Congratulations to four of our outstanding social work faculty members who received tenure this past year and have officially become Associate Professors as of this month. Their research, teaching, and service help make the Sandra Rosenbaum School of Social Work one of the most prestigious, accomplished, and student-centered schools in the country. Their efforts contribute to the $50 million in research funding our faculty worked on in 2023-2024 and the on-going service to communities and the Wisconsin Idea that drive our work all while mentoring and guiding undergraduate and graduate social work students.
Learn more about Pajarita Charles, Lara B. Gerassi, Alejandra Ros Pilarz, and Tawandra Rowell-Cunsolo and their work below.
Pajarita Charles
Dr. Charles’ research centers on the development, implementation, and testing of interventions to promote positive outcomes among families affected by the criminal legal system with particular attention to parents incarcerated in prisons and jails. Dr. Charles’ work also includes fostering research, practice, and public sector partnerships to build capacity for criminal justice reform.
Dr. Charles previously received the UW-Madison Award for Mentoring Undergraduates in Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activities. This award recognized Dr. Charles’ outstanding work with undergraduates on her research team and her generosity in mentorship. For several years she has been the Principal Investigator for the Lab for Family Wellbeing & Justice and is a co-lead on the “Promote Smart Decarceration Grand Challenge,” from the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare.
Lara B. Gerassi
Dr. Gerassi’s research informs policies and programs that enhance the well-being of people in the sex trades. Her work aims to include the perspectives of sex trafficking survivors, sex workers, and people who trade sex but do not identify with either term or phenomenon.
Dr. Gerassi received a Chancellor’s Inclusive Excellence Award in recognition of her outstanding teaching, mentorship, and strong attention to inclusive practices. She was also recognized with the Influential Scholar Award at the International Human Trafficking & Social Justice Conference and was previously appointed to the executive board of the Global Association of Human Trafficking Scholars (GAHTS). She is also the Director of Sex Trafficking and Exploitation Research with UW-Madison’s 4W Initiative.
Her work to understand the experiences of university students who trade sexual services, acts, and materials for compensation is being translated to stakeholders to better support students.
Alejandra Ros Pilarz
Dr. Pilarz’ research aims to improve the wellbeing of working families with low-incomes through policy-relevant research. She examines the effects of parental employment and children’s early care and education contexts on family wellbeing and children’s development.
Dr. Pilarz received a large NIH K01 Training Grant to study mothers’ work schedules and children’s health development among other funded research. She has worked with the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families on a project to understand the factors contributing to a decline in the number of family child care providers in the state and in the number of children participating in the Wisconsin Shares Child Care Subsidy Program. She often appears in popular media discussing parental employment and the status of child care in Wisconsin.
Tawandra Rowell-Cunsolo
Dr. Rowell-Cunsolo’s research examines the intersection of the criminal legal system and health outcomes, especially ways in which incarceration affects the health of vulnerable communities in the areas of HIV risk behaviors, substance misuse, and other chronic health outcomes.
Dr. Rowell-Cunsolo was selected to participate in the Interdisciplinary Research Leaders program – a leadership program by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. She received funding from the National Institutes of Health to examine substance misuse among formerly incarcerated people who use opioids and cocaine. Her work helps identify treatment gaps that prevent people involved in the legal system from accessing high-quality support. She recently received a Vilas Associate award from UW-Madison in recognition of her research on chronic health conditions among legal system-engaged drug users.