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The UConn School of Social Work continues its upward trajectory in national research prominence! Newly released data from the National Science Foundation (NSF)’s Higher Education Research and Development Survey places UConn Social Work No. 7 among public schools of social work and No. 11 nationally for 2024 research expenditures. 👏🩵👏💙👏🩵👏

The HERD Survey is based on university-reported research expenditures and includes funding from federal, state, foundation, and other sources.

"UConn SSW’s rise in these rankings reflects strong faculty scholarship, success in securing competitive research funding, and increasing national impact," says Jennifer Manuel, associate dean of research and professor at UConn School of Social Work. “This achievement reflects the growing impact of our research and the strength of our faculty’s commitment to generating knowledge that informs policy, practice, and social change."

#uconnSSW #socialwork ...

The topic of the 2026 UConn School of Social Work Diversity Seminar is “From Food Insecurity to Food Justice.”

Join us on Friday, Jan. 23, 9 to 11 .am. on Webex:
https://uconnvtc.webex.com/wbxmjs/joinservice/sites/uconnvtc/meeting/download/21e10dc2ac1245ed96ff57a39dd96bf8 ...

In this video, @uconnsocialwork Professor Lisa Werkmeister Rozas reflects on growing up in a Peruvian enclave, where neighbors rose to meet one another’s challenges. Watch as she shares how honoring Indigenous traditions rooted in connection can narrow gaps and open new possibilities for the Latine community of Greater Hartford.

Watch now:
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1D6YAV86N6/ ...

Six members of the @uconnsocialwork are co-authors of a new article published in LGBTQ+ Family: An Interdisciplinary Journal. 👏👏

Titled “LGBTQ+ Familial Acceptance as a Moderator Between Weight-Based Victimization and Disordered Eating Behaviors Among LGBTQ+ Youth,” the study utilized a national LGBTQ+ youth survey (to examine associations between family and peer-based weight-based victimization and parental LGBTQ+ acceptance on disordered eating behaviors.

This research was funded by the National Institute of Drug Abuse.

The co-authors include Megan S. Paceley, associate professor in the School of Social Work; Gio Iacono, assistant professor in the School of Social Work; Samantha Lawrence, assistant research professor in the School of Social Work; Ph.D. student Spencer Evans, LMSW; Ryan J. Watson, associate professor of human development and family services at UConn; Patrick Muro MA ’22 (SSW and MPH); and Lou Wilson, School of Social Welfare, University of Kansas.

Read more: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/27703371.2026.2614416 ...

Dear UConn Social Work Community,

Today, please join me in honoring the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his enduring commitment to civil rights, justice, dignity, and collective responsibility. Dr. King’s leadership reminds us that progress toward equity has always required sustained advocacy, moral courage, and collective action.

Let’s reflect on his vision of a “beloved community”—a vision that is deeply aligned with the core values of social work and with the @uconnsocialwork’s mission to advance social justice, equity, and human rights through education, research, and practice.

As social workers, educators, and students, we are called not only to remember Dr. King’s legacy, but to continue the civil rights work he championed—by challenging systemic injustice, centering the voices and experiences of marginalized communities, and engaging in ethical, values-driven action that promotes lasting social change.

In community,
Laura

Laura Curran, MSW, PhD (she/her)
Dean and Professor
School of Social Work
University of Connecticut

#MLKDay #socialwork ...