Joint PhD Program News

PhD student Yanghyun Park presented at the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children conference last month. Her presentation was titled “Strategies for increasing economic support in child maltreatment prevention.”

PhD student Olivia Chang received an honorable mention from the 2023 Ford Foundation Fellowship Program. The programs seek to increase the diversity of the nation's college and university faculties by increasing their ethnic and racial diversity, maximize the educational benefits of diversity, and increase the number of professors who can and will use diversity as a resource for enriching the education of all students.

Briana Starks, Joint PhD in Social Work and Sociology, successfully defended her dissertation, "Diapers, Debt, and Degrees: The Practical and Theoretical Implications of Maternal Postnatal Educational Attainment." Her committee included Kristin Seefeldt (co-chair) and Karen Staller.

Starks has accepted a position as a Human Services Researcher at Mathematica.

Nina Jackson Levin, Joint PhD in Social Work and Anthropology, successfully defended her dissertation, "Meta/Static Ethnography of Adolescent and Young Adult Oncofertility Research and Practice at a United States Hospital: Implications for Sexual and Gender Minorities.” Her committee included Bradley J. Zebrack (co-chair) and Shanna Katz Kattari.

Jackson Levin plans to complete a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Michigan Department of Endocrinology.

PhD student Olivia Chang is the recipient of the ResilienceCon 2023 Life Paths Promising Scholars Award. This competitive award is presented to a small number of current students attending ResilienceCon who are conducting high-impact resilience-focused research that focus on under-served or disadvantaged communities.

Lauren Whitmer, Joint PhD in Social Work and Anthropology, has successfully defended her dissertation entitled "Ay Amiga, ¿Qué Puedo Hacer? Oh Friend, What Can I Do?: An Ethnographic Analysis of How Socio-Cultural and Structural Factors Shape Help-Seeking Relationships for Intimate Partner Violence in Lambayeque, Peru." Her committee included Beth Glover Reed (co-chair) and Richard Tolman.

PhD student Jay Kayser wrote about the overreliance of medication in the treatment of depression in The Conversation last week. “The U.S. health care system relies heavily on medication and other biomedical treatments for depression. But in fact there are numerous non-drug-based solutions for prevention and treatment of depression.”

Kayser also discussed his research with Michigan Public Radio. “There are alternative treatments out there that really can tap into someone's own abilities to be resilient and to recover from depression. Medication is an excellent option for many, but we kind of want to expand the conversation out to cover alternative approaches, too,” Kayser said.

Ramona Perry, Joint Doctoral Program in Social Work and Psychology, has successfully defended her dissertation "Black During COVID-19: A Mixed-Methods Exploration of Adoption of COVID-19 Risk Reduction Behaviors among Black Adults." Her committee included Jamie Mitchell (co-chair) and Jaclynn Hawkins.

After graduation, Perry will be co-owner of an evaluation consulting firm.