Matthew Theriot

Matthew Theriot, associate professor in the College of Social Work, teaches a variety of courses, from undergraduate social work classes to honors seminars about gender roles on TV to freshman seminars about maniacs and psycho killers.

But no matter what the subject, a constant theme runs through every class he teaches: he wants his students to love learning.

“I want students to be excited about learning and to see the value in new knowledge. I get to teach different topics that are personally and professionally important to me, and I strive to share my excitement for these topics with my students,” Theriot said.

Theriot’s passion for helping youth inspires his students—and his colleagues.

“His scholarship in the area of juvenile violence and delinquency is critically important in today’s world. His commitment to young people in school settings and in the university setting is an inspiration to those of us who believe that the youths of today are the promise of tomorrow,” said Karen Sowers, dean of the College of Social Work.

Theriot said he is always looking for ways to improve.

“When a class goes well and students are engaged and energetic and excited about learning, I get a good feeling that lasts all day, but when a class doesn’t go as well as planned, I immediately start working on how to make it better for the next time. That constant drive to be a better teacher motivates and inspires me,” he said.

Theriot leads his classes by example, taking a great interest in learning about the people he encounters at UT.

“Meeting professors, staff, and students from across the university and learning about what they do and hearing what they care about are amazing privileges. The diverse mix of people, ideas, and interests on this campus is inspirational,” he said.

Theriot has taught at UT since 2003.

John Wodarski

From his research on HIV/AIDS prevention with Caribbean youth to his research on health information technology in rural East Tennessee, John Wodarski works to solve societal problems.

A professor in the College of Social Work, his research focuses largely on the wellbeing of children and adolescents, especially those at risk for HIV/AIDS and substance abuse.

“Wodarski’s research has significantly influenced practice with HIV and substance abusing populations. Concentrating on interventions that are effective and translate well into real-world settings, his extensive research findings have improved the lives of many of our most vulnerable citizens,” Sowers said.

Wodarski’s research goes hand-in-hand with his position as senior research scientist at UT’s Children’s Mental Health Service Research Center. The center improves the lives of at-risk youth and their families by researching the health and social service systems that care for them. It is a national leader in research on organizations that provide mental health and child welfare services to youth and families.

But Wodarski does not leave his research at the center. He brings it to his classes where students share his vision of a better tomorrow.

“I want quality research to enhance student learning and inspire them to work on projects related to solving societal problems,” Wodarski said.

John Wodarski holds a doctorate in social work from Washington University in St. Louis and has been at UT since May 2000.

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C O N T A C T :

Christine Copelan (865-974-2225, ccopela7@utk.edu)

Amy Blakely (865-974-5034, ablakely@utk.edu)

He is one of seventeen fellows nationwide selected to be part of the 2012 cohort.

The academy is a society of distinguished scholars and practitioners dedicated to advancing social good and achieving excellence in the field of social work and social welfare through their work.

“We are proud of Dr. Glisson’s work and the wide-ranging impact it has on improving the lives of children and their families,” said Karen Sowers, dean of the College of Social Work. “The focus of our college has always been to better the lives of others, and Dr. Glisson’s work embodies that mission.”

Glisson, a Chancellor’s Professor and University Distinguished Professor, founded the Children’s Mental Health Services Research Center in 1988 and currently serves as its director. The center has conducted studies throughout the United States focused on improving services to youngsters and families. These studies have addressed abuse, neglect, delinquency, substance abuse, mental health problems, and related issues.

The center’s research has been supported by the National Institute of Mental Health, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the W.T. Grant Foundation, and other public and private funders.

Glisson’s research focuses on how to remove bureaucratic barriers to treating children effectively. He has been principal investigator on multiple major research projects concerned with children’s services funded by the National Institutes of Health. He also has written numerous articles in major social work, mental health, and organizational research journals, and has made presentations throughout the country on the organizational context of social and mental health services.

To learn more about the Children’s Mental Health Services Research Center, visit the website.

For more information about the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare, visit the website.

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CONTACT:

Lola Alapo (865-974-3993, lalapo@utk.edu)

The conference, called “Global Connections: Exploring Issues That Affect Our International Community,” will be held from 9:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on November 17 at the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy. It is free and open to the public.

The Ready for the World Committee and the College of Social Work are hosting the conference.

Michael Handelsman, director of the Global Studies program, will make the keynote speech, an introduction to the conference emphasizing the importance of global awareness. After the presentations, there will be roundtable discussions where attendees can further discuss topics of interest with the presenters as well as UT professors who are experts in those fields.

Having presentations from students who are natives of each country will give “a sense of authenticity to the conference, which we believe will enhance the learning experience of attendees,” said LaKiera Grimes, a junior in social work.

Grimes helped organize the conference with Mira Hanna and Jasmine Brown, both seniors in social work.

Breakfast and lunch will be provided. Lunch will consist of food from each of the ten countries represented at the conference.

For more information, visit the conference’s Eventbrite page.

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C O N T A C TS :

Amy Blakely (865-974-5034, ablakely@utk.edu)

Holly Gary (865-974-2225, hgary@utk.edu)

The Fulbright Specialist Program, the US Department of State’s flagship international exchange program, links US academics and professionals to their counterparts around the world.

For more about the program, visit the Fulbright Scholar Program website.

• Knoxville News Sentinel: Reports highlight ‘diversity’ of homelessness
• WBIR-TV: Report shows increase in use of Knox Co. homeless services
• Metro Pulse: New Studies Reveal a Rising Number of Homeless Families in Knoxville

The 2:00 p.m. event will be at the Bill Lyons Pavilion on Market Square, downtown Knoxville.

Members of the Knoxville/Knox County Homeless Coalition and the Knoxville Homeless Management Information System (KnoxHMIS), housed in the College of Social Work, will present the findings.

This is the first time the presentation will combine the results of two studies: a biennial study from an in-depth survey of 236 people experiencing homelessness and an annual examination of population demographics and services provided to 7,320 individuals and families experiencing homelessness.

Roger Nooe, College of Social Work professor emeritus and social services director for the Community Law Office, authored the first study. Nooe has been conducting biennial studies of Knoxville and Knox County homeless individuals and families since 1986. David A. Patterson, a professor of social work and director of the KnoxHMIS, data analyst Stacia West, and graduate students prepared the second study. The KnoxHMIS annual reports have been issued since 2007.

“This research offers two distinct perspectives on the homeless population,” Patterson said. “You get a broad overview of the demographics and services delivered to individuals and families and a deeper look into the experience of being homeless.

“What both studies do is expand our understanding of the complexities of homelessness, which in turn allows us to better match services delivery and public policy towards the goal of ending homelessness.”

KnoxHMIS began operations in 2004, enabling agencies to collect and share demographic information to reduce duplicate services and conserve resources. Now, the homeless management information system—which has captured the data on more than 27,500 unique people—provides up-to-the-minute information, like how many people were housed in transitional housing the previous night.

Patterson noted that 3,400 people have been placed in housing since July 2008. The information management system helps measure the effectiveness of agencies’ efforts to house and serve homeless individuals and families.

The system is beneficial in many ways, Patterson said.

“At the client level, it allows them to seek services without having to tell their stories again,” he said. “It informs practices and service delivery; it serves the city and county in terms of knowing the dimensions of the problems and how many people are being housed; it serves the federal government by reporting the situation and outcomes.”

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CONTACT:

Lola Alapo (865-974-3993, lola.alapo@tennessee.edu)

UT students and chaperones at the United Nations Building.

Twenty College of Social Work students in late March attended United Nations conferences to develop skills and gain knowledge about best practices to address important global issues.

The students participated in the Global Social Work Student Conference and the twenty-ninth Annual Social Work Day at the United Nations in New York City. The trip was organized by Steven Stothard, a graduating master’s of social work student, and Laurel Laiewski, a doctoral student.

The conferences highlighted international social work, intercultural and multicultural issues, and globally trending problems. Students also learned about international problems that affect local issues.

The trip was paid for in part through student fundraisers, the College of Social Work, UT’s Ready for the World initiative, the Office of Equity and Diversity, and the local chapter of the National Alliance of Mental Illness.

Stothard, who is pursuing a master’s degree in the College of Social Work, was recognized for his influence on classmates while also maintaining a 4.0 GPA in his last semester before graduation.

He has worked to increase participation of students in the college and has started a mentoring program for first-year students.

Stothard, through his work with Students for Social Justice, spearheaded a conference at UT called “OUTstanding: a Seminar Exploring LBGTIQ Diversity.” He wrote grants to secure funding for the event and ensured that it coincided with the university’s vision to nurture diversity.

The 3:30 p.m., February 28, screening will be at Hodges Library at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 1015 Volunteer Blvd. Guided group discussions will take place at 5:30 p.m.

Another screening will take place at 6:30 p.m.

Both showings are free and open to the public, although the first is geared toward teens.

“Miss Representation” exposes how mainstream media portrayals of women and girls contribute to the under-representation of women in positions of power and influence in America—and arms the viewer with a new perspective. It uses stories from teenage girls and interviews with politicians, journalists, entertainers, activists, and academics like Condoleezza Rice, Nancy Pelosi, Katie Couric, Rachel Maddow, Margaret Cho, Rosario Dawson, and Gloria Steinem.

The documentary covers some challenging topics. Parents and group leaders are advised to preview the trailer before making plans to attend.

Seating is limited to 150. Anyone planning to bring a group of ten or more, or anyone needing disability-related accommodations, should contact Rachel Radom, rradom@utk.edu or 865-974-6107, as soon as possible.

The screenings are sponsored by the YWCA, the Feminist Action Collective, the UT Libraries, Department of Sociology, College of Social Work, and the Center for the Study of Social Justice.

Cindy L. Davis

Cindy L. Davis traveled and lived overseas for ten years before she came to UT in 2001. Her experiences in other countries—from giving birth to seeing how easy it was to receive health care while sick—have influenced her work.

Davis is an associate professor at the College of Social Work’s Nashville campus and primarily studies health disparities among underserved populations and interventions that might help. She also examines services provided to cancer survivors and their families.

“Social work is about helping people that are not empowered,” she said. “It’s not always about changing the person. It’s also about looking at the environment and the policies that impact people’s lives.”

The Estill Springs, Tennessee, native teaches graduate-level research classes and electives on health and hospital social work. Many of the courses are done online or via distance education. She is developing an elective for next year on international social work.

Davis has done research projects on HIV/AIDS, premenstrual syndrome, eating disorders, and other health-related issues.

“Cindy wants her students to have a large world view—just as she does,” said Karen Sowers, dean of the College of Social Work. “She’s taken social work students to South Africa to study and explore.”

Davis said she’s proud of UT for promoting study abroad and encouraging students to get international experience while they’re in school.

“UT has come up with the opportunities,” she said. “People need to go, see, and do.”

Davis’s bachelor’s and master’s degrees are from UT. After completing her doctorate in social welfare from the University of California, Los Angeles, she spent two years backpacking across Southeast Asia and Africa. She completed a two-year, post-doctoral fellowship in clinical psychology at the Chinese University in Hong Kong.

Following the fellowship, Davis worked for a year as a behavioral scientist at the National Breast Cancer Center in Sydney, Australia, focusing on oncology research. She then began her academic career as a lecturer and assistant professor in social work at the University of New South Wales in Sydney.

When not working, Davis and her husband, who is from England, travel extensively with their 12-year-old son and 9-year-old daughter. She said they want to show their children that “there’s a different world out there.”

This summer, she will take them along to Borneo in Southeast Asia where she will conduct cancer research and study health and equality issues. The trip is courtesy of her Fulbright senior specialist position.

Terri Combs-Orme

Terri Combs-Orme loves to challenge her students.

“I teach to the top of the class and I dare everybody to keep up,” the social work professor said. “If you don’t sweat a little bit in my class, you’re wasting your time.”

Most of her students meet the challenge and do better than they expected.

Combs-Orme finds that she’s constantly learning from them, too.

“I’d like the students to know how much I appreciate them,” she said. “They’ve dragged me into the new millennium.”

Combs-Orme has been teaching and learning at UT for almost twenty years. She was recruited from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health in Baltimore as part of the UT College of Social Work’s grant to create a Children’s Mental Health Services Center.

She came to Knoxville with her husband, John Orme, who teaches statistics and research design in the College of Social Work. The couple has published two books together.

“Terry’s prowess as a neuroscience researcher and teacher was recognized when she was recently awarded the inaugural Endowed Professorship from the Memphis-based Urban Child Institute,” Sowers said. “One of her goals is that social workers in the state will one day know more about the brain development of infants and toddlers and how they can use this knowledge to improve children’s lives.”

Combs-Orme is developing a brain-awareness curriculum to be used in training bachelor’s- and master’s-level social work students in Tennessee, as well as for continuing education of Tennessee’s social workers in the state who work closely with disadvantaged children and families.

A Texas native, Combs-Orme said the backing of university officials has been instrumental in her career.

“Every time I wanted to move in a different direction or learn new things, the dean and the university were there to support me,” she said.

Combs-Orme has an adult son who lives in Montreal and an 11-year-old yellow Labrador. In her spare time, she enjoys walking for exercise, reading, and playing the piano.

The quest for knowledge will be a life-long venture, Combs-Orme said.

“For the rest of my career, I can take risks,” she said.

As for retirement, Combs-Orme said: “Why? I’m having too much fun.”

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C O N T A C T :

Lola Alapo (865-974-3993, lola.alapo@tennessee.edu)

As recent national headlines show, that’s not always the way it occurs.

The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, College of Social Work is offering online training for the public that can serve as a refresher on how to address the situation. The course, which is free, was developed in partnership with the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services.

To date, more than 100,000 users have visited the training website, which has been in existence for several years.

“Tennessee is making an effort to teach its educators what to do when they suspect that abuse is happening,” Betsy DeGeorge, assistant director for publications and media technology for the Social Work Office of Research and Public Service. “It’s not something every state has been doing.”

DeGeorge noted that the state mandates that it’s not good enough for those who are aware of child abuse to report it to their superiors. They must also be report it to children’s services.

They may do so anonymously, which “protects (child abuse) reporters and keeps the abuse from being shuffled under the rug,” she said. “It becomes a kind of action that keeps the interests of the child first.”

To view the training on child abuse reporting, visit https://www.sworps.tennessee.edu/child_abuse_reporting/.

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C O N T A C T :

Lola Alapo (865-974-3993, lola.alapo@tennessee.edu)

The civil rights law training, offered through the college’s Social Work Office of Research and Public Service (SWORPS), uses video clips from the past as teaching tools. They include John F. Kennedy’s 1963 speech on civil rights and Lyndon B. Johnson’s signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

It was developed in conjunction with the state Department of Human Services (DHS).

The course, which is on a password-protected site, contains four video components that are set up as news broadcasts. It also has integrated online assessments. More than 5,000 state employees have completed the training.

Previously, state employees “met this requirement with material that was pretty dry,” said Betsy DeGeorge, assistant director for publications and media technology for SWORPS.

The program was revised by DHS’s Office of Learning and Professional Development, the College of Social Work, and UT’s Video and Photography Center.

A lot of the legal language had to be kept, but “the folks at DHS and SWORPS agreed that this material is both important and rises from very interesting historic roots; so we designed a training that tries to capture both history and requirements,” DeGeorge said.

SWORPS has worked with the children’s services department to develop a fully customized learning management system that will be released for general use by the department in January 2012. This system will allow the department to track the training and testing success of employees throughout the state.

To learn more about the training, visit https://www.sworps.tennessee.edu/stimulus/enhanced/2011_fall/civilrightsslideshow.htm.

To learn more about SWORPS, visit https://www.sworps.tennessee.edu/.

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C O N T A C T :

Lola Alapo (865-974-3993, lola.alapo@tennessee.edu)

The Tennessee Partnership for Ongoing Parental Support was featured as an example of successful practice in the November issue of Child Support Report, a publication of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Child Support Enforcement.

The UT College of Social Work’s Office of Research and Public Service manages the program. It serves men at the Morgan County Correctional Complex and has been in existence three years.

“This is a population that’s forgotten,” said Monica Roush, who, along with Martha Deaton, coordinates the program. “They commit a crime and our society wants to see them punished. We, as a culture, don’t think about the impact of them returning to our communities and what this means for their children. Add to that the barrier of the parent owing a huge debt in child support, and that sometimes keeps them from reuniting in the family unit.”

The initiative addresses inmates’ child support issues, from giving them a status update on what they owe to facilitating DNA testing, Roush said.

Some inmates do start paying child support even while in prison.

It also offers parenting education classes where participants can learn about their rights and pick up skills for effective parenting. Inmates voluntarily sign up.

“We have several men who seek us out and are eager to do something for their kids,” Roush said.

Once inmates are released from prison, the program connects them to the appropriate services to ensure successful re-entry into their communities.

To date, the program coordinators have taught thirty-one child support and parenting education classes to 601inmates and administered child support services to 366 inmates.

To read the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ publication, visit http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cse/pubs/2011/csr/csr1111.pdf.

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C O N T A C T :

Lola Alapo (865-974-3993, lola.alapo@tennessee.edu)

Terri Combs-Orme

That’s the mission of Terri Combs-Orme, a professor in the College of Social Work at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Combs-Orme is the first recipient of an Endowed Professorship from the Memphis-based Urban Child Institute. The new professorship will foster an ongoing partnership between the College of Social Work and the institute in the advancement and dissemination of critical knowledge about brain development in children.

The institute is a nonprofit organization dedicated to turning knowledge and research into measurable change. It advocates for public policies that are good for children, initiates prevention-based strategies, and launches intervention programs that focus on children.

Combs-Orme will develop a brain awareness curriculum to be used in training bachelor’s and master’s level social work students in Tennessee, as well as for continuing education of social workers in the state who work closely with children and families at risk.

“It’s the most incredible honor,” Combs-Orme said.

She has been a fellow of the institute since 2006. Her area of focus is neuroscience, particularly infant development and parenting.

The award will help fund her salary and provide travel to and from the institute in Memphis. It will also fund a stipend for a doctoral student to be her research assistant.

To learn more about the Urban Child Institute, visit www.theurbanchildinstitute.org.

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C O N T A C T :

Lola Alapo (865-974-3993, lola.alapo@tennessee.edu)

KNOXVILLE— Ligen Feller, 32, spent four years helping navigate an aircraft carrier in the U.S. Navy. Once she finishes her master’s degree in social work at UT Knoxville, she hopes to help the military navigate the waters of social services.

When she finishes school, she’d like to land a job with Veterans Affairs.

“Being in the US Navy shed a light on my true patriotism,” she said.

But she also saw some things about the military she’d like to help change—like making it easier for sailors to come home for the births of their children.

A native of the Philippines who moved to America in July 2000, Feller served in the US Navy from 2006 to 2010.

After boot camp, she was a quartermaster seaman assigned to the navigation department on the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71), a nuclear aircraft carrier.

“My job was like being the human GPS of the ship,” she said. “Navigation on an aircraft carrier is highly stressful job.”

The job required constant monitoring and long stretches of staying awake.

Feller and shipmates line up for swim call in the Arabian Sea. This photo was taken from the signal bridge, a floor above the ship's pilothouse. The shark watch crew can be seen in the boat. There are also search-and-rescue swimmers floating in the sea.

Among her favorite memories of her days in the military: “swim call” in the North Atlantic Ocean and battle training in Europe.

“On the way home from the deployment, our ship had a swim call in the North Atlantic,” she said. “It’s when we stop in the middle of the ocean and sailors are allowed to jump off the hangar bay, which is about fifty feet high, into a deep blue ocean. There were other sailors with guns on shark watch in small boats around us. It was awesome!”

Another memorable experience was the “Neptune Warrior,” a two-month-long joint forces exercise in the waters off England, Scotland, and Ireland.

“It was like a real sea battle,” she said. “I was on USS McFaul, a destroyer-type ship. We were in an extreme maneuver effort to avoid torpedo. The ship was one-sided making a U-turn…we were all standing sideways on the bridge.

“It was mostly a sleepless two months, but it was as real as it gets for me when it comes to sea battles.”

Feller, who finished her bachelor’s degree in the spring and started graduate school this fall, said the Navy taught her to be detail-oriented.

“If sailors forget to do even a routine or common-sense task, it could mean life or death for 5,000 people on an aircraft carrier. For example, it’s routine for sailors to always log water depth during sea and anchor details. If we forget, the ship could run aground.”

She said it was difficult for her to get used to the “looseness” of civilian life.

“Even now, I write everything down,” she said. “I think it’s helped being detail-oriented while in school. I am never late on deadline assignments.”

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C O N T A C T :

Amy Blakely (865-974-5034, ablakely@utk.edu)

The report is an annual product of the Knoxville Homeless Management Information System (KnoxHMIS), a state-of-the-art web-based database application for the collection and reporting of data on homeless individuals and families in the area. This community outreach research endeavor of the UT College of Social Work provides an examination of individuals experiencing homelessness in Knox County.

Social work professor David Patterson serves as director and principal investigator on KnoxHMIS and authored the report.

“This report demonstrates the ongoing significant problems faced in the Knoxville and Knox County communities in addressing the persistence of homelessness,” Patterson said. “This kind of information will help inform the emergence of the communities’ ongoing discussion about this issue and will help us think through how we can effectively address it.”

Some of the more notable trends that Patterson calls attention to is the prevalence of female-headed households among the homeless and the presence of children in homeless households. He also notes that 41 percent of clients actively seeking services have a disability.

“Homelessness is best understood as a phenomenon resulting from a complex interaction of individual factors, structural/economic forces, and environmental circumstances. The trends reported in this report evidence this interactive effect,” he said.

The KnoxHMIS database began in November 2004 and now contains information on 23,000 unique individuals who have sought services for homelessness in this community. This year’s KnoxHMIS report looks specifically at the 7,089 individuals who have sought services during 2010.

The report shows there was a 28 percent rise in the number of people actively seeking services for homelessness in the past year. “Contrary to the often-stated belief that homeless individuals come to Knoxville from elsewhere, our data shows that the majority (60 percent) are from Knox County and the vast majority (89 percent) are from Knox County and the surrounding eight counties,” Patterson said.

Twenty percent of homeless individuals seeking services met criteria for being chronically homeless, meaning that they have a disabling condition and have been homeless for more than one year or have been homeless three times or more in the past four years.

Other findings from the report include:

• Of the 7,089 individuals in 2010 who sought services from KnoxHMIS partner agencies, 4,394 sought services for the first time.
• Since 2009, there has been an 18 percent increase in the number of new individuals entering homelessness.
• On average, 1,566 individuals per month sought services from KnoxHMIS partner agencies.
• Loss of job is the most frequently self-reported primary reason for homelessness among men.
• For women, the most frequently self-reported primary reason for homelessness is domestic violence.
• Since July 2008, 2,093 individuals experiencing homelessness have been housed.

The mission of KnoxHMIS is to improve service delivery to homeless persons through the implementation and management of this information system linking Knox area homeless service providers. In addition to this, KnoxHMIS serves as the primary source of real-time data on homelessness to our partner agencies, the City of Knoxville, Knox County, and the Mayor’s Office of the Ten-Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness.

To view the report, visit http://knoxhmis.sworps.utk.edu.

C O N T A C T :

David Patterson, (865-974-7511, dpatter2@utk.edu)

Kristi Hintz, UT media relations, (865-974-3993, khintz@utk.edu)

Camille Hall

Camille Hall is not only a professor in the College of Social Work, but she’s also an officer in the U.S. Army Reserve. In her six years teaching at UT Knoxville, Hall has been called up for deployment three times, each time receiving last-minute orders that canceled her deployment.

Most recently, Hall planned to deploy to Iraq in early August 2010. Two days before she was scheduled to leave, she got the word that she would not be going.

“You make arrangements before you go,” she said. “I have to stop the bills, make arrangements for my dog, all of that. And, of course, you don’t think about the preparations your family members make. It takes a toll on them, too.”

Three orders for deployment and three cancellations would be a rollercoaster for anyone. Hall rode that rollercoaster while teaching her courseload, serving on the Commission for Blacks and the Chancellor’s civility task force and, of course, working toward attaining tenure.

She has been selected to attend the Higher Education Resource Services (HERS) Advancing Women Leaders in Higher Education Administration summer institute in June.

“I believe I represent resilience and the strength of women,” Hall said. “Through the process of being tenured and promoted, I never thought I would be an administrator. But I’m finding that I have talent in that area, and I’m seeing a path for myself. I don’t know what that path is yet, but I’m finding it.”

Sowers said Hall “serves our nation as well as our university.”

“Serving in the Reserve, Dr. Hall devotes herself to the safety of our country. She also promotes social equity and justice through her work for African-American families and youth.”

Hall’s research focuses on risk and resilience in communities and at the family level. Much of her published work examines risk and resilience factors among African-American individuals, families and communities, with a specific focus on women and the adult children of alcoholics.

When she’s not teaching or serving on various committees across campus, Hall enjoys hiking, reading and traveling. She has a personal goal of visiting Peru.

David Dupper

David Dupper thinks schools need to have different approaches to dealing with cyberbullying and face-to-face bullying.

A social work professor, Dupper said he thinks some schools are pushing out students with behavioral problems when they should be working to keep them in school.

His ideas are borne out of his research – and out of his experience. He was a school social worker for 10 years before joining the ranks of academia.

“Dr. Dupper has devoted his life’s work to prevention and amelioration of youth violence,” said Karen Sowers, dean of the College of Social Work. “His work on school violence, school social work and bullying prevention in schools is used throughout the world to educate and equip persons working in schools and other youth-serving systems.”

Dupper wants to change the way middle and high schools approach the ever-broadening bullying problem, as well as the way the bullies and the victims are handled by the system.

“School social workers have a lot to offer to help students develop better social skills, deal with authority and manage their emotions,” he said.

He said bullying needs to be viewed as a public health issue.

“Communities need to be concerned about the effects of bullying. We also need to work harder to develop a sense of empathy in these kids and help them understand how it feels to be different.”

Dupper said sometimes adults perpetuate the problem by taking a passive approach and not intervening. He believes that it is just as important to confront the bullies.

Dupper also studies the impact of punitive, zero-tolerance school discipline on at-risk students and has found that many students with behavioral problems get caught up in a cycle of repeated suspensions that often result in dropping out of school. He believes that this “punitive discipline cycle” is an under-examined factor in studies that explore why students drop out of school.

Dupper came to UT Knoxville from the University of Illinois in 1998. He has been teaching in the realm of social work for 20 years. His personal interests include listening to music, reading, jogging and meditation. He and his wife, Ann, have three daughters, including one who attends UT.

With an enrollment of about 125 students, the college’s Master of Science in Social Work (MSSW) Distance Education Program has helped many others like McBride, and its success has earned the program an award.

Last month, the college received the Tennessee Alliance for Continuing Higher Education (TACHE) credit program award, which recognizes an institution for its innovative credit programming.

“We’re honored by TACHE’s recognition of the college’s distance education program’s outstanding credit programming,” said Sherry Cummings, professor and associate dean of the College of Social Work in Nashville, where the MSSW distance education program is based. “We look forward to the continued growth of our distance ed program and the further provision of needed graduate-level social work education to working individuals and those living in rural communities.”

The college’s MSSW distance education program has met professional social workers’ demands for flexibility. Similar to its on-campus counterpart, it requires 36 hours for a graduate degree for advanced standing student in social work but allows students to complete their degree without daily travel to campus. All course content is delivered online, along with limited face-to-face Saturday meetings that complete the blended approach to the delivery of the program.

The program has been offered since summer 2008, and the first group of students graduated last spring.

“The program has to be designed to accommodate the unique needs of those like myself who are actively involved in career and family life,” McBride said. “For me, the most valuable aspect of the distance education program is the ability to log into the system from any location and at any time. Last spring, I ‘attended’ class, researched and submitted a paper from Myrtle Beach, where I was on vacation with my family.”

For more information about the program, visit http://www.csw.utk.edu/students/mssw/distance_ed.html.

TACHE (http://www.tnache.org/) is an organization of continuing higher education professionals that advocates better lives for Tennesseans through greater access to higher education and workforce development.

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C O N T A C T :

Kate McClernon-Chaffin, distance education coordinator, (615-782-6134, kmcclern@utk.edu)

Kristi Hintz, UT media relations, (865-974-3993, khintz@utk.edu)

A 15-year-old Massachusetts girl hangs herself after months of hallway and online tormenting from classmates.

A 13-year-old Texas boy hangs himself in his family’s barn after being stuck in a trash can because he was small.

These stories, unfortunately, are just the tip of the iceberg. U.S. Bureau of Justice statistics say one in three children in grades 6-10 are either bullies or the victims of bullying.

Professor David Dupper of the College of Social Work at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, spent nearly 15 years working as a social worker in middle and high schools in Florida before his work in higher education. He’s written two books, numerous book chapters and many papers on topics including school violence, bullying, school discipline and at-risk students.

Dupper, also the father of three girls — a recent college graduate, a college sophomore and a high school junior — said parents and teachers must be proactive to prevent bullying and to intervene when their children are the victims of bullying. Here are five things parents and teachers need to know about bullying:

1. Understand the difference between teasing and bullying. “Teasing takes place between peers who are comparable in status,” Dupper said. “In bullying, someone has power over another individual because they’re physically bigger or belong to a bigger group.” Bullying is often chronic. It occurs in places with little adult supervision, such as buses or bathrooms. Bullying tends to peak in the late-elementary and middle school years. “That’s when parents really have to be tuned in and encourage their children to tell them if anything is going on,” Dupper said. “Probe. Explore. Don’t be afraid to talk to your kids. They probably won’t speak up first; they think they can handle it themselves, or they’re afraid of making things worse if they tell an adult.”
2. Understand the difference between genders when it comes to bullying. “Girls are usually emotionally bullied; boys get it both ways, physically and emotionally,” Dupper said. Girl bullies tend to gossip, make fun of their victims or exclude them from the group. Boy bullies verbally abuse, but often resort to physical assaults, too. While anyone can fall prey to a bully, kids most at risk are those who are loners or different in the way they dress, look or act.
3. Teach kids the difference between standing up for themselves and dealing with a bully. “Never expect a victim of bullying to deal with the bully themselves,” Dupper said. Parents and school officials must intervene. “The only way a child is going to feel safe saying something to an adult is to know that the adult will take the bullying situation seriously and protect them.”
4. Be informed about — and be an advocate for — school policies and laws concerning bullying. “Bullying is peer child abuse,” Dupper said. Parents should find out if their school district has a specific policy against bullying and, if it doesn’t, try to get one enacted. Parents also can encourage their children’s schools to mount anti-bullying campaigns with posters and discussions that provide examples of bullying behavior. Heightened awareness means “it’s much less likely a bully is going to get away with it,” he said.
5. Don’t be a bully. “Kids model the behavior that they observe in their immediate environments and in the society at large. Kids learn by watching the behavior of adults. They can learn to intimidate and overpower others or they can learn to deal with others in respectful ways. The bottom line is — adults need to model the behavior that they want kids to exhibit,” Dupper said.

C O N T A C T :

Amy Blakely (865-974-5034, amy.blakely@tennessee.edu)

Fifteen of every 100 cell phone users ages 12 to 17 have received nude or partially nude photos over their phones, according to a recent study from the Pew Research Center.

Professor David Dupper of the College of Social Work at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, said these alarming statistics indicate “cyberbullying” and “cyberstalking” are on the rise. Yet, he said, people can lower their chances of falling victim to this digital-world crime by using common sense, being careful with technology and passwords and promptly reporting suspicious activity.

This week, UT officials alerted the campus community after some students reported that they had been the victims of a cyberstalker.

The National Center for the Victims of Crime defines “cyberstalking” as “threatening behavior or unwanted advances directed at another using the Internet and other forms of online and computer communications.”

Dupper, who’s currently working on a manuscript on this topic, spent nearly 15 years working as a social worker in middle and high schools in Florida before his work in higher education. He’s written two books, numerous book chapters and many papers on topics including school violence, bullying, school discipline and at-risk students.

“In addition to providing opportunities for establishing and maintaining positive relationships with peers, electronic devices — computers, cell phones and smart phones – and the anonymity that they provide, also create opportunities for levels of meanness that we do not see in face-to-face bullying,” Dupper said.

“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has called ‘electronic aggression’ an emerging adolescent health issue. The CDC estimates that as many as 35 percent of teens have experienced some kind of electronic aggression through cell phones, e-mail, instant messaging, text messaging, chat rooms, blog postings or the Internet over the course of a recent school year. Another study reported that 8 percent of youth were harassed at least once a month during a recent year.

“Female students are more likely to be victims of cyberbullying than male students,” Dupper said.

And, he added, “about 4 percent of cell phone owners between the ages of 12 to 17 admit to having sent nude or nearly nude images themselves to others.”

Dupper provides this advice to help people sidestep problems when using Facebook, Skype and other forms of social media:

• Always be as polite online as you are in person.
• Don’t send messages when you’re angry. Before clicking “send,” ask yourself how you would feel if you received the message.
• Don’t put anything online that you wouldn’t want others to see, even in e-mail.
• Never give out personal information online, whether in instant message profiles, chat rooms, blogs or personal websites.
• Never open e-mails from someone you don’t know or from someone you know who has been harassing you.
• If someone sends a mean or threatening message, don’t respond. Save it or print it out and show it to your parents, other authority figures or police.
• Never tell anyone — even friends — your password. Likewise, keep your cell phone keypad locked and your PIN or password secure so someone else can’t use your phone without your permission.
• Don’t send texts or capture photos or video on your cell phone that you wouldn’t feel comfortable sharing with the world. All of the text, photos and videos you create with your phone are saved and available as digital evidence. They are stored on your provider’s server or website or on the flash memory or SIM card of your phone — even if you’ve deleted them.

For more tips on avoiding cyberbullying, see http://www.cyberbullying.us.

C O N T A C T :

Amy Blakely (865-974-5034 or 865-789-1692, amy.blakely@tennessee.edu)