Spring 2026
Dr. Jessica Pac Receives Prestigious Award
Assistant Professor, Dr. Jessica Pac, was awarded the prestigious Vilas Associates Competition Award for her research into how social policies shape risk, health, and opportunity for children and families.
Did you know the Sandra Rosenbaum School of Social Work has two named professorships — the Sheila B. Kamerman and Alfred J. Kahn Professorship of Social Policy; and the Anne Wackman Oros Associate Professorship?
Community Partnership Works to Provide Medical Respite Shelter to Unhoused Families
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.
Culturally- and LGBTQIA2S+ Specific Advocates As Facilitators of Survivor Healing
Assistant Professor, Dr. LB Klein, and a team of researchers are undertaking a project to better understand barriers to care and sexual violence survivors’ experiences with care.
As one advocate describing their work with survivors said, “We’re just catching folks where we can and trying to make sure that we all survive.”
Our faculty impact policy and practice as directors of and practitioners in think tanks and nonprofits, such as the High Road Strategy Center and Soteria Solutions, and as members of boards such as the Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Board, and Global Association of Human Trafficking Scholars.
Researcher Explores the Role of Traumatic Loss in Black Maternal Mental Health
While combing through data from a research project with Milwaukee’s African American Breastfeeding Network, PhD candidate, Helenia Quince, realized that many Black women had experienced traumatic birthing events and losses, and that this might impact their mental health. She also came to realize that this issue had been neglected in prior research.
Centering Community Voices on Experiences with Mental Health Crisis Services
Clinical Associate Professor, Dr. Lynette Studer, recently contributed her extensive experience working with people with serious mental illnesses to an interdisciplinary, community-based research project aimed at talking to people about their mental health crisis experiences.
Assistant Professor Investigates Challenges to Accessing Supplemental Security Income
Assistant Professor, Dr. Callie Freitag, became interested in Supplemental Security Income (SSI) while working as a policy analyst in California where she heard stories about how difficult it was to access SSI as well as how the benefit was not enough to meet basic needs for those who could access it.
Social Work faculty work on active grants totalling over $60 million in research funding.
Dr. Weidi Qin Investigates How Neighborhood Disadvantages can Impact Health Among Older Mexican Americans
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.
Our faculty are frequently featured in the news, in places like National Public Radio and The Washington Post, advocacy websites, and podcasts.