Greetings from the Director

Dear students, friends and colleagues,

I am pleased to an-nounce that this Spring semester we will have a Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) site visit for the reaffirmation of our BSW and MSW programs’ accredita-tion status.

This visit follows intensive preparation last fall of our self- study documents which have been presented to CSWE and to the two site visitors, Dr. James Herbert Williams, Dean of the School of Social Work, University of Denver, and Dr. Cecilia Thomas, Associate Professor of Social Work, University of North Texas. We have prepared diligently for the site visit and anticipate a successful conclusion to our self-study and the examination of our programs by the site visitors.

In this publication you can stay in-formed of this event and other new exciting developments.

Thank you all,

Dr. Tina Hancock

33rd Annual Conference of the NASW New Mexico Chapter– ALBUQUERQUE, NM

“Over 800 attendees participated in NASW/NM's 33rd annual statewide conference entitled, "Hope Starts Here," including the pre-conference - which was on the new and exciting community-based program to eliminate poverty - Circles - a national campaign. Social workers from as far away as Montana and California came to join in. Dr. Jeane Anastas, President of the NASW national board, was the opening keynote speaker on "Women in Social Work." She also participated in the NM Social Work Summit Forum - which was held the evening prior to the conference. The NM Social Work Summit is an advocacy process unlike any existing in the U.S. Leaders from around the state spoke about issues impacting the social work profession - from current legislation on immigrant drivers licenses and the healthcare exchange to licensing examination concerns. Over 40 exhibitors from social service agencies spanning a continuum from medical social work to homelessness were present, as were representatives

from our own school! The Academy Award-nominated documentary on military sexual trauma, "The Invisible War," was shown during one presentation. Another workshop focused on successful programs to ameliorate gang violence, and yet another which I co-facilitated with a social worker from UNM's Center for Develop-ment and Disability, focused on the new criteria in the DSM-V for autism and the results of one of my equine studies that looked at therapeutic horsemanship, hippo-therapy, and pre-adolescents on the autism spectrum. Friday morning of the conference, social work students from around the state drove to the Round House in Santa Fe for a morning and after-noon of social justice advocacy. All in all - it was what some said the most successful NASW/NM confer-ence to date! I was proud to be a part of such a life-changing event. The School of Social Work was well-represented and made quite an impact on the professionals and students in attendance!” said by Dr. Wanda Whittlesey-Jerome, President, NASW/NM

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School of Social Work Newsletter

socialwork.nmsu.edu Spring 2013

From Left to Right: Dr. Tina Han-cock (Director of School of Social Work), Yolanda Deines (NM– Madam Secretary for CYFD), Maria Olga Cabada (SSW Field Programs Director), Mr. Wayne Hancock (County Commissioner Doña Ana County District 4).

Dr. Jeanne Anastas, (President of NASW Board of Directors)

Table of Contents

Pg. 1– NASW Conference

Pg. 2—Student Org’s, New Personnel

Pg. 3—Graduate Spotlight

Pg. 4—Scholarships and Voice

Pg. 5—Faculty Spotlight

Pg. 6—Faculty Spotlight Cont.

Pg. 7—Faculty Spotlight Cont.

Pg. 8—Events and Contacts

Pg. 9—Hispanic Child Welfare Project

Pg. 10— CSWE Site Visit

Pg. 11- THANK YOU!

Student Organizations

Student Social Work Association-The SSWA is organizing a Teddy Bear Drive in coordination with the Student Veteran Association. SSWA along with Phi Alpha will be participating in the Big Event cleanup that is sponsored by ASNMSU. Also, volunteer-ing at the Rescue Gospel Mission in a beautification project by painting one of their facilities. In April they will participate in Relay for Life. Last year they were among the highest in funds raised for the event and hope to raise more for the cause this year.

Phi Alpha Kappa Omega- In the past couple of months Phi Alpha has sold t-shirts and Valentine Candy Grams. In the future we intend on helping to clean up Preciado Park on campus and sell raffle tickets for a overnight stay at a local hotel and a house cleaning. The purposes of Phi Alpha Honor Society are to provide a closer bond among students of social work and promote humanitarian goals and ideals. Phi Alpha

fosters higher standards of training for social workers and invites into membership those who have attained excel-lence in scholarship and achievement in social work.

Graduate Student Social Work Association- The GSSWA has increased it's general assembly meetings to two per month as a means of increasing student accessibility. We are in the process of selecting community impact projects that will be revealed shortly. Additionally, the GSSWA will partner with SSWA in their upcoming communi-ty impact project which will take place in March. Details about this project will be published in the near future. Finally, GSSWA is working in collaboration with SSWA to organize the upcoming graduation ceremony.

New Faculty & Staff Eric Cevallos was born in Lima, Peru, immigrated to the USA in 1994, and graduated from Alamogordo High School in May 1998. He enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in May 2001 and concluded his service in June 2009, after 2 combat deploy-ments in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Cevallos received an Associates in Gen-eral Studies & Pre-Business from Doña Ana Community College in May 2012. He is currently following his Bachelors in General Business with a Minor in Marketing from NMSU. In December 2012, he joined the SSW staff as a regular employee.

Dr. Cesar G. Abarca joined the faculty as an Assistant Professor at the School of Social Work, New Mexico State University. He graduated from the Interdisciplinary Doctoral Program in Sociology and Social Welfare at Boston University. Previously, Dr Abarca was an Assistant Professor in the School of Social Work, California State University Long Beach where he taught social policy and community practice classes to undergraduate and graduate students. His research interests are in vulnerable populations, including immigrants, and he examines critical issues such as assimila-

tion, employment, and health status and outcomes. He investigates the impact of employment on health outcomes, particularly assessing the impact of occupational injuries on immigrant workers.

Megan Holsten received her Bachelor of Science degree in Sociology from University of Evansville. She began working as a Mental Health Case Manager in southwest Vir-ginia. After two years at the Fairview Assisted Living, Megan completed her Master’s in Business Administration from Radford University. Prior to joining us at the NMSU Albu-querque Center, Megan worked as an advisor at Radford University and Southwest Uni-versity of Visual Arts. Megan is Co-Chair of the 2013 Relay for Life of Albuquerque.

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From Left to Right: Eliza-beth Oniveros, Reyna Asadizoudegani, Priscilla Borunda, Scott Miller

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“My name is Laura Pinon, and I am currently a graduate assistant at NMSU, Albuquer-que branch campus. I am the daughter of Mexican immi-grants who migrated to the United States and eventually settled in Albuquerque NM. Spanish was my first language and I struggled to identify with American society while being raised in a traditional

Mexican family. My family experienced homelessness first hand, and this trying time shaped my life and motivated me to help others in similar situations.

I am the first female in my family to attend college. I received my Bachelor’s with a double ma-jor in Community Health Education and Spanish. I am passionate about working with children and fami-lies, and enjoy using my bilingual skills to assist families with limited English proficiency. After re-

ceiving my undergraduate degree from the Universi-ty of New Mexico I moved to Indiana. In Indiana, I decided to pursue my Master’s in Social Work; this experience has enriched my life and expanded my growth as a person. I participated in Social Worker Legislative Education & Advocacy Development (LEAD) day, a yearly event focused on connecting social work practice to social policy.

In August 2012, I transferred to New Mexi-co State University to complete the my last year of my MSW. I am currently conducting my practicum at Enlace Comunitario, a non-profit organization. En-lace is a social justice organization led by Latina immigrants in Central New Mexico. Enlace’s mission is to work to eliminate domestic violence in the Lati-no immigrant community and to promote healthy families. After graduation, I plan on taking my LMSW exam and hope to find employment as a Medical Social Worker in a pediatric setting. I would also like to continue working with the immigrant population in a non-profit organization.”

Recipient for the Mike Watts Outstanding Leadership Graduate Fellowship

I began my Masters of Social Work program at NMSU-Albuquerque campus in August of 2011, 4 months after graduating with my BS in Psychology from Brigham Young Universi-ty. As a student here I have worked as a Graduate Assistant and served as the Presi-dent of the Albuquerque Campus Graduate

Student Social Work Association. I am currently in the process of conducting a study on the use of a Positive Psychology/Positive Masculinity model with a Men's support group at the Samaritan Counseling Center where I work as an intern. Following graduation I will begin working as a full time therapist at Samaritan.

Student Spotlight

Nominated for the NMSU Alumni Outstanding Graduate Fellow-

Sterling Brown

Scholarships Help Students Thrive

Betty Jean & Thomas James Shinas, Jr. Endowed Scholarship- Tony Bobadilla

Fred and Nobuko Christenson Endowed Scholarship – Luz Palomino

FYI Inc. Graduate Social Work Student Endowed Schol-arship – Maria Bagwell

Kimberly Ming Endowed Scholarship for Social Work – Christina Guillen

Lowery H. and Doris C. Davis Scholarship – Pat Carre-on Ralston

Robert E. and Evelyn McKee Foundation Scholarship – Stacey Scanlon

Rose H. Praisner Memorial Endowed Scholarship – Maria Brady, Don Kelly, Leah Montano & Brittany Neely

New Scholarship: “Behavioral Health Leadership Endowed Scholarship”

A message from Margaret McCowen: “I set up the McCowen Scholarship to honor my parents, Richard and Velma McCowen. They were both NMSU alumnus and big supporters of the universi-ty throughout their lives. Along with my sister Leah McCowen, they established the McCowen Family Scholarship in the College of Education, and I wanted to continue that tradition by supporting a social work student interested in behavioral health. Many individuals in our area have some sort of mental illness, and there is a huge need for quali-fied and sensitive social workers. My parents would be very pleased.”

Voice of the Students Spring 2013 Convocation

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Diane Bernal Tell us about your experiences in the School of Social Work and

the College of Health & Social Services? “My best experiences have come with my professors. Their knowledge and motivation has been a source of inspiration for me from the very start. I can appreciate the time they spend working to improve their service to students. Many times I have seen them working hard and it is awesome to see how dedicated they are.”

If you were asked to recommend the School of Social Work and the College of Health and Social Services to interested students, what would you say?

“This is an easy answer for me because I already do this. People always ask me why I chose NMSU when I could stay close to home. One line I always hear is that the drive is too long. When I hear that I always make sure they know that when I transferred from El Paso Community College the service that I received here was remarkable. I also felt very safe in the classroom so, that made it even better. Yes, you will have to get up a little earlier and drive a little bit farther, but it has been worth it.”

Do you have any recommendations on how to improve the School of Social Work? “For those new professors coming in I would like to see less frequent changes on the syllabus. Although change is a must the ones that happen without warning can be difficult to manage. We are students with heavy loads and that can cause some stress. Even with that I am thankful for the work that is put in by them.”

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Dr. Gail Leedy Professor Leedys’ article titled “Effects of social housing on Hippocampal Den-drites and behavior in Ovariectomized rats” was published March 3rd, 2013 in the Brain Research Bulletin and can be viewed at:

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.brainresbull.2012.11.006 Excerpt from the Abstract:

Social stress is both species and gender specific. For fe-male rats, individual housing and social instability housing conditions are associated with behavioral indicators of stress and depression. Results indicate that the individual housing and social instability groups were comparable to the control group for all measures. In contrast, the rats housed in the VBS ex-hibited reduced activity in open field testing, and alterations in social interest.

Dr. Robert G. Blair

“I presented two papers at the conference of the American Association

of Behavioral and Social Sciences (AABSS) held in Las Vegas Nevada

from February 14-15th this year. The first paper: “Female Circumcision,

Alternative Rites and Advocating for Change,” addressed the prevalence

of female circumcision and its dangers. The theme of the paper was that

despite the dangers of circumcision, it served as a rite of passage for

many women. Hence, the challenge is to raise awareness of its dangers, and empower

at-risk women to develop alternative rites of passage. For my second paper, I addressed

international social work and how the concept of empowerment could serve as a helpful

framework.”

Faculty Spotlight

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Dr. Maria Gurrola presented in the symposium emphasizing “The Impact of Immigration Policies within the Latino Communities”. She collaborated with Dr. Cecilia Ayón from Arizona State University, “Impact of Immigration Policy Tighten-ing on California Latino Residents”. Their presentation presented the experience of immigrants in California, a neighboring state of Arizona who passed the most re-strictive anti-immigrant legislation – SB1070, by examining participant’s experi-ences of discrimination, the context for discriminatory experiences, and the im-pact of discrimination on families. Although California has passed many policies that have been supportive of immigrants; participant’s narratives often involve

experiences of discrimination. This shows that anti-immigrant policies and practices are spilling over to neighboring states by evidence through the unfair treatment of immigrants and their feelings of worthlessness, fear, discrimination and concern for their children’s future. Implication for social work practitioners to advocate on mental health services based on schools to reach children and families to engage community and create support among immigrants. Implication for policy contin-ues the battle of comprehensive federal immigration reform and particularly how this is going to affect children and adolescents after Deferred Action. Implication for research involves the long-term effects of immigration policy and anti-immigrant sentiments on children’s development and future aspirations.

Dr. Cesar Abarca was the moderator for the session Social Services and Em-ployment for Immigrant and Ethnic Minorities. He was also the presenter of the paper “Work, Bread, and Border Enforcement: Contingency Employment and Lati-no Immigrant Workers in New Mexico”. His research views Immigrant Latino work-ers endure low-wages and harsh labor conditions in the U.S. These workers are increasing their participation in temporary employment and it has a direct impact on their potential to earn a decent living and being able to support their families on intermittent wages. This study examines the participation of Latino immigrant workers in contingent employment in New Mexico by analysis the local labor mar-kets in the state and workers’ human capital (e.g. formal education, English lan-

guage proficiency, and labor skills) to explain their participation in this labor sector. Due to the in-creasing enforcement of immigration laws in the U.S. interior, but particular in states with an inter-national border such as New Mexico, practice implications include immigrant workers enduring in-creased exposure and vulnerability to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in cities such as Santa Fe and Albuquerque. In sum, the increasing enforcement of border security policies by local law enforcement agencies will increase the likelihood of Latino immigrant workers declining to report labor abuses or serious job-related injuries due to their fear of being questioned regarding their immigrating status, possibly been arrested, and potentially faced deportation.

Faculty Spotlight Continued

Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR) 17th Annual Conference January 16-20, 2013 San Diego, CA

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Faculty Spotlight Continued

Dr. Tina Hancock has recently published another paper in February which will be the third article in a series of three so far published by her and a couple of her colleagues.

Abstract

"Protecting Rural Church-Going Immigrant Women from Domestic Violence" accepted for publication February 2013 by the Journal of Family Violence

Hancock, T. , Ames, N., & Behnke, A. O.

Rural Latino immigrant women at risk of family violence may perceive churches as their only source of help. However, immigrant church leaders may be poorly equipped to address family violence in their congregations. This article describes a project designed to stimulate and sup-port appropriate responses to family violence by rural immigrant churches, including those identified with conservative theological views on women. The primary goal was to provide rural Latino church leaders with culturally sensitive materials and resources they were willing to use with their congrega-tions. We collaborated with local service providers who assisted in recruiting the church leaders for the pastors’ workshops where the resource materials were presented. Survey data indicated most of the pastors were receptive to the content and planned to incorporate it into their church work. Sug-gestions are made for future research on this culturally sensitive approach to addressing family vio-lence in the immigrant community.

This manuscript supports the role of Latino lay ministers in addressing domestic violence in rural immigrant communities. The previous two article are cited below:

Behnke, A., Ames, N., & Hancock, T., What Would They Do? (2012). Latino Church Leaders and Do-

mestic Violence. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 27(7),1259-1275.

Social Work Professors received awards at the Spring 2013 Convoca on

Academic Advisor Recognition

Irma Hernandez

Megan Holsten

Monica Montoya

Faculty Research Award

Wanda Whittlesey

Faculty Teaching Awards

Robert Blair

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Spring 2013 Events February 1 Field Exchange Day February 1 Cultural Competence & Field Instruction February 1 Basic Field Instructor Training February 8 College of Health and Social Services Spring Convocation February 15 Critical Scholars Collective present: Precious Knowledge Film screening and Panel Discussion February 20-23 33rd Annual NM Chapter of NASW Conference in Albuquerque March 1 Scholar Dollars Due March 1-30 SSWA’s Teddy Bear Drive March 6 SSWA’s Rescue Gospel March 16 SSWA and Phi Alpha will be volunteering at the Big Event Clean up March 20-21 CSWE Reaccreditation Site Visit March 25-29 SPRING BREAK March 29 Spring Holiday April 5 SSW Advisory Board Meeting April 26 SSWA’s Relay for Life May 3 Alumni Awards Ceremony May 6-10 FINALS WEEK

Contacts

School of Social Work Association - Joshua Stoller stoller7@nmsu.edu

Graduate School of Social Work Association - Nicole Jones nikijo@nmsu.edu

Phi Alpha Kappa Omega Honor Society- Don Kelly dondiego@nmsu.edu

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Hispanic Child Welfare Project The Hispanic Child Welfare Pro-ject has provided Spanish speaking students who are interested in child welfare with the opportunity to im-prove their bilingual skills. This pro-ject is funded through a grant from the Children’s Bureau that Dr. Mar-tha Roditti secured three years ago. After Dr. Roditti retired last year, Ms. Madeline Gillette took over as the Principal Investigator in the grant. Ms. Maria Ortiz is a co-Principal In-vestigator.

For the past three years, the Hispanic Child Welfare Project has offered a Child Welfare course in Spanish during the summer. This course provides students with the opportunity to develop and practice legal, medical, psychological, and other social work related terminology in Spanish. Participants are placed in a Spanish language seminar for two semesters giving the students a total of three semesters of profes-sional Spanish language immersion. For their field placement, stipend recipients are placed in a child wel-fare setting with social workers who provide services to Spanish speaking families.

Some of the tasks that stu-dents have been able to assist with

during their social work practicum placement includes: interpreting for Spanish speaking

families during family-

centered meetings, interpreting for social workers and clients during home visits, translating documents from English to Spanish for their agency, providing needed services to Spanish speaking clients in their own language, explaining rules and regu-lations that are written in English to clients who don’t speak English and most importantly, comforting Span-ish speaking children who come into the child welfare system and don’t understand what is happening to them.

Social workers who have worked with our Hispanic Child Wel-fare stipend participants have ex-pressed their appreciation for the students’ ability to assist Spanish speaking families. Some of the com-ments we have heard from students are “I thought I was already bilingual but I learned so much in this project, I am glad to have participated.” The grant is coming to the end with only three more stipends left for the 2013-2014 cycle. This project has proved that there is a need for bilingual social workers in our community, and the work that has already been done as part of this project, can be used to respond to that need.

 

 

 

Tabitha Nieto, an MSW student who received a Hispanic Child Welfare stipend last year, shared a memorable experience of working with a man who found out that he was the father of a three month old girl who was in CYFD custody. Ms. Nieto stated, “After months of working with the father, he finally told me he did not under-stand the forms he had signed. I translated the forms that he had al-ready signed. He said “now I know what is expected of me as a father.” These types of stories happen too often in the field, and being a bilingual social worker with CYFD helps mono-lingual Spanish-speaking families understand their rights. This to me is the true meaning of social work.”

Rebecca Wilson, Nyeli Najera, 

Andrea Mata, Hilda Moran 

Tabitha Nieto, Marco 

Cervantes, Yesenia Acosta 

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James Herbert Williams, MSW, Ph.D. Milton Morris Endowed Chair Dean and Professor University of Denver Telephone: 303-871-2203 E-mail: James.Herbert@du.edu Areas of interest:

K-12 academic performance

youth violence and delinquency prevention

adolescent substance abuse

race and gender differences

mental health services in urban schools

health promotion/disease prevention among African-American women

Dr. James Herbert Williams is Dean of the Graduate School of Social Work at University of Denver at Denver, Colorado. Prior to his appoint-ment in June 2007, he was Foundation Professor of Youth and Diversity at the School of Social Work in the College of Public Programs at Arizona State University. His funded research includes grants from the National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development, the National Institute of Mental Health, the Danforth Foundation, the Na-tional Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kid-ney Disease, and the Departments of Justice, Edu-cation, and Health and Human Services. Among his publications, his research and scholarship have focused on K-12 academic performance, youth violence, delinquency prevention, adolescent sub-stance use, race and gender differences, and men-tal health service needs and utilization patterns in urban schools. Dean Williams has also published widely in the area of health promotion and disease prevention among African-American women.

Cecilia L. Thomas, MSW, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Social Work University of North Texas Telephone: (940) 369-7095 Email: thomasc@unt.edu Research interests: social work practice with vulnera-

ble and diverse populations across the lifespan

trauma experiences of older adults social work education Dr. Cecilia Thomas is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Rehabilita-tion, Social Work and Addictions at Uni-versity of North Texas at Denton, Texas. She teaches in an undergraduate social work program focusing primarily on the first practice course, diversity and integra-tive seminar for seniors. She is a licensed social worker and has over twenty years of social work practice experience includ-ing mental health, health services, medi-cal social work and child welfare. Her scholarship has included issues impacting vulnerable and diverse populations across the life span that influence well-being and social functioning; as well as interrelated educational issues that support student learning in social work practice.

Council of Social Work Education Site Visit March 20-21 the School of Social Work will host the CSWE site visitors. Dr. Williams and Dr. Thomas will evaluate the Bachelor and Master’s of Social Work Programs for reaccreditation.

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THANK YOU!!!

Yolanda Deines: NM-CYFD Madam Secre-tary

Jose Frietze: FYI Chief Executive Officer

Kasandra Gandara: CYFD-Doña Ana Coun-ty Manager

Doreen Gallegos: NM State Representa-tive (D) for District 52

Gary Lowe: (ACES) Program coordinator for “AGGIES GO GLOBAL”

Shelley Modell: City Programs Administra-tor for Las Cruces

Jerry Ortiz y Pino: NM State Senator (D) for District 12th

Alice Salcido: Doña Ana County-Probate Judge

Luis Sosa: Social Worker

Patrick Tyrrell: Executive Director for NASW-NM

THE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL WORK WANTS TO SINCERELY THANK THE NMSU SOCIAL WORK ADVISORY BOARD AND SOCIAL WORK

ALUMNI ASSOCIATION FOR THEIR CONTINUED DEDICATION AND WORK TO GIVE OUR STUDENTS A POSITIVE EDUCATION AND POST

-GRADUATION EXPERIENCE!!!

Donors Make a Difference

Thank you for your unwavering support!!!

John D. Brack

Betty J. Shinas

Wanda Whittlesey-Jerome

Rebecca Travis

Designer/Editor‐

Andrew Gonzalez

Managers/Producers‐

Eric Cevallos & Dawn Iglesias

School of Social Work Contact Info:

Front Desk: 575-646-2143

socwork@nmsu.edu

School of Social Work Advisory Board Members: