Nov. 11, 2011
What started off as a trip to learn about public protest and how to advocate through discussions with elected officials turned into witnessing the beginning of an ongoing national movement as seven social work students traveled to Washington, D.C.
Led by social work assistant dean Julianna Padgett and adjunct faculty member Nancy Thacker, seven students participated in the “Stop the Machine” protests from Oct. 6 to 9. Those protests quickly became closely aligned with the worldwide Occupy Wall Street movement.
Empathy in a Disaster Zone -- August 25, 2011
Takashi Fujioka, a visiting scholar from Japan who specializes in social work burnout prevention, has designed a new method for monitoring mental health professionals working in a disaster zone. Fujioka spent several months in New Orleans working with the Tulane Traumatology Institute at the Tulane School of Social Work to help mental health professionals in Japan after the recent earthquake and tsunami.
A professor of social work at the Japan College of Social Work, Fujioka survived the March 11 earthquake disaster. “It was like a slow-moving horror show,” he says.
Study Tour Enlightens Rwandan Scholars -- August 15, 2011
To learn best practices in social work, a trio of professors from the National University of Rwanda School of Social Work spent the month of July at Tulane University on a study tour. In Rwanda, social work is a new profession formed in 1999 in response to the country’s mental health needs following the 1994 genocide.
“Although they had psychologists and counselors trained, the knowledge needed to attend to the psychosocial care needs of the population was very limited,” says So’Nia Gilkey, an assistant professor of social work at Tulane and study tour coordinator. “Social work seemed to be the best fit to get people trained to meet those needs.”.
Social Work Graduate Fulfills Dream -- May 10, 2011
When social work student Tonia Tillman graduates with her eight fellow part-time students, it will be the end of a journey she calls one of the most important of her life.
Tillman commuted two nights a week for three years from Plaquemine, La., to attend night classes while working a full-time job as a paraprofessional with Ascension Parish. She also competed a field internship on Monday evenings and Saturdays, in pursuit of a master’s degree in social work. So what would inspire a person to create such a schedule?
Professors Find Support in ‘Sistah Circle’ -- April 12, 2011
Secluded from the hustle and bustle of family life and university obligations, four women on the Tulane faculty have created for themselves a citadel of constructive criticism, founded on a platform of mutual trust, respect and goodwill.
Katie Acosta, Nghana Lewis, Beretta Smith-Shomade and Social Work Assistant Professor Rebecca Chaisson have united in what they call the “Sistah Circle,” a newly formalized writing group. Through the support of the Newcomb Center for Research on Women, the group meets monthly at A Studio in the Woods retreat center.
Students’ Hearts Beat With Haitian Kids -- March 14, 2011
Less than a month after the 2010 Haitian earthquake, two Tulane students listened intently as a pair of earthquake survivors told their story and implored the New Orleans community to help in any way it could. They answered the call with their professional project.
Before their December 2010 graduation from the School of Social Work, Tuyl Fletchinger and Jordan Matevich created a culturally specific, arts-based HeARTs With Haiti curriculum to help Haitian children express and process the trauma they experienced and are still experiencing.
Drop-In Center Offers Safe Place for Area Youth -- January 19, 2010
Clinical social worker Isabella Christodoulou loves coming to work each day, and one reason is the effectiveness of her “guerilla therapy” to reach New Orleans’ homeless and at-risk youth who flock to the Drop-In Center on North Rampart Street, on the edge of the French Quarter.
“It is fabulous to come to work every day because I don’t know what amazing person I’m going to meet next,” she says. “The main thing is that you have to engage people as quickly as possible because when an individual comes though, you don’t know if you are going to see them again."
Former Businesswoman Turns to Social Work -- December 14, 2010
After 20 years as a successful businesswoman, 2010 social work graduate Leann Halsey knew something was missing, and she turned to social work. Halsey is among 80 students who earned master of social work degrees from the Tulane School of Social Work on Friday (Dec. 10), but for the former fashion merchandising and design rep, it was the first step toward fulfilling her calling.
“I would come home from work thinking there has to be more than the idea of chasing the dollar,” Halsey says. “I knew I wanted to be helping people. Social work is a large umbrella so you can work in so many different capacities to help other people.”.
New Ph.D. Program Focuses on City, Culture, Community -- December 1, 2010
With a focus on a comprehensive interdisciplinary approach, the new City, Culture and Community doctoral program at Tulane University is accepting its first applications.
The program was created with cooperation from the Department of Sociology, the School of Social Work and the Urban Studies program, along with participating faculty located in the School of Liberal Arts, School of Architecture, School of Law, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine and School of Science and Engineering. The program’s intellectual focus brings together approaches from each discipline..
Students Premier Human Trafficking Film -- November 15, 2010
A group of more than 50 Tulane social work students were motivated to take action Wednesday (Nov. 10) after viewing a documentary about human trafficking of children in the cocoa industry.
Following a screening of The Dark Side of Chocolate, about the continued allegations of human trafficking of young boys among Ivory Coast cocoa farms, the students signed a petition urging the Hershey Co. to take steps toward ending the practice on cocoa farms in its production system.
Miners' Mental Health Remains Bright -- October 19, 2010
With all 33 Chilean miners now safely back on the Earth’s surface, Charles Figley, who holds the Paul Henry Kurzweg Chair in Disaster Mental Health in the Tulane School of Social Work, says the miners’ future is uncertain yet bright.
“The reality is that we don’t know exactly what they are going to go through because we’ve never had anything like this happen before,” says Figley. “In many ways, they have entertained the possibility that they may not survive, and that is a life-altering change in and of itself.”
Social Work Students Aid Lake Cleanup -- September 30, 2010
More than 50 social work students took on community service projects on Saturday (Sept. 25), including a dozen students who cleaned up the Broadmoor neighborhood to help keep litter from ending up in Lake Pontchartrain.
The event was the first Day of Service held by the Tulane School of Social Work.
Boosting Family Resiliency -- September 16, 2010
Renowned family therapist and author Froma Walsh reached out to more than 200 social work students and community members during a recent visit to the New Orleans area. She went to Plaquemines and St. Bernard parishes to meet with social work professionals as part of a mental health needs assessment being conducted by the Tulane School of Social Work and to discuss mental health care services that are needed to address the stress of the Gulf oil spill.
Close Look at Dangerous Relationships -- September 7, 2010
Tulane’s innovative service-learning program helped draw Sally J. Kenney to New Orleans. When she became the new executive director of the Newcomb College Institute earlier this year, one of her goals was to encourage more service-learning courses focusing on women’s issues. This fall, she is team-teaching her first such course: "Law and Politics of Domestic Violence."
Service with a Smile -- August 31, 2010
Despite rainy skies, 1,500 Tulane volunteers extended helping hands to the New Orleans community on Friday and Saturday (Aug. 27–28) at more than 25 service locations, garnering attention from national leaders on the weekend commemorating the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s landfall.
Homeless and Needing Help -- August 12, 2010
Past trauma, poor literacy and conflicting family relationships as well as poor mental health, incarceration histories and substance abuse, are a few common themes revealed during the first 18 months of detailed study of homeless men in New Orleans conducted by So’Nia Gilkey, an assistant professor at the Tulane School of Social Work.
Students Connect With Kids -- July 27, 2010
Inside the St. Bernard NORD Center, a group of Tulane School of Social Work students and recent graduates are working toward one goal — helping New Orleans’ youth lead healthy, happy lives.
They are working with the Cops for Kids summer camp, an eight-week program for children aged 5-13 sponsored by the New Orleans Recreation Department, New Orleans Police Department, New Orleans Police and Justice Foundation, Crimestoppers and Greater New Orleans Afterschool Partnership.
India Trip Is Compassion in Action -- July 15, 2010
TIt’s not often a hail storm ranks among the highlights of a trip to India, but for architecture junior Megan Webb, it did. Webb was among eight Tulane undergraduates who traveled to India in June with the Center for Public Service’s Compassion in Action program.
The four-week, intensive service-learning program is conducted in partnership with the School of Social Work, and it engages students in a variety of community service and social work projects.
Gulf Aid Grant Focuses on Mental Health -- July 9, 2010
Thanks to a $35,000 grant from Gulf Aid, the Plaquemines Community C.A.R.E. Centers Foundation will provide mental health support for residents of the Louisiana parish that reaches into the Gulf, with help from the Tulane School of Social Work.
Memorial Service for Social Work Student -- June 4, 2010
Students in the School of Social Work are mourning the loss of Kimberly Kelly, a fellow student who died on May 15, and they will honor her memory with a special service on Sunday (June 6) that is open to members of the Tulane community.
The memorial service will take place at 6:30 p.m. at Rogers Memorial Chapel on the Tulane uptown campus. At the service, students and friends will speak about Kelly and her life. There also will be a candlelight vigil outside the chapel after the event.
Kelly, a mother and veterans rights advocate, was killed in an incident at her home in Belle Chasse, La. She was a graduate student in her final months of social work studies at Tulane.
RaRa for Haiti Photos -- May 26, 2010
The Tulane School of Social Work and Run for Third hosted an awareness walk for Haiti on Saturday, May 22 at Audubon Park. More than 100 people participated, and the event raised more than $2,300 which will be split evenly between two Haiti aid programs -- HeARTs with Haiti and Partners in Health.
Walk for Haiti -- May 21, 2010
The Tulane School of Social Work, together with the Run for Third organization, will host the RaRa for Haiti walkathon on Saturday (May 22) to benefit survivors of the earthquake in Haiti. Proceeds from the event will be split between Partners in Health, a provider of healthcare to indigent groups, and HeARTS with Haiti, a therapeutic arts-based program for traumatized children.
HaitiPascale Gerdes, a Tulane staff member and native of Haiti, discovered the Run for Third organization while researching ways to lend a hand to her family and friends in Port-Au-Prince after the earthquake. Run for Third specializes in organizing walk/run events to benefit third-world countries.
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Grads Teach America -- May 10, 2010
Nicole Spoelma will be in Washington, D.C., this summer working for Teach For America as an elementary special education teacher, but her post-Tulane career might never have happened if not for social work professor Fred Buttell.
Spoelma is one of five Tulane students in the social policy and practice program who are graduating from Tulane on May 15. The future educational policymaker says her career was charted after a freshman class with Buttell.
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Friends Reunite -- May 7, 2010
Tulane social work graduate Jessica Forstall, right, and Tsering, a monk from Nepal, share an embrace after Tuesday's (May 4) movie premiere of Karma Walkers at Tulane. The movie chronicled the School of Social Work's annual trip to India in 2007, which included Forstall and Tsering.
Students Star in Karma Walkers -- May 4, 2010
Karma Walkers, a documentary about 12 students from the Tulane School of Social Work who leave New Orleans for India to work with orphans, lepers and Tibetan refugees in the mountaintop kingdom of the Dalai Lama, premieres today (May 4) at an uptown campus event.
The film will be shown at 8 p.m. at the Freeman Auditorium in Woldenberg Art Center. The event is free and open to the public.
Since 2002, Ron Marks, dean of the School of Social Work, has led students on annual month-long immersion trips to Dharamsala, India, in the Himalayan Mountains, home of the Dalai Lama and the locus of the Tibetan government in exile. There, students have taught English, worked with orphans in the Tibetan Children's Village, consulted with the Tibetan government officials and learned about traditional Tibetan medicine.
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Books Help Children Overcome Bullies, Fear -- March 22, 2010
Bullying and dealing with fear are common challenges for children, so five Tulane School of Social Work students joined forces for their final professional project before graduation to help area youth deal with those obstacles in a healthy manner.
In the final project before their December 2009 graduation, Lindsey Baldwin, Molly Bartlett, Martha Magnuson, Lisa Mosca and Allison Staiger, created two children's books, Sammy's Secret and The Bullydog. Each book, complete with color illustrations, focuses on a traumatic issue children might face.
Advocates Look at Violence Issues' -- March 18, 2010
More than 100 law students, attorneys and social workers learned Wednesday (March 17) that defending domestic violence victims takes a common language between mental health professionals and attorneys. Presenters at the session included Tulane alumnus Richard Ducote, a nationally recognized child advocacy attorney.
The Tulane Law Women's Association sponsored the continuing education event focusing on custody and divorce cases involving domestic violence, assessing a child custody evaluation and ethics of representing domestic violence victims. Other speakers were Tania Tetlow, director of the Tulane Domestic Violence Clinic, and Becki Kondkar, a national expert on child custody cases with domestic violence concerns.
School of Social Work Hosts Open House -- March 12, 2010
The Tulane School of Social Work will host its annual open house on Saturday (March 13) from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in room 103 of the Social Work Building on the uptown campus.
Tulane faculty, staff, current students and alumni will be on hand to answer questions about academic programs and community outreach activities. Interested students and community members are encouraged to attend to find out what the school has to offer.
"This event gives the school a chance to introduce our program to potential students as well as the community," says Ron Marks, dean of the School of Social Work. "Potential students can meet with our faculty while community members can learn about our community-centered efforts such as our Center for Life-Long Learning and our students' field placements, which the public benefits from on a daily basis."
Information will be available about the following: master of social work program, part-time evening program, certificate in disaster mental health, certificate in international social work, dual degree programs with the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, dual degree programs with the School of Law, and financial aid and scholarships.
For more information about the open house and social work programs, contact the School of Social Work at 504-865-5314 or 800-631-8234.
'Rebuild for Our Children' -- March 2, 2010
Describing the 32-second Haiti earthquake as the “longest moment of our lives,” Christine Duchatellier-Fowler and her husband, Paul Fowler, shared public health data and their personal stories of survival with a group of students and faculty members on Thursday (Feb. 25) at “Update: Haiti,” sponsored by the Tulane School of Social Work’s Institute for Psychosocial Health.
Duchatellier-Fowler lived in Port-au-Prince for three years working for the Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine as a project administrator, and she recently returned there to do a needs assessment with a multidisciplinary team from Tulane.
Leader in HIV/AIDS work visits Tulane -- February 18, 2010
When the Tulane School of Social Work sends an international social work student to Tanzania in September, a familiar face will be waiting on the other end. Theresa Kaijage, who helps people infected and affected by HIV/AIDS in Tanzania, visited Tulane recently to talk about her work in Africa.
Kaijage, founder of WAMATA, a nongovernmental organization that assists HIV/AIDS patients and families in Tanzania, has been working globally as a social worker for more than 25 years.
Team Boosts Crescent City's Psyche -- February 5, 2010
As New Orleans readies for Super Bowl weekend, the "Who Dat Nation" is nearing a football frenzy, which is having a positive impact on the city's well-being, both emotionally and economically. According to Tulane School of Social Work faculty members, this frenzy is not only natural, it's one of the city's healthier moments.
"The Saints are New Orleans," says Charles Figley, who holds the Paul Henry Kurzweg Distinguished Chair in Social Work. "They were born on All Saints Day in 1966, and they have been a part of the city's culture ever since. The team isn't just a professional football team; it's a reflection of this city."
Social Work Students Hold Juvenile Judges Forum -- January 20, 2010
The Tulane School of Social Work is sponsoring a Juvenile Judges Forum on Wednesday (Jan. 20) from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. On Feb. 6, New Orleanians will be electing a new juvenile judge.
The event in Jones Hall, room 102, on the uptown campus is free and open to the public.
The three candidates running for Juvenile Court Judge, Section E — Richard Exnicios, Tracey Flemings-Davillier and Marie Williams — are expected to attend.
"Juvenile judges play a significant role in the lives of Orleans Parish's children, families and justice system," says Christopher Gross, representative of the Tulane School of Social Work Student Government Association, which organized the forum.
For more stories about the School of Social Work, visit our news archive page.
Tulane School of Social Work, 6823 St. Charles Ave., Building 9, New Orleans, LA 70118 800-631-8234 msw@tulane.edu