Social Work

Irv Piliavin, D.S.W.,  passed away the week of November 15, 2009.  He was a long-term member of the School faculty and served as Director of the School in the 1990s. His passing was posted on the Caring Bridge website. It reads:

"Dad, Grandpa, Professor Piliavin, Irv (and in his own mind "High Roller") passed away peacefully at home, surrounded by his family, at 8:11 a.m. this morning, November 19. He was comfortable and at peace, just as he wanted.

We will be making 'celebration of life' arrangements in the near future, and will certainly post them on the website here. We deeply appreciate ALL of the kinds words, wonderful stories and love shared on these pages over the last few weeks. Please continue to use this space to share your stories and love."

For those of you who know Jane, we are aware that she appreciates personal notes and gestures from her friendship network here in Madison, as does Libby, their daughter, whom some of you also know. The website (url below) also is a good vehicle for conveying your sentiments and regrets. We will be sending flowers on behalf of the department.

Caringbridge website:  http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/irvingpiliavin

A scholarship was created in honor of Irv. His research was characterized by precision of measurement and the use of advanced statistical techniques not typically used in social science outside economics. His preference would be that this scholarship be given to a graduate student who wants to learn to use such techniques in pursuit of real life problems, although not necessarily the same problems he pursued.  Donations to the Scholarship may be made in  two ways :

To mail a donation, include the fund number and name (12546710/Piliavin Scholarship) on your check, payable to the University of Wisconsin Foundation, and send it to:
UW Foundation
U.S. Bank Lockbox
P.O. Box 78807
Milwaukee, WI 53278-0807

To make a secure gift online using your credit card, please visit:
www.uwfoundation.wisc.edu/giving
In the “Designation” box, select “Other-detailed below” from the pull down menu, and enter the fund number and name as listed above in the free text box.

The UW Foundation has a process by which we inform someone if a gift is made in his honor. If gifts are marked in honor of Irving Piliavin, we will send his family the donor's name and address (but not gift amount).

If you have questions, please contact Ann Dingman at ann.dingman@uwfoundation.wisc.edu or 608-265-9954.

Maria Cancian is a professor of public affairs and social work at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.She has an accomplished record as an economics researcher and has produced over 40 peer-reviewed articles and chapters dealing with poverty, welfare, and child support. Her main academic interest is learning about how the child welfare system interacts with the broader child support and welfare systems. She will use her Distinguished Fellows award to spend one summer and the following semester working full-time in the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families (DCF). She will work with policymakers in the central DCF offices on a range of activities, including quality service reviews and child death reviews. She will shadow her mentors to gain a deeper appreciation of the day-to-day challenges of reorganizing a state welfare/child welfare bureaucracy, and spend an extended period of time shadowing child welfare caseworkers in two county offices to observe the intersection of policy and practice. Dr. Cancian will also work in the Department’s Office of Prevention Initiatives to learn more about efforts to foster cross-department coordination.

The Foundation created the Distinguished Fellows program to create connections between research, policy, and practice. Now in its sixth year, the program has proven successful in helping researchers understand what kind of research evidence is needed by and useful to policymakers and practitioners, as well as giving policymakers and practitioners a unique opportunity to immerse themselves in a research setting and gain an understanding of what constitutes high-quality research. The Fellowship is designed for those who are in mid-career and influential in their roles, as we hope that the Fellows will use their experiences to return to their primary roles and work to increase the supply of, demand for, and use of high-quality research in the service of improved youth outcomes.

“This program has become an integral part of our [W.T. Grant Foundation] work to improve the relevance of research, particularly for practitioners. The researchers who have completed their Fellowships are doing work that reflects a more accurate understanding of the needs of practitioners, and while there are fewer graduates from policy and practice roles, they tell us they are much more able to commission and recognize good empirical work,” said Robert Granger, president of the Foundation.

Ada Deer, retired Sr. Lecturer in Social Work and  American Indian Studies has been slated to be a part of the "Eloquence and Eminence" emeritus faculty lecture series.  Ada will present "All You Ever Wanted to Know About American Indians but Were Afraid to Ask" on March 21, 2010, 2:00-3:00 at the Pyle Center.

Katherine Magnuson has been named the Associate Director of Research and Training for the Institute for Research on Poverty.  In this role, Katherine leads the effort of training and mentoring the next generation of poverty researchers in the social sciences.