Congratulations to doctoral candidate, Katarina Craig, who is one of the 2026 Equity First Summer Associates to Chapin Hall! She is one of six students participating in six weeks of intensive professional development to learn the complex realities of conducting culturally responsive and racially equitable research in applied settings. Follow this link to see the …
SRSSW Associate Professor, Dr. Lara Gerassi, was voted in as a board member to The Global Association of Human Trafficking Scholars (GAHTS). This nonprofit organization aims to respond to human trafficking by moving the knowledge base forward and informing policy, advocacy, and activism through international partnerships and ethically grounded research. As a board member, Dr. …
Educational outcomes for students who have experienced foster care are problematic. For the small percentage of foster kids who go to college, making it to graduation is difficult given the constellation of factors often present in the lives of young people who experienced foster care, including and notably a lack of formal and informal supports. …
Assistant Professor Celina Doria recently hosted two acompañantes from Mexico, Bianca Acuña Valverde and Perla Martinez Reynoso. Acompañantes are feminist abortion activists who support pregnant people having medication abortions outside of clinical settings. While in town, the acompañantes gave a guest lecture in Dr. Doria’s Reproductive Justice course, met with members of a Latina-led doula …
In 2025, 24% of homeless people were part of families with children. When these families face a medical crisis, such as a parent recovering from surgery or a complicated birth, they are often discharged from the hospital to the streets or to shelters not equipped to handle their medical recovery. To address this need, JustDane, …
Assistant professor and researcher, Dr. Weidi Qin, was initially inspired to investigate the reasons that older Mexican Americans experience higher than average poor health outcomes, including cognitive decline and disability, during a summer immersion program at the University of Michigan in 2023. While there, she had access to the largest dataset focused on older Mexican …
Assistant Professor, Dr. Callie Freitag, became interested in Supplemental Security Income (SSI) while working as a policy analyst in California. She explained that SSI is a cash assistance program in the form of monthly checks. In order to qualify for SSI, a person needs to be low-income and have low assets as well as either …
Assistant Professor Dr. Jessica Pac was awarded the prestigious Vilas Associates Competition Award. This university-wide award recognizes new and ongoing research of the highest quality and significance. In addition to her role as an Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison Sandra Rosenbaum School of Social Work, Dr. Pac is a Faculty Affiliate of the …
A mental health crisis can be a stressful and frightening experience for people living with mental illness and their loved ones, and being able to access effective and compassionate services can make all the difference. In Wisconsin, people experiencing a mental health crisis often have to turn to police, which can escalate into a dangerous …
Assistant Professor Dr. Jessica Pac was awarded the prestigious Vilas Associates Competition Award. This university-wide award recognizes new and ongoing research of the highest quality and significance. Dr. Pac received this award for her research into how social policies shape risk, health, and opportunity for children and families. Her work helps policy makers to target …