Annual Report

School of Social Work

News: Faculty and staff

Our faculty continuously made headlines in 2020 and 2021.

National recognition and awards

Between the Data podcast

Assistant Professor Nicole A. Corley, Ph.D., was featured in the NVivo podcast, Between the Data, for an episode entitled “And Ain’t I A Mother, An Exploration of Black Motherhood through Collage Making.” Dr. Corley, who studies Black motherhood, won a 2020 QSR-IIQM Research Grant for Early Career Researchers for a project with the same name as the podcast episode. QSR International is a data software company, and the International Institute for Qualitative Methodology is based at the University of Alberta. More details [Episode 18]

Council on Social Work Education

Associate Dean for Academic and Student Affairs Rebecca Gomez, Ph.D., LCSW, was honored during the 2020 Council on Social Work Education's Annual Public Meeting with its Distinguished Recent Contributions to Social Work Education Award for her work at Our Lady of the Lakes University before joining VCU. More details

Gerontological Society of America

Assistant Professor Kyeongmo Kim, Ph.D., received the 2021 Carroll Estes Rising Star Award from the Gerontological Society of America. The award, which is conferred by the organization’s Social Research, Policy, and Practice Section, recognizes a recipient for their outstanding early career contributions in social research, policy and practice. More details

Group for the Advancement of Doctoral Education in Social Work

Professor Kia J. Bentley, Ph.D., LCSW, has been selected for the 2021 GADE Award for Educational Leadership in Doctoral Education. Bentley was previously director of the school’s Ph.D. Program and also chair of GADE in 2013. Denise Burnette, Ph.D., has been voted president-elect of GADE. She will serve as the president-elect for one year, followed by two years as the GADE President. Burnette holds the Samuel S. Wurtzel Endowed Faculty Chair in Social Work at VCU. More details

Psychiatric Services journal article

Reprinted as part of an editor’s collection on racial and ethnic mental health disparities, “The Role of County Characteristics in Mental Health Service Use by Older African Americans” by Assistant Professor Kyeongmo Kim, Ph.D., and two co-authors shows that in counties with a higher population of Black residents, older African Americans are less likely to seek mental health treatment. More details

National Institutes of Health

Assistant Professor Jamie L. Cage, Ph.D., and Associate Professor Shelby E. McDonald, Ph.D., received awards from the NIH’s Loan Repayment Program, which repays up to $100,000 in personal student loans to help encourage researchers to stay in higher education and conduct research relevant to NIH’s mission. More details 

Social Work Today

Associate Professor and Associate Dean for Academic and Student Affairs Rebecca Gomez, Ph.D., LCSW, co-authored an article in Social Work Today, “Addictions Advisor: How the Pandemic Is Affecting Those With Substance Use Disorders,” discussing how social workers can assist clients recovering from substance use and struggling during the pandemic. More details

Society for Social Work and Research Conference

Fifteen faculty – and eight Ph.D. students/candidates and one post-doctoral student – were virtual presenters, track co-chairs or moderators at the 2021 SSWR Conference. Faculty had a role in 24 of 26 presentations by the school – two were exclusively student presenters. Faculty participants included:

  • Profesor Kia J. Bentley, Ph.D., LCSW, presenter and moderator
  • Professor and Ph.D. Program Director Denise Burnette, Ph.D., presenter
  • Associate Professor Humberto E. Fabelo, Ph.D., presenter
  • Associate Professor Maurice N. Gattis, Ph.D., co-chair
  • Associate Professor and Associate Dean for Academic and Student Affairs Rebecca Gomez, Ph.D., LCSW, three-time presenter
  • Associate Professor Hyojin Im, Ph.D., presenter
  • Assistant Professor Kyeongmo Kim, Ph.D., two-time presenter
  • Associate Professor Youngmi Kim, Ph.D., four-time presenter
  • Associate Professor Miriam Kuttikat, Ph.D., presenter
  • Associate Professor Shelby E. McDonald, Ph.D., presenter
  • Associate Professor Hollee A. McGinnis, Ph.D., three-time presenter
  • Associate Professor and Associate Dean for Faculty Development Sarah Kye Price, Ph.D., presenter
  • Associate Professor Sunny Shin, Ph.D., four-time presenter
  • Associate Professor M. Alex Wagaman, Ph.D., moderator
  • Associate Professor Traci Wike, Ph.D., two-time presenter
    More details

U.S. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention

Assistant professors Jamie L. Cage, Ph.D., and Nicole A. Corley, Ph.D., are co-investigators on the interdisciplinary study “Disrupting the Trauma-to-Prison Pipeline for Girls in Virginia: A Multilevel Intervention,” funded by the U.S. OJJDP over three years at $425,000. The project seeks to meet the specific needs of girls involved in the juvenile justice system, including the implementation of a Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance’s prevention initiative in state detention and community-based diversion facilities, educational improvements and the introduction of trauma-to-prison pipeline training for Department of Juvenile Justice staff in Virginia. More details

State and VCU awards

Families Forward Virginia

Associate Professor Sunny Shin, Ph.D., is the principal investigator of “Preventing Adverse Childhood Experiences and Promoting Child and Family Wellness,” a two-year project funded at $210,000 by Families Forward Virginia, a nonprofit working to prevent child abuse, neglect and poverty. Dr. Shin’s study will look at the impact adverse childhood experiences might have on parenting behaviors and on the health and behavioral outcomes of those parents’ children. More details

Presidential Research Quest Fund

Assistant Professor Hollee McGinnis, Ph.D., in 2020 and Associate Professor Miriam Kuttikat, Ph.D., in 2021 both received financial awards from the university’s Presidential Research Quest Fund. Dr. McGinnis’ study is "Adoptees & Foster Care Alumni Networks Study (AFCANS): How Connections Promote Adult Mental Health and Well-Being," research influenced by her own experience as a transracial adoptee from South Korea raised in an Irish-Catholic family. Dr. Kuttikat’s research project is “Testing Family Dynamics Among Eritrean Migrants in the Greater Washington, D.C. area,” focusing on data collection to document the need for mental health interventions and support services for this immigrant community. More details: McGinnis; more details: Kuttikat

Presidential Award for Community Multicultural Enrichment

Director of Online Education Stevara Haley Clark (B.S.W.’09/SW; M.S.W.’10/SW; Ed.D.’21/E), in 2020, and Associate Professor M. Alex Wagaman, Ph.D., in 2021, were recipients of the university’s Presidential Award for Community Multicultural Enrichment. The award criteria include advocating for equity, building community, establishing cross-cultural initiatives, nurturing acceptance and promoting civility at VCU. Each was one of only PACME five winners in their respective years, and Dr. Wagaman also received the Riese-Melton Award, an annual honor given to someone within the VCU community who builds bridges and increases diversity and inclusion. More details: Clark; more details: Wagaman

School awards

Social Justice Award and Outstanding Staff Award

Assistant Professor Jamie L. Cage, Ph.D., became the second two-time – and first back-to-back – winner of the school’s annual Social Justice Award in 2020. Jaime Petrasek, B.M., director of research administration, won the 2020 Outstanding Staff Award. More details

In 2021, the school honored the Radical Alliance for Anti-Racism, Change and Equity (RAACE) with the Social Justice Award and Ph.D. Program coordinator Leslie Aitken, D.Ed.Min., with the Outstanding Staff Award. In the 2020-21 academic year, RAACE comprised 22 students, full-time and adjunct faculty, staff and alumni. More details: RAACE