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March 2022 Educator|Resource of the Month
The Center for Diversity and Social & Economic Justice Educator|Resource is a monthly feature that highlights curricular resources and social work educators who address diversity and justice.
Expanding the Worldviews of Social Work Students
The Diversity Center is proud to introduce the first cohort of CSWE Scholars in Global & Intercultural Competence, as part of a curricular resource project developed with the support of the Katherine A. Kendall Institute for International Social Work Education. The scholars will form a community of educators integrating global and intercultural competence into social work courses using a curricular model developed by the Diversity Center in a unique collaboration with Words Without Borders Campus. The curricular model uses literature from around the world to bring international content to the social work curriculum and can be accessed in its entirety on the Diversity Center’s Global & Intercultural Competence Curricular Resource page.
Below we highlight how the educators (from left to right as shown in the photo above) conceive of novel approaches to exposing students to the skills, knowledge, and values needed to engage in the lifelong process of learning to interact with people of diverse backgrounds and cultures, a critical part of social work practice. We list the 2022 courses where they will be integrating the curricular model. The scholars will be collecting student feedback pre- and post implementation to assess their learning experience.
CSWE Scholars in Global & Intercultural Competence
Ashley Cureton, PhD, School of Social Work, University of Michigan
Dr. Cureton, who is involved in research and practice focusing on child and adolescent development among migrant and refugee populations and other marginalized groups in global contexts such as South Africa, Morocco, Peru and Ecuador, is a core faculty member in a new pathway/concentration in Global Social Work Practice at the University of Michigan.
Courses: Power in the Global Context (MSW), Critical Reflexive Practices (MSW)
Daniel Boamah, PhD, Department of Social Work, Western Kentucky University
In the context of growing refugee communities (and over 65 languages spoken) in the Southcentral Kentucky, Bowling Green area, Dr. Boamah is committed to helping improve the preparation of social work students by increasing international policy and cultural exposure.
Courses: Social Work Practice for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (BSW); Social Welfare Policy and Issues (BSW)
Guia Calicdan-Apostle, DSW, Social Work Program, School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Stockton University
Dr. Calicdan-Apostle, who provided training for social workers, frontline workers, and community responders serving during the pandemic in the Philippines, was named the 2021 Outstanding Social Worker of the Philippines in the field of International Social Work Education by the Philippine Association of Social Workers, a rare honor for someone not living in the Philippines.
Courses: Integrative Seminar (MSW); Race, Ethnicity, and Diversity: Implications for Social Work Practice (MSW)
Julie Richards, PhD, Social Work Program, School of Education, Health and Human Services, State University of New York at Plattsburgh
Dr. Richards is the co-lead of the Global Social Action Consortium, funded by the Kendall Institute, which aims to “increase collaborative transnational efforts to understand and resolve global social problems that have remained somewhat elusive to baccalaureate social work education.” She discusses Building Connections and Actions for Sustainable Development Goals in a video by the University Global Coalition.
Courses: International Social Advocacy (BSW), Theories of International Social Action (BSW)
Jung Sim Jun, PhD, Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work, Kansas State University
Dr. Jun is developing the new elective course, Global Social Work, in which social work and non–social work students will learn about and critically analyze social issues facing vulnerable populations in countries around the world and develop advocacy project plans.
Courses: Global Social Work (BSW), Macro Practice and Theories (BSW)
Kelly Brooke Martin, PhD, College of Social Work, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Dr. Martin is the new director of the International Initiatives Project at the University of Tennessee College of Social Work and has developed a 3-year multilevel (course work, field education, and research) strategic plan for the college.
Courses: Introduction to International Practice (BSW), Transnational Welfare and Well-being (MSW)
Mitra Naseh, PhD, School of Social Work, Portland State University
As a doctoral student at Florida International University, Dr. Naseh curated the Sheltering Survivors exhibition at the Florida Coral Gables Museum. The exhibit explored the stories of forcibly displaced populations in the context of human resettlement and innovative shelter designs. She is the co-author with Miriam Potocky of Best Practices for Social Work with Refugees and Immigrants.
Course: Social Justice Practice (BSW)
Othelia Lee, PhD, School of Social Work, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Dr. Lee was recently selected to participate in UNC Charlotte’s Globally Networked Learning initiative. She organized virtual cross-cultural discussions with students and instructors in the United Kingdom and China for social work students in her foundation courses.
Course: Foundations of Social Welfare (BSW)
Rosemary Barbera, PhD, Department of Social Work, La Salle University
Dr. Barbera recently completed two terms on the CSWE Commission on Global Social Work Education and on the CSWE Committee on Human Rights. She has been working in human rights since the 1980s in the United States and Latin America.
Courses: Social Policy (BSW and MSW), Antiracist/Anti-Oppressive Practice (MSW)
Shantalea Johns, PhD, Department of Social Work, Wayne State University
Dr. Johns is interested in developing an immersive educational experience in which students who are already studying alongside students from different countries, cultures, and socioeconomic backgrounds build their knowledge of the diversity of our global community and learn how to bring about change at the community and global levels.
Course: Introduction to Social Work and Social Welfare (BSW)
Sherry Warren, PhD, Social Work Program, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay
For her dissertation, which she completed in 2020, Dr. Warren conducted a study of international social work education in U.S. social work curricula. Educators, she found, are striving to “create international social workers, not just social workers of some nationality who work with people from all over the planet.”
Courses: Sustainability and Social Problems (BSW); Diversity, Social Justice, and Advocacy (MSW)
Tracy Cudjoe, PhD, School of Social Work, Western New Mexico University
As an immigrant to the United States who grew up in Trinidad and Tobago, Dr. Cudjoe understands that cultural differences can affect motivation and learning in first-generation students. In her courses she includes topics that connect to students’ life experiences.
Courses: Community Organization and Development (MSW), Cultural Competency in Social Work Practice (MSW)
Yolanda C. Padilla, PhD (Not pictured), CSWE Center for Diversity and Social & Economic Justice, Council on Social Work Education
Dr. Padilla, the designer of the Global & Intercultural Competence Project and a professor at the University of Texas at Austin’s Steve Hicks School of Social Work, will join the scholars in the project implementation. The daughter of Mexican immigrants, she is inspired to bring intercultural content to her courses, having grown up in the rich cultural estuary of the U.S.–Mexico border.
Courses: Introduction to Social Work and Social Welfare (BSW), How to Change the World (BA)
The views expressed in the Educator|Resource are those of the educator(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Council on Social Work Education.
Contact Dr. Yolanda Padilla, CSWE Diversity Center Director, at [email protected].