From the dean

Three people stand together smiling, one in a yellow jacket, one in a suit and one in a blue-green blouse with black stripes. — Dean Gary S. Cuddeback, flanked by Sherry Peterson, left, and Ann Nichols-Casebolt, both alumni and donors.

It is hard to believe another academic year has come and gone! I am thrilled to share with you our many accomplishments and success in our Annual Report, which I hope is a source of pride for anyone connected to the VCU School of Social Work! Go RAMS!

Enrollment continues to grow, with 1,100+ students in fall 2024. We welcomed five new faculty – tenure-track assistant professors Daniel Baslock, Christina Huerta and Yifan Lou; and assistant professors in teaching Erica Jackson and Klara Prachar.

Professor Karen Chartier leads the Institute for Research on Behavioral and Emotional Health and its signature initiative, Spit for Science – the nation’s largest genetic and environmental study of college students. And, yes, as the name implies, more than 13,000 students have provided saliva samples since 2011, building a database that’s supported hundreds of studies nationwide.

More than 90 students earned academic honors, scholarships and/or service awards in academic year 2024-25, and 35 were inducted into the Phi Alpha National Honor Society. Numerous students participated in research endeavors, including undergraduate students at events associated with the American Society for Microbiology and the Association of Baccalaureate Social Work Program Directors.

Our alumni take pride in giving back, as evidenced by an incredible speed mentoring spring event that matched 15 mental health practitioners with students for a series of three-minute chats. Alumni panelists and moderators tackled the subject of transformative policymaking at our annual Social Work, Policy & Politics event, and a Macro Fellows program launched. We recognized alumni honorees the past year: Katelynn Jarrells (B.S.W.’16, M.S.W.’17), VCU 10 Under 10 Award; Viola Vaughan-Eden (Ph.D.’03), VCU Alumni Stars Award; and David McLeod (Ph.D.’13), the school’s Ph.D. Making a Difference Alumni Award.

In closing, I want to highlight initiatives we have developed and continue to grow around mental health, macro social work, substance use, international social work and child welfare initiatives (the focus of our cover story); a new Evaluation Lab to provide program evaluation, data analysis, and other services for community agencies; and an emphasis in expanding graduate certificates and dual degrees.

These projects and programs are empowering our students and equipping them with the knowledge and skills that they need to enter the workforce prepared to be impactful social workers. And they directly impact our goal and mission to have excellence in teaching, in research and scholarship, in student success, and in community engagement. I would love to connect with each and every one of you to tell you more and convey how truly excited I am to be dean of the SSW! Please don’t hesitate to reach out!

Gary S. Cuddeback, Ph.D., M.S.W., M.P.H.
Dean and Professor
VCU School of Social Work