Landmark Endowment Honors Decades of Leadership in Social Work

March 25, 2026 — Rush University Medical Center has established its first endowment for social work, honoring Fellow Robyn Golden, MA, LCSW, Associate Vice President of Social Work and Community Health. The permanent fund will strengthen programs that address the social drivers of health and expand care for patients and communities, sustaining clinical innovation, education, applied research, and policy advocacy across Rush.

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Fellow Appointed to Weinberg Foundation Board

April 16, 2026 — The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, one of the nation’s largest private philanthropies, has appointed Fellow Maria Cancian, PhD, to its Board of Directors. A professor and former dean at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy, Dr. Cancian brings to the role her expertise on family economic well-being and the public systems that shape stability for low-income families.

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AERA Distinguished Research Award for Work on School Victimization

April 8, 2026 — Fellow Ron Avi Astor, MSW, PhD, Marjorie Crump Professor of Social Welfare at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, has received the Division E Distinguished Research Award in Human Development from the American Educational Research Association. The honor recognizes a co-authored article in Educational Researcher that examined the impact of adolescent student victimization on sadness, hopelessness, and suicidal ideation among students, and the moderating role of a positive school climate.

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Social Media, Community Violence, and the Need for Better Prevention

March 18, 2026 — Fellow Desmond Upton Patton, MSW, PhD, Penn Integrates Knowledge University Professor and the Waldo E. Johnson, Jr. Professor of Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, co-authored the perspective article “Social Media Fuels Community Violence. Prevention Needs an Upgrade.” in Tech Policy Press with Thomas Abt and Joseph Richardson, Jr. The authors argue that conflicts increasingly escalate online before erupting offline, and call for prevention strategies that account for how digital platforms shape community violence.

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