I nse R v I ce
THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA SCHOOL OF SOCIAL WORK
FALL 2013
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Notes from the Director
2
Students in Service
3
Comings & Goings
4
A Dream No Longer
Deferred
6
Older Adult Death Review
Team
8
Faculty In Service
10
Alumni Spotlight
12
Alumni Updates
14
‘Hold on to the ones you love!’
Photographer: Jonathan Lundquist, 2nd Place winner of the
2013 Aging 360° Photo Contest sponsored by Aging Studies.
http://clas.uiowa.edu/socialwork
Promoting a culture of respect and Inclusiveness
Dear Friends:
A couple weeks
ago I joined a
dozen of my faculty and staff colleagues, together
with some students, in an
“advanced” Safe
Zone training program in one
of our classrooms. Led by talented trainers from the UI
Chief Diversity Office, the
training focused on exploring
our personal beliefs about
LGBTQ persons and their
needs. The goal of Safe Zone
is to provide a safe and inclusive environment for LGBTQ
persons on campus. As social
workers, we are especially
mindful of the stereotypes and
ignorance in our society about
LGBTQ persons and the prejudice they face in our heterosexist culture.
The importance of this training
was to explore our biases and
resolve to make our campus
(and School) a more welcoming and safe, respectful community. I always learn something new at each diversity
training I attend. We all
know the journey to cultural
competence is life-long.
This Safe Zone training follows
on a “first ever” educational
opportunity we offered to all
incoming MSW students this
year in Iowa City. In August,
we provided a day-long National Coalition Building Institute (NCBI) training.
This model works through a
coalition-building approach
to provide leadership training for diversity and inclusion, with the lofty goal of
eliminating all forms of
prejudice throughout the
world. Many of us on the
faculty and staff participated
in NCBI training last Spring.
We were so impressed by
the experiential learning that
we decided to bring it to our
students. Student feedback
from the day-long experience was very positive and is
a great kick-off for our
coursework on diversity.
We hope to offer the training annually to all students.
As you read through this
issue of In-Service, I know
you will be struck by a wide
range of diversity trainings
and opportunities that we
offer, both in Iowa City and
statewide. We hosted several events this fall, including
our 15th Annual
“Strengthening and Valuing
Latino Communities”
conference, led by alum John
-Paul Chaisson-Cardenas and
organized by Kate Kemp, an
alum and current Program
Administrator of the School.
We also co-sponsored—
with the leadership of alum
and current faculty member
Mercedes Bern-Klug-- an Aging
Studies 30th Anniversary conference devoted to the needs of
older persons. I especially
identified with a presentation
by keynoter Rick Moody devoted to the “transition from middle age to older adulthood:” it
felt so timely to me!
We have been offering Continuing Education programs
statewide over the past few
years on many topics devoted
to diversity and our upcoming
CEU’s by alum Julia McGinley
on “Culturally Competent and
Ethical Social Work Practice
with LGBTQ Individuals” is
another great offering for practitioners. Finally, I would be
remiss by not acknowledging
the continuing efforts we make
in helping everyone understand
the issues of disability-status by
continuing to host the Wild
Bill’s Coffeeshop here in North
Hall. We wore our Disability
Awareness t-shirts every Friday
in October in solidarity with
our friends who experience
disability in their lives.
I know you must be as proud as
I am when you reflect on the
School’s many efforts to
promote respect for diversity
in its many facets. I consider
it one of the School’s most
important missions.
2
2.
Students in Service
Des Moines BA in Social Work Spring 2013 Student Projects
Four members of the
Social Work Processes class, Kathryn
Brown, Kristal Lake,
Jessica Williams and
Laurel White Jackson
chose to seek book
Laurel White Jackson, Kristal Lake,
Jessica Williams and Kathryn Brown. and media donations
for the Spring, 2013
book sale for Planned Parenthood of the Heartland as a community fundraising effort, The legendary sale, a tradition in Des Moines since 1961,
is the primary fundraiser to support the Education and Outreach mission of Planned
Parenthood. The original goal was 200 books, but
the group exceeded that goal, and gathered and
delivered 619 books for the organization.
L to R: Diana Sullivan,
Nicole Lewis, Abbie
Fessler-Boylan and
Esmir Mesinovic.
DMACC and
the University
of Iowa partnered for a
workshop on Adult Survivors of Childhood Sexual
Abuse. The conference was held on Saturday,
April 13, from 9:30am - 1:00pm at the DMACC
Urban Campus. There were approximately 80
participants for this first annual event that focused
on breaking the silence around sexual trauma.
And...

NASW-Iowa Chapter has two Des Moines
MSW students currently serving on its Board of
Directors: Lisa Whelan serves as Vice President
and Angie O'Brien serves as the MSW student
representative.
 Iowa Homeless Youth Center just received a
three-year grant that got its start from the practice evaluation Jill Perry (MSW 2012) completed
during her Advanced Practicum.
 EMBARC - Ethnic Minorities of Burma
Advocacy & Resource Center -received a grant
that resulted in part from Advanced Practicum
work completed by Penny Sax (MSW 2012) and
Abby Freese (MSW 2012).
Our group partnered
with Ronald McDonald House and Southeast Elementary in
Ankeny to hold a
wish list fundraiser to
help provide fundamental items for families away from
L to R: Sierra Haan, Holly Perkins,
home.
We requested
Cory Wilson , Judy Demoret
that the student bring
in items such as personal care items, paper towels,
plastic silverware or snacks to donate to the
house and created a competition among the classrooms. The class that brought in the most items
won a pizza party donated by Pizza Hut. Our goal
was to collect 200 items and we received an
amazing 1,315 items! The winning class was Ms.
Gooding's 4th graders with a total of 263 items
donated! The 4th grade classes are going to continue to do the fundraiser next year as 5th graders, and the PTO will continue in the following
years.
Kelsey Rumpf, Sara
Tauber, Kendra
Graham, and Becky
Smith, University of Iowa
students in the BASW
program at the Pappajohn Center, participated
in the 3rd annual Bubble
Ball fundraiser for
Sara Tauber & Kendra Graham
ChildServe.
ChildServe is a non-profit organization that partners with families in the Des Moines metro area
to help children who have special health care
needs. This year’s annual Bubble Ball funds were
allocated towards the expansion of their autism
program.
The Bubble Ball exceeded its fundraising goal of
$75,000, and through ticket sales, auctions and
donations raised almost $84,000! Over 400
people watched as we walked our design down
the runway, representing the School of Social
work and its commitment to advancing and
advocating for services and interventions for
children and families who have been impacted by
autism.
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3
Comings & Goings
Retirements
The idea of
teaching a course about
School Social Work was
conceived in 1984 with
Dan Reece on a trip to
Waverly, Iowa to hear
John Weakland talk
about brief therapy
treatment. It was a
memorable trip to say
the least. Dan and I cotaught the class for 3
Larry Allen, MSW ‘’77
years. Dan then moved
to Eugene, Oregon and I asked Beth Walsh to
co-teach the class with me as the vast amount
of material was daunting. Beth taught the class
with me for 2 years but decided to leave
school social work and engage in private practice.
At that juncture I decided to teach the
class myself which I did until 2011 or 22 more
years. When I "retired" from Grant Wood
Area Education Agency in 2009, I knew there
were different directions SSW was taking and
I felt obligated to infuse those directions into
the class so I beseeched Sidney Lutz to help
teach the class and better address those
changes. Sidney chose to stop teaching after
the 2012 class. The three mentioned above
were extremely valuable to me in my teaching
endeavors.
It was always my goal to update the
class yearly, including new legislative mandates, changes in directions SSW was taking,
and new research that was applicable to the
job. It was a labor of love. All this was in
quest of providing potential new SSW'ers a
foundation in which they could hopefully hit
the ground running much more confidently. I
am deeply indebted to the numerous professionals and parents who came yearly to provide the class invaluable insights for the students. Their contributions always received
high accolades from the students.
With the goal of staying on top of the
ever changing roles and responsibilities of
school social workers combined with my retirement in 2008, I felt it best for me to consider retiring. So as of the summer of 2013, I
am now officially retired from teaching at the
School of Social Work. It was an honor and
privilege to teach there. I truly loved it and
the support and care I received from all the
staff at the school was above and beyond--great people. Also, kudos to all the students
who sat through /endured the lengthy days of
class. Julie King is now teaching the course
and I know it is in very capable hands.
As for me, I will continue to work
one night a week at the Amana Family Practice Clinic doing therapy and part-time work
(approximately 22 days a year) doing Mental
Health Consultation for the Iowa City Head
Start programs. Wishing you all the best,
~ Larry Allen
Dan Grinstead,
social worker at
UIHC,
retired in Aug.
after 38 years of
service. Dan
was also a member of the National Guard and from Nov.
2010 to July 2011 was deployed to Afghanistan where he served as a behavioral health
officer helping soldiers cope with the stresses
of their environment.
October is
Disability Awareness
Month and the School
of Social Work cosponsored a t-shirt
campaign that
encouraged people to
Steve, Bev, Kate, Jefri and Ed
buy and wear shirts
that said ‘See the Person, Not the Disability’
each Friday during October.
http://clas.uiowa.edu/socialwork
4
New PhD Students
Aging Studies Celebrates 30 Years
Cris Meier earned her
MSW from Iowa in
2011, will graduate with
her MPH in May 2014
and began the Social
Work Doctoral
Program this fall. She
also works for Family
Empowerment
Services in Davenport
Cristian Meier
providing behavioral
therapy to children and families. While she
enjoys direct practice, Cris is passionate
about research and hopes to find a dual
academic appointment in social work and
public health when she finishes the program.
Cris chose Iowa because she wanted to work
further with Jeanne Saunders. Her research
interests are nutrition and mental health and
food accessibility.
Meredith Stensland
completed her MSW
at UNI in May, 2013,
one year after her BA
in Social Work at
Wartburg College. She
is interested in research in end-of-life
issues, as well as sex
Meredith Stensland
offender treatment
models. Meredith was drawn to the Iowa
program because it offered opportunities for
teaching assistantships in the first year. She
has worked at Covenant Clinic Psychiatry in
Waterloo, the Iowa Medical and Classification
Center at Oakdale where she co-facilitated
sex offender treatment groups and currently
works at St. Luke’s Hospice in Cedar Rapids.
Meredith’s goal after completing the program
is to get an academic appointment at a
research university.
Four of the five Aging Studies Program Directors attended the
celebration. From L to R: Lorraine Dorfman, Mercedes Bern-Klug,
Hermione McLeran, and Rich MacNeal. The fifth, Judy Vogel, died
previously.
The Aging Studies Program
celebrated its 30th
Anniversary with a reception
and community presentation by
Harry ‘Rick’ Moody, Ph.D. His
topic was “Making Peace with
Growing Older-The transition from
middle age to older adulthood, a
philosopher’s perspective”. About 100 people attended. The event was co-sponsored by Hills
Bank, Iowa City/Johnson County Senior Center,
the Center on Aging, the Obermann Center for
Advanced Studies, the Aging Mind & Brain
Initiative, the Iowa Geriatric Education Center,
the Hartford/Csomay Center for Geriatric Nursing Excellence and the School of Social Work.
Below-2013 PhD graduates Jinyu Liu, Kristi Lohmeier
Law and Catherine Burnette wait patiently for the
2013 graduation ceremony to begin.
There are outstanding job prospects for PhD’s in
social work! Apply by 1-31-14. Questions?
http://clas.uiowa.edu/socialwork/graduate-program/phd-social-work/faq
http://clas.uiowa.edu/socialwork
5
A Dream No Longer Deferred
By Raquel L. Baker.
Reprinted with permission from Little Village Magazine
Raquel Baker is a graduate student at the University of Iowa, studying Postcolonial Studies and
African Literatures in English.
Fred Newell, BASW 2010
In 2006, Frederick Newell moved from Chicago to attend the University of Iowa. He was 18
years old and had a six-month-old baby. As a single dad, he found little support—like
access to affordable daycare—in his new city, and remembers bringing his son to class with
him. He also found a severe lack of community between other fathers. He earned a social
work degree in four years while raising his son with little social support. This combined with his
professional experience working in a social service culture that prioritizes the needs of women
and children while often failing to foster father involvement sparked the beginnings of a somewhat dangerous idea: What if its the social infrastructure for fathers, and not the fathers themselves, that is the problem?
Inspired by his guiding question, in May 2012, Newell founded the Dream Center in a house
across from Grant Wood Elementary School. The Dream Center‘s core mission is to strengthen families by mentoring fathers and young men. With services such as the Fatherhood Academy, Dads Making a Difference and the Youth Leadership Academy, the Center is a budding
one-stop shop where fathers and families are connected to educational advocacy, support
groups, therapy, social services and spiritual resources.
A DANGEROUS IDEA
In October 2012, Newell met Luke Benson, who was inspired by the work Newell was doing with
young men and fathers in the community. At the time, Benson was teaching introductory writing
courses at Kirkwood. The previous year, Benson had his students read In Defense of Dangerous
Ideas, an essay by Steven Pinker that poses the value of considering dangerous ideas–ideas that
can be unpleasant to think about because they challenge the social order or a society‘s most profound convictions about itself. Later, when seven of his nine students of color failed to turn in a
major paper assignment, Benson returned to the text he had once assigned to his students and
asked himself a dangerous question: Is cultural bias operating in my classroom?
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6
Benson, a whiteboy who grew up on a farm in a 400-person town in northwest Iowa, says, I I
thought I understood race. Yet faced with a glaring fact—that all of his white students but only two of
his minority students were passing his course—Benson says, I underestimated how real systemic
issues are. I underestimated my privilege.
Though from different backgrounds, Newell and Benson, who serves as the program director of the
Dream Center‘s Learning Center, base their work together on mutual respect and a willingness to
explore dangerous ideas. Teaching in Cedar Rapids and trying to get Kirkwood to fund an intensive
summer program for students on academic probation led Benson to the conclusion that equity in
education can only be achieved, racial and economic divides can only be bridged and schools can
only be transformed through grassroots educational reform, community activism and involvement in
advocacy and mentorship. Education is broken, said Benson, -As a community, change must come
from us.
GROWING A DREAM
Together, Newell and Benson are working to grow the Dream Center through a community- based
fundraising initiative they call Dollar a Day (DAD). With access to the greater corridor area, and the
potential to reach donors throughout the rest of Iowa, Benson believes getting
1,000 people to commit to donating one dollar a day is possible and will create a stable funding
base for salaries and programming.
The Inspireads program is another growth initiative that, in partnership with Prairie Lights and the
National Council of Teachers of English, calls for individuals to write a personal inscription inside
a book that inspired them and donate it to create a library at the Dream Center.
Newell‘s vision for the growth of the Dream Center extends beyond Iowa City, providing
support groups and advocacy throughout the state in less than five years.
But, in order for the Dream Center to succeed in reaching its advocacy goals within Iowa City,
Newell says it may mean first crossing the boundaries of the greater community‘s comfort zones
and engaging more people in conversations about dangerous ideas. Newell says that he can‘t advocate for fathers and young men, parents and students, without being vocal about the racial divide in Iowa City, the differential access to resources that effect the greater community and, most
importantly, the lack of motivation from Iowa Citians to develop an inclusive community in its
schools, local governing bodies and neighborhoods. Newell says,- We need community support to
be able to speak against entrenched institutional power … I‘m just struck by how little it would take
to make a big difference and how much people fight change. The effects of these issues contribute
to what Benson describes as perhaps the most dangerous idea of all, -learning to recognize and
reconcile the fact that there are really two Iowa Citys.
While Newell and Benson acknowledge that change can be slow, they know they are already making
an impact through the Center‘s work with young people. Charles Johnson, a 14-year-old South East
Junior High student, says he appreciates the tutoring and loves the Dream Team basketball program. He says,-Playing [basketball] is a big help. A lot of people from school play. You have to have
a 3.0 GPA to be on the team.
Johnson also participates in The Chosen Generation, a youth development program that offers
mentoring, volunteer activities and a critical discussions of issues that affect the lives and potentials
http://clas.uiowa.edu/socialwork
7
Faculty and Alumni In Service
Older Adult Death Review Team
Continued
of the next generation of grown ups. Johnson
remembers one moment during a poignant
discussion that addressed the politics of law
enforcement and incarceration, as well as the
disparity between the black population living
in Iowa City and the City‘s incarcerated black
population. As the conversation shifted to the
economics of filling jail cells and the profits
made by a network of interests—from construction companies to businesses that provide services such as healthcare, food or
clothing—he looked around, counted all his
peers in TCG and thought, that’d be like a million dollars of profit lost if all of us in this room
stay out of jail.
With the Dream Center, Newell and Benson
want to foster those kinds of moments of self
realization—moments of dream formation—
by providing a space where youth can share
ideas and experiences with engaged adults.
They hope the Dream Center will grow to become an institution that helps Iowa City have
the courage to explore and confront dangerous ideas, fosters cross-racial community
building and continues to work toward building social and political structures that benefit
ALL Iowa Citians.
Editor’s Note: When this article was originally
published it incorrectly stated that Luke Benson had taught Steven Pinker‘s essay In Defense of Dangerous Ideas during the same
semester when he met Frederick Newell;
which in fact happened the year prior to Benson and Newell‘s meeting.
Mike Hensch, Sara Sanders and Kate Bengston.
The Johnson County Older Adult Death
Review Team (JC-OADRT) started in September
2010 in response to a number of deaths of older
adults that were considered ‘natural’ but involved
concerning psychosocial issues such as neglect,either purposeful or inadvertent, suicide, environmental hazards and lack of caregiving. The process
brings together professionals from a variety of disciplines and organizations to share information and
analyze the circumstances of sudden or unexplained death of an adult over age 60.
Death review teams for children and victims of domestic violence have existed for many
years, but OADRT’s have developed only within
the past 10 years. The Johnson County team model is unique to Iowa and receives no funding. All of
the team members participate as volunteers.
The JC-OARDT is composed of representatives from hospice, the county attorney’s office, geriatric and emergency physicians, the medical examiner department, forensic pathologists,
DHS, law enforcement, public health, aging service providers and other ad hoc members as needed. Associate Professor Sara Sanders is the team
facilitator. Mike Hensch, MA, F-ABMDI is an administrator with the ME Department and coordinates the team. He said, “Older adult abuse is way
more prevalent than child or domestic abuse, but
older adults have no advocates. As a society we
don’t accept abuse of women and children anymore but we still do with older adults.”
Kate Bengtson, MSW ‘11, LMSW is a volunteer social worker with the ME department. She
http://clas.uiowa.edu/socialwork
8
First National Poetry Contest
for Social Workers
Workers
became affiliated as a student while doing her
practicum and was able to help develop the protocol to identify which cases to review. Now she
supervises the student placement. “We only accept one student but it’s a unique placement because they get to deal with issues of grief and loss
and unexpected death but they also get to see
how the team addresses unmet community
needs.”
According to their brochure, the JCOADRT has two goals: to “enhance interagency/
organization collaboration in all activities associated with the investigation of an older adult under our jurisdiction, and end preventable older
adult deaths in Johnson County”.
The Johnson County OADRT evaluates
each older adult death to determine whether it
warrants a full review by the team. Elements that
might flag a case for review include evidence of
neglect or physical or sexual abuse, substance
abuse, unsafe environmental living conditions,
multiple health needs not being addressed, lack of
a formal or informal support system or a general
gap in meeting psychosocial or physical needs.
Sara helps the team to exchange information about the case and identify immediate and
long term goals. Some of the most positive outcomes of the team have been the increased collaboration among providers as well as greater
awareness of the needs of older adults. “People
getting to know one another in communities and
feeling comfortable calling one another to discuss
their concerns is a critical step in developing a
coordinated response and identifying preventable
factors,” Sara said.
Once the review is complete the team
determines whether the death was preventable
and what policies, systems or procedures need to
be implemented or improved to address a gap in
services. In some cases, it is attitudes that need
to change. Mike Hensch expressed his frustration, “Our society has the misconception that self
-neglect is a personal choice, one of selfdetermination, ignoring the fact that the person
may lack the ability to make that choice due to
mental illness, substance abuse, or dementia. We
hear statements like ‘well they were old, they
were going to die anyway’. There is no societal
response to the death of an older person”.
Another issue that is difficult to address is
the financial abuse of an older adult, most likely by
members of their own family. For example, the
adult may need nursing home care but the family
is reluctant to provide it because they know it will
quickly eat up their inheritance. Even if this attitude seems evident, there is usually no professional follow-up into these issues. The family allows
mom to live alone on the family farm and they say
they are ‘checking on her’, but when an ’accident’
results in her death, how do we as a community
respond?
Many aging service providers are reluctant
to intervene when they suspect abuse. They may
not want to upset the family or believe that no
action will be taken if they do report it to DHS.
Kate Bengtson said she encountered this when
she was a community based social worker. “I was
told not to report abuse and when I did anyway, I
received push back from colleagues and in some
cases there was no follow-up.”
When there is agency involvement with a
family, the JC-OADRT sends them a summary of
their findings listing the issues, action steps and
recommendations for interventions. Sometimes
this results in new policies and procedures or protocol with staff and volunteers. The team has also
provided training of Johnson County area law
enforcement officers, hospice providers and DHS
investigators.
Sara Sanders was recently appointed to
the Governor’s Task Force on Elder Abuse and
she will continue to push for the need for legislation on elder abuse and funding to improve the
connection and communication between DHS and
Review Boards across Iowa’s counties. The chance
of getting funding is not good with current governor and legislature, but the JC-OADRT will continue doing training, presentations, developing
public awareness and building momentum so that
in the future they can make a strong case with the
data they have collected. Sara states “If people
realized the amount and degree of things going on
in this community they would be horrified with
the lack of response. People are living in horrible
conditions due to neglect.”
http://clas.uiowa.edu/socialwork
9
Faculty in Service
to continue to work at the state level to develop and
pass Elder Abuse legislation in Iowa.
Presentations:
Bern-Klug, M. & Manthai, T. (2013). Social Engagement
Through TimeSlips: An Intervention for Enhancing
Optimal Aging of Persons with Dementia, 66th Annual
Meeting of the Gerontological Society of America, New
Orleans.
Bern-Klug, M., & Dorhmann, J. (May 2013). Advance
Care Planning and Family Issues in Dementia, Iowa Geriatric Education Center, Geriatric Lecture Series – Online
Training.
Awards/Honors:
Mercedes Bern-Klug and former doctoral student
Bushra Sabri were chosen to receive the Rose
Dobrof Award for excellence for their manuscript
entitled, “Nursing Home Social Services Directors and
Elder Abuse Staff Training” published in the Journal of
Gerontological Social Work.
Motier Haskins, The Daily Iowan, (Spring/Summer
2013) The Graduating Class of 2013, UI Faculty and
Staff Members who made a difference in the Lives of
Students.
Motier Haskins, CDE/OGI Graduation & Recognition
Reception, (Spring/Summer 2013), Distinguished
Educators Award (Nomination).
Sandra McGee, was named NASW-IA 2013 Social
Worker of the Year for her many accomplishments and
dedication to the field of social work. She was chosen
for her years of providing education, advocacy, victim
assistance, training and leadership to women, African
Americans, students, voters and social workers across
the state. She has acted as a mentor to countless African American women and helped to create the Alumni
Diversity Committee at the school. She has also been
an active member of the Diversity Committee of NASW
-IA.
Sandra McGee, received the 2013 Iowa Juneteenth
Observance 'James Derham Health Practitioner of the
Year Award’. This award is presented to an African
American health practitioner in Iowa who has demonstrated a considerable record of community service.
Appointments:
Mercedes Bern-Klug has been appointed to the publications committee of the Gerontological Society of
America. The committee sets policy for all GSA journals.
Sandra McGee is serving on the NASW Iowa Executive
Director search committee to replace the executive
director.
Sandra McGee was appointed to the 5th Judicial Nominating Magistrate Appointing Commission by the Polk
County Board of Supervisors. The commission is responsible for making nominations to fill vacancies in
the office of Judge of the District Court of Iowa. McGee
will serve a six year term.
Sara Sanders was appointed to the Statewide Elder
Abuse Taskforce for 2013. The goal of this taskforce is
Bern-Klug, M. (May 2013). Expanding Our Society’s
Expectations for Older Adulthood, Keynote presentation. Annual Meeting of the Livable Communities Coalition of Johnson County, Iowa; televised for Public Access Television.
Bern-Klug, M. (June 2013). Prospect theory and
family
approaches to end-of-life decision making. 20th World
Congress of Gerontology and Geriatrics (Seoul, S. Korea).
Bern-Klug, M. (June 2013). Designing
a pilot study to
test the effects of TimeSlips. 20th World Congress of
Gerontology and Geriatrics (Seoul, S. Korea).
Bern-Klug, M. (July 2013). Social Work Ethics and Advance Care Planning for Persons with Dementia. Three
hour continuing education event co-sponsored by University of Iowa School of Social Work and Briar Cliff University, Sioux City, Iowa.
Cummings, S. (September, 2013) Models in Hospital
Social Work Practice: Social, Medical and Legal. "Essentials of Social Work Practice", University of
Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.
Cummings, S. & French, L. (November, 2013) Enhancing Leadership Skills: Techniques for Supervision. Three
hour continuing education event sponsored by University of Iowa School of Social Work, Iowa City, Iowa.
French, L. (2013, April) Using Research to Promote Economic Security, Health, and Well-Being. 2013 Iowa Governor’s Conference on Public Health, Ames, IA
French, L. (April, 2013) DonorConnect: Could You Live
on This? The True Cost of Living in Iowa. Community
Foundation of Greater Des Moines, Des Moines, IA.
French, L. (April, 2013) Reversing a Slippery Slope: Making Change for Struggling Families. Flourishing Families
of Benton and Iowa Counties, Blairstown, IA.
French, L. (May, 2013) Making Ends Meet: The Cost of
Living in Iowa Webinar. Community Foundation Café
series, Iowa Council of Foundations.
French, L. (September, 2013). Poverty and a Living
Wage. 15th Annual Latino Professional Development
Institute "Strengthening and Valuing Latino/a Communities in Iowa", Iowa City, Iowa.
French, L. (November,
2013) When Work No Longer
Pays the Bills. 17th Annual International Day “The
http://clas.uiowa.edu/socialwork
10
Faculty and PhD Faculty
Students
Service
in In
Service
Human Right to an Adequate Living”, Coralville, Iowa.
French, L. & Sanders, S. (November, 2013) Innovative
Field Placement: Partnering with the Medical Examiner’s Office. Council on Social Work Education 59th Annual Program Meeting, Dallas, Texas.
Haskins, M. (May, 2013) Tackling Social Injustice:
White Privilege, University of Iowa.
Haskins, M. (June 18, 2013), Multicultural Journey To
Cultural Competence, Meskwaki Family Services & Iowa Department of Human Services Annual Conference,
Tama, Iowa.
Haskins, M. (July 9, 2013). Presentation & Consultation: Intercultural Competency, University of Dubuque,
Dubuque Iowa.
Haskins, M. (September 27, 2013). Presentation &
Consultation: Sustainable Dialogues, University of
Dubuque, Dubuque Iowa.
Kleinschmit, J. (August, 2013). Kicking privilege country
with technology. Pedagogy of Privilege Conference,
Denver, CO.
Kleinschmit, J. (2013) Beyond Diversity: Understanding
White Privilege in the Context of Agriculture. Online,
asynchronous, professional development course for
the US Department of Agriculture’s North Central Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education
Program.
Grants:
Bern-Klug, M. (P.I.). “Online Training for Nursing Home
Social Workers,” Retirement Research Foundation,
2013-2015.
Coohey, C., & Gilster, M. Using Strategic Knowledge to
Address Homelessness in the Quad Cities and Surrounding Communities. Community Foundation of the Great
River Bend & United Way of the Quad Cities.
Gilster, M. Community Social Organization and Residential Mobility: Exploring Resident Participation and
Child Health in Making Connections Neighborhoods.
Annie E Casey Foundation and NORC at the University
of Chicago.
Kleinschmit, J., and Richardson, B. Diligent Recruitment of Families for Children in the Foster Care System
HHS-2013-ACF-ACYF-CO-0593. Native Families for
Native Children. Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska, lead
applicant of project involving four tribes and two state
child welfare systems. The National Resource Center
for Family Centered Practice will lead the evaluation
and partner with Briar Cliff University’s Siouxland
Research Center.
Publications:
Bern-Klug, M., Dohrmann, J., Dolan, P.A. (2013). Advance care planning and nursing home residents and
families: Lessons learned from TV game shows, in L.
Rogne & S. McCune (eds), Advance care planning: Advance directives & other tools for guiding communication about end of life.
Murty, S. & Sanders, S. (2013). Developing a Curriculum in End-Of-Life Care for Social Work Education.
Council on Social Work Education Annual Program
Meeting, Dallas, TX (October).
Butler, A.C. (Sept. 2013). Child Sexual Assault: Risk
Factors for Girls. J. Child Abuse & Neglect, 37(9), 643652
Sanders, S. (2013). Needs of Caregivers of Elders who
Die in Sudden and Unexpected Ways. Annual Scientific
Meeting of the Gerontological Society of America, New
Orleans, LA (November).
Renner, L.M., Coohey, C., Ruch, G., & O’Leary, P. (2013,
May). Self-reported panic attacks in adulthood: Relationship with injury, disclosure, and location of childhood sexual abuse. Journal of Social Work, 13(3), 308318.
Sanders, S. (2013). Use of Older Adult Death Review
Teams in Addressing Family and Community
Trauma. Council on Social Work Education Annual
Program Meeting, Dallas, TX (October).
Saunders, J. Promoting social justice for gay and lesbian youth: Increasing opportunities
for policy development and implementation. 18th Biennial Conference:
International Consortium for Social Development, July
15-19, 2013, Kampala, Uganda.
Saunders, E. New frontiers in teen pregnancy prevention: Mobilizing
the community using a sustainable
model. 18th Biennial Conference: International Consortium for Social Development, July 15-19, 2013, Kampala, Uganda.
Book Review:
Sanders, S., Pisu, M. (Sept. 2013). What do Cancer Patients Worry About When Making Decisions about
Treatment? Variation across Racial/Ethnic Groups.
Supportive Care in Cancer. Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013
Murty, S. A. (2014). Using an assessment framework
for research in a rural context. In T.L. Scales, C.L.
Streeter, & H. S. Cooper (Eds.), Rural social work: Building and sustaining community capacity (pp. 269-280).
Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Murty, S.A. (2014). Introduction to practice issues in
rural contexts. In T.L. Scales, C.L. Streeter, & H. S.
Cooper (Eds.), Rural social work: Building and sustaining community capacity (pp. 129-130). Hoboken, NJ:
John Wiley & Sons.
Bern-Klug, M. (2013). An alternative frame for preparing students to work with older adults. Book review of
Malcolm Payne’s, Citizenship Social Work with Older
Persons (Lyceum Press). The Gerontologist,
doi10.1093/geron/gnt028
http://clas.uiowa.edu/socialwork
11
Alumni Spotlight
Quanah Walker, LISW
Q
uanah Walker (BSW ’03, MSW, ’05),
comes from a family of social workers
who instilled in him the values of the
profession and their pride in serving
people. His father, Alex Walker (Iowa Alumni),
stepmother Michelle Bales (Iowa Alumni) and
mother, Teresa Walker (UNI Alumni) all have
social work degrees, so it was no surprise that
Quanah was drawn to the field as well.
Quanah began his professional career in 2005 in
Washington DC working for the Indian Health
Service. During this summer job, Quanah had the
opportunity to mentor American Indian students
who were participating in Washington Internships
for Native Students, a program based at American University. At the end of the summer he decided to move back to Iowa to spend time with
family immersed in the culture of his
Meskwaki tribe.
Quanah obtained his next job at the American
Indian Family Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota in
May of 2006. During this position Quanah was
able to gain varied experience in youth work and
in the mental health field. Quanah was able to
collaborate with Saint Paul Public Schools, Indian
Education, and the American Indian Magnet
School to work with students and families. He
also provided therapy to American Indian clients,
mostly adolescents. While at the American Indian Family Center Quanah was able to become
licensed first as a Licensed Graduate Social
Worker (LGSW), and then as a Licensed
Independent Clinical Social Worker.
http://clas.uiowa.edu/socialwork
In 2009 Quanah pursued an opportunity at
HealthPartners health plan in Bloomington, Minnesota and was hired to work as a Behavioral
Health Case Manager with the Medicaid population working with patients with diagnoses such as
Bipolar Disorder, Major Depression, Schizophrenia, and Dual Diagnosis. The case management
program uses a predictive algorithm that looks at
patterns of care to identify health plan members
who are highly likely to be hospitalized for psychiatric inpatient admissions. Quanah’s role was to
outreach to those people to engage them and
support them to optimally manage their conditions with the goal to keep them out of the hospital. Providing education, goal setting, crisis planning, and connecting people with outpatient providers helps to keep people healthier and keeps
costs down. This position provided opportunities
to work with diverse urban populations in the
twin cities.
In 2010 Quanah was promoted to supervisor of
Behavioral Health Case Management and in 2012
became the Manager of Disease Management, Integration, and Well-Being, a position he still holds.
Quanah has been able to participate in the development of many new and innovative programs to
support HealthPartners members and HealthPartners Medical Group patients. The programs Quanah manage support a broad spectrum of people,
from patients with serious mental illness all the
way to those that can benefit from Well-Being
support to lead an optimally healthy lifestyle.
Quanah has also at times provided supervision to
Bachelors level Social Work students at Metropolitan University (a Minnesota State University)
in Saint Paul as well as teaching field practicum
seminar classes and a course entitled Racial/Ethnic
Analysis I.
Throughout his professional career, Quanah has
taken advantage of opportunities to broaden his
experience. In leadership positions he has been
able to hire highly qualified diverse staff and to
work on initiatives regarding diversity and inclusion. He values the experiences he has had integrating with various parts of healthcare. While
some aspects of his work are not necessarily ,
12
typical for social workers (software systems,
workflow data, and other administrative and business duties) Quanah views the true focus of his
work to be improving health care delivery to
those who have the greatest needs and fewest
resources. “Social work has taken me on an interesting career path thus far. I would’ve never
imagined the trajectory of my work experiences
or where I am at today. Social work provides a
wide range of possibilities.”
When not hard at work, Quanah likes running and
yoga, spending time with family, and travelling (or
planning future trips). Most recently, Quanah
spent two weeks in Thailand and Cambodia in July
-August 2013.
Culturally Competent and Ethical Social
Work Practice with LGBTQ Individuals
Presented by Julia McGinley, LMSW
6 contact hours, including 3 of Ethics Training
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are
disproportionately represented among the population in need of social services and mental health
counseling. To be ethically effective, social workers must understand LGBTQ identities, be aware
of the unique needs of and systemic barriers this
population faces and apply best practices to their
work with LGBTQ persons.
Feb. 7 Iowa City
April 18 Davenport
For more information & registration go to:
http://clas.uiowa.edu/socialwork/resources/
professional-development-opportunities
Julia McGinley (MSW 2013) is the
Executive Director of The Lavender
Umbrella Project, an agency she created. The agency's mission is to
assist all people in developing
healthy and positive concepts of
gender identify and sexual orientation through
education of service providers and direct service
to youth.
www.LavenderUmbrella.org
The Quad Cities Part-time MSW Program graduated 24 social workers into the profession on May 16th in the historic Watch Tower
Lodge in Rock Island. The commencement address was given by
Sarah Oliver,-Glover, MSW ‘00.
2013 Iowa Latino Conference
The School of Social Work partnered with the UI
Chief Diversity Office/Center for Diversity and
Enrichment, the Tippie College of Business, the
Center for Student Involvement and Leadership,
Human Resources, the Office of Admissions and
the US Hispanic Leadership Institute to bring the
Iowa Latino Conference to Iowa City on September 27th for its 15th year. Roy Juarez Jr. gave the
keynote address and then led workshops for
nearly 200 high school students during the Latino
Youth Leadership Summit. The Latino Institute
for Professional Development drew 60 helping
professionals to play an interactive game, ‘Roll of
the Dice’ that utilizes research data to demonstrate systemic barriers to success for Latino/a
families. John-Paul Chaisson-Cardenas, MSW ’98,
facilitated the all day training.
23rd Annual
Creative Writing Seminar
for Helping Professionals
July 18-21, 2014
Iowa City, IA
http://clas.uiowa.edu/socialwork/creativewriting
http://clas.uiowa.edu/socialwork
13
Send your news and photos to
http://clas.uiowa.edu/socialwork/people/alumni/contact-form
Nancee Blum, MSW ‘89
I did two presentations at the International Society for the Study of Personality Disorders in Copenhagen September 17 and 18. I am also a founding member and board member of the North
American Society for the Study of Personality Disorders.
Kim Lamon-Loperfido, MSW ‘06
I work for the Pulmonary Hypertension Association (PHA). Pulmonary hypertension is a rare,
chronic, life threatening illness and November is
our Awareness Month. Tracy Stewart, a nurse at
UIHC (!!) is the head of our Pulmonary Hypertension Professional Network (PHPN) and we are
working with her and the PHPN committee to
actively increase social work involvement in our
programming and highlighting their importance in
the care team.
My role at PHA is manager for the patient and
caregiver services department - a role, which I
have been working in for the past year. We are
expanding our services and offerings as we continue to recognize the importance of psychosocial
impacts of living with pulmonary hypertension.
Joe Meyer, ACSW, CST-T, MSW ‘65
As a 1965 graduate of the Iowa School of Social
Work I thought I would be completely retired by
now. However, at age 78 I am still busy with social work activities. In the early 80's I learned
about Sandplay© Therapy and not only has it
changed the lives of many clients, it has changed
my life. As a school social worker for the St. Paul
Public Schools I used sandplay in the schools and
later at Children's Hospital of St. Paul. Now, I
specialize in working with other therapists. I still
offer the deep sandplay process to others in my
private practice and provide further consultation
and training to other therapists. My longest running consultation group is a group of psychologists
in MN. When we meet again tomorrow we will
be well into our 17th year.
Recently I completed a 16 hour training of a group
of therapists in Tampa, FL, then returned to a
week end training in Rockford, IL. I try to stay
active with the Minnesota Sandplay© Therapy
Group and will join them next week for a board
meeting and further training. The group in IL has
been working with me about 5 times per year
over the last couple of years with the goal of having some of their own therapists ready to take
over by the time I do retire. In Feb. I will present
a one day training in Chicago for about 50 therapists who have been trained in play therapy, but
who are interested in learning more about
Sandplay©. That organization takes a lot of my
time, but it has been a pleasure to work with so
many dedicated therapists around the country.
For some years now I have been active in being
the advisor for many therapists around the US
who are working toward becoming teaching members of the International Society for Sandplay©
Therapy. Again, it keeps me busy, but what a
pleasure.
The most important part of my work has been in
establishing and maintaining a relationship with
others in the mental health community. There
are so many well trained and dedicated therapists
out there it is heart warming. It has always been
clear to me that the School of Social Work at the
University of Iowa prepared me well for a long
and active life in social work. Our stress on the
importance of the Therapeutic Relationship has
been right on the mark. I would love to hear from
others who were in the class of '65!
Sue Witte, MSW ‘90 and husband Tom.
I met Tom as an undergrad in the 80’s when he
was the Financial Secretary….I
graduated and went to work in
Illinois and Texas and returned
to the UI School of Social
Work and got to know Tom
better and we started dating. We were married in
1990. The benefit of dating a
Secretary during my MSW was that he typed my
Thesis!!! I loved my experience running Bills Coffee Shop, I was one of the first students after Bill
died. It taught me so many things…running a
business, supervision and, of course, compassion. Probably the UI SW environment is one of
the reasons I returned for my MSW. I started at
UT and just missed the North Hall Environment
and support from Professors…no other School
can compare! I am one of the only SW in the nation who has the role at a Hospital and OPO that
I do…I coordinate organ and tissue donation…a
rare opportunity to truly saves lives with an
MSW!
http://clas.uiowa.edu/socialwork
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We Appreciate Your Support!
http://clas.uiowa.edu/socialwork
15
Edited by Jefri Palermo with assistance from Alisan Goetz
School of Social Work
Nonprofit Org
US Postage Paid
University of Iowa
308 North Hall
20 West Davenport St.
Iowa City, IA 52242-1223
http://clas.uiowa.edu/socialwork
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