Ph.D. alumni award winner Bricout reinvents while maintaining value-driven purpose
John C. Bricout (Ph.D.’98/SW) has embraced the disruptive nature of innovation, reinvention and, as he calls it, working outside the box. All the more reason to find grounding in several key tenets developed as a doctoral student at the Virginia Commonwealth School of Social Work. Twenty-four years after earning his Ph.D., Dr. Bricout has been […]
Alum Forte earns NASW-Maryland Lifetime Achievement Award for ‘exemplary’ career
VCU School of Social Work alum James Forte (M.S.W.’78/SW; Ph.D.’90/SW), whose “contributions in teaching, scholarship and the social work profession are exemplary,” has received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Association of Social Workers’ Maryland chapter. Dr. Forte is a professor of social work at Salisbury University, and he has published more than 40 […]
Opioid learning collaborative continues to pay big dividends from $60,000 grant
From expanded field placements to better prepared students – and ultimately graduates – to a digital resource repository, Karen Chartier, Ph.D., can check off a number of outcomes that will extend the life of a modest one-year grant of $60,000. The VCU School of Social Work associate professor was a co-principal investigator for the Social […]
Social work alum participates in White House child care roundtable
VCU School of Social Work alum Allison Gilbreath (B.S.’11/GPA; M.S.W.’16/SW) participated in a White House roundtable on Feb. 22, representing Virginia parents and discussing child care and the Biden administration’s Build Back Better plan. Gilbreath, whose then 3-year-old son, Perry, joined her, is the policy and programs director at Voices for Virginia’s Children. Also participating […]
Social work’s Chartier to lead behavioral health research institute and its signature survey
As an associate professor of social work and researcher, Karen Chartier, Ph.D., has been a regular user of data from VCU’s Spit for Science, an annual student survey. Now she will have a chance to lead the university’s signature survey project and its parent organization, the Institute for Research on Behavioral and Emotional Health (IRBEH). […]
Thinking about a career in child welfare? Social work alumni separate fact from fiction
The VCU School of Social Work has been a leader in developing future social workers who go on to work in Department of Social Services settings, and part of that leadership has included taking a critical look at areas where the public welfare system needs to evolve – and also where the school’s educational practices […]
Child Welfare Stipend Program at VCU: A strong social work legacy supporting the commonwealth
As a newly minted VCU M.S.W. graduate in 2003, Danika Briggs signed on for 18 months with a local Virginia Department of Social Services office. Now, nearly 19 years later, she’s still with DSS, currently assistant director for family services with the Chesterfield-Colonial Heights Department of Social Services. Briggs, a licensed clinical social worker, is […]
Ph.D. student Leah Bouchard earns prestigious rural health fellowship
Growing up in rural western North Carolina, Leah Bouchard saw the impact of methamphetamine and opioids on the members of her small community. First as a multi-systemic therapist in eastern Tennessee and then as a doctoral student and candidate at the VCU School of Social Work, she has dedicated both practice and research to serving […]
Ph.D. to EMT: A social work fixture for 40 years, Dattalo finds his niche as volunteer
Professor Pat Dattalo, Ph.D., has been teaching since the early 1980s, and even in retirement from the VCU School of Social Work, he’s got another group with which he can listen and learn. Dattalo, who joined the school full time in 1986, made his retirement official in October. Having started about four years ago as […]
Social work doctoral education organization recognizes professors Bentley, Burnette
The international organization of directors of social work doctoral programs has recognized two influential VCU professors for their work, continuing a legacy of national leadership by the School of Social Work. The Group for the Advancement of Doctoral Education in Social Work (GADE) has selected Professor Kia J. Bentley, Ph.D., LCSW, as the recipient of […]