Faculty News

Associate Professor Camille Quinn spoke with ABC affiliate KVUE in Austin, Texas, about a new state law designed to keep at-risk youth out of the juvenile justice system. “Once you touch that legal system, it's very difficult to get un-ensnared," she said.

Assistant Professor Rebeccah Sokol is quoted in the Detroit News on a new firearm storage requirement in Michigan that goes into effect next month. The new legislation will require gun owners to store their firearms in a locked box or unloaded with a locking device when there is a reasonable chance that a minor is or is likely to be on the premises. “We often assume that these safe storage laws encourage adults to store their firearms locked and unloaded,” Sokol said, “but these laws’ life-saving potential can only be realized if firearm owners know about them and public officials enforce them.”

Lecturer Erin Martinez-Gillard spoke with Crazy Wisdom Journal about sexual health education and effective ways to talk about sex and relationships with young people. “Creating an open door for questions and conversations is imperative. This is never, in any role, a one-time Q&A,” said Martinez-Gillard.

Assistant Professor Ashley Cureton was quoted in the Boston Globe about the struggles of Ukrainian refugee families. The article explores how multiple school transfers can uproot vulnerable kids and compound the trauma and loss they’ve already experienced as refugees. “It is imperative that they can stay in one place, that they can build those relationships, that they can build a sense of community, and really feel like they have a place here in the U.S.,” Cureton said.

Research Fellow Greer Hamilton has been named to the 2023-24 cohort of the Health Equity Early Career Scholars Program, a collaborative effort of the Scholars Strategy Network and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The program is structured to enable cohort members to disseminate their research findings among peers, senior scholars, policymakers and practitioners.

Professor Trina Shanks has received the 2024 Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR) Social Policy Award. Shanks will be presented with the award this weekend at the SSWR Annual Conference in Washington, D.C. in January.

Professor William Elliott III joined St. Louis Public Radio in a spirited conversation about college savings accounts and their potential. The conversation was prompted by St. Louis Public Schools’ recent decision to pause its partnership in the College Kids Savings Account program.

Professor Shawna Lee has been appointed as a new Co-Editor-in-Chief of Children and Youth Services Review.

“I am excited to take on the role of Co-Editor-in-Chief at Children and Youth Services Review. I look forward to working with the other editors to continue to increase the representation of BIPOC scholars, international scholars and junior scholars on the CYSR team,” said Lee. “One of the things that I appreciate about Children and Youth Services Review is its focus on children's experiences. The journal places children's experiences and the impact of policy and practice on children at the forefront. In so doing, CYSR centers youths' perspectives.”