The Council on Racial, Ethnic, and Cultural Diversity (CRECD) Award recognizes doctoral students and junior faculty members with outstanding scholarship in the areas of racial, ethnic, and cultural diversity in social work education. An award will be given to a doctoral student and a junior faculty member during CSWE's Annual Program Meeting (APM).
Award Judging Criteria
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CSWE members who will attend and whose paper or poster can be presented at the 2024 APM (i.e., oral presentation or e-poster, NOT a workshop or roundtable)
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Doctoral students and junior faculty members who are the only or primary author of the accepted paper or poster
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Papers or posters that reflect and promote research or scholarship about members of historically and emerging underrepresented racial, ethnic, and cultural groups to inform teaching, practice, or policy development by educators, students or alumni
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Papers or posters that reflect and promote research or scholarship to understand the dynamics of intersectionality of the experiences of historically and emerging underrepresented racial, ethnic, and cultural groups in social work education
CSWE membership is an eligibility requirement for all commission and council awards. To check your membership status, or link your membership your social work program visit CSWE Membership and click Link to Program/Join CSWE.
At least two members of CRECD will review the nominations and select the awardee. Biographical information and a photo of the awardee will appear on the CSWE website and may be included in the APM Final Program if space permits.
Award
The annual award will consist of a plaque.
2024 CRECD Award Winners
PhD Student Awardee
Cheryl Aguilar, LICSW, LCSW
Smith College, School of Social Work
Cheryl Aguilar is a licensed independent clinical social worker specializing
in work with Latinxs, immigrants, refugees and other BIPOC communities.
She is the founder, director and therapist at the Hope Center for Wellness,
a mental health practice focused on holistic healing. Currently, she is also
Phd student at Smith College School for Social Work; a fellow at the Robert
Wood Johnson Foundation's Health Policy Research Scholars program
and a fellow at American Psychological Association’s Interdisciplinary
Minority Fellowship program. An immigrant from Honduras, Cheryl’s
immigration and bi-cultural experience guides her clinical, advocacy and
research curiosity to explore the impact of immigration on mental health
and the intersection of policy and mental health. She creates culturally
informed interventions for the BIPOC community and advocates for the
communities she serves. Cheryl has designed and implemented several
support groups, including a group for immigrants facing anxiety due to the
political climate and a group for parents separated from their children under
the Zero Tolerance policy. Cheryl’s social work endeavors have been
widely recognized. In 2023 she was named Social Worker of the Year by
the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) DC/VA Chapter and in
2019 she was featured in Social Work Today magazine as 1 of 10
dedicated and deserving social workers making extraordinary impact
across the country.