News: Disaster relief efforts

Alumna Becky Straw and the co-founder of her nonprofit, The Adventure Project, have been nominated for a DVF Award in the category of The People’s Voice, for their work in the developing world on women’s empowerment.

With the advent of Women’s History Month, Columbia School of Social Work is honored to be hosting three women who are making history in fields related to social work.

Adjunct Associate Professor Michael Friedman insists that contrary to the ageist bias of today, it is possible to age well. Then he explores what “aging well” really means.

Last week a South Carolina court absolved the Friendship Nine of their “trespassing” conviction of 54 years ago for sitting at a whites-only lunch counter. We see this as an apt way to start this year’s celebrations of Black History Month.

The University has resumed normal operations today, Wednesday, January 28, 2015. Students, please confirm with your field supervisors that your field placement will take place as usual.

What did you resolve to do with your life in 2015: save more money, lose weight, develop a health habit like exercise, get organized? Before you feel tempted to break your goals, listen to alumna Erin Olivo (MSW’95) discuss “wise mind” living.

A clinical review of complicated grief by Dr. Katherine Shear in the January 8, 2015, New England Journal of Medicine delivers a fillip for its treatment and diagnosis in medical settings.

On the occasion of Martin Luther King Day, Dean Takamura says that social workers can benefit from “learning about or reacquainting ourselves with one of the most critical periods in the history of the United States,” which continues to shape the present.

Assistant Professor Courtney D. Cogburn has been selected to receive a Provost’s Grants Program Award for Junior Faculty who Contribute to the Diversity Goals of the University, for a project titled “Black Face to Ferguson: A Mixed Methodological Examination of Media Racism, Media Activism and Health.”

Alumna Jennifer Bornemann (MS’00) has been deployed to Monrovia, Liberia, to care for victims of Ebola. We wish her all the best and our thoughts are with her during the holidays.