‘Steadfast advocate’: Alex Wagaman wins one of VCU’s inaugural awards for community excellence
Praised as someone who “creates safe spaces where people can learn and grow” and as a “steadfast advocate with a gentle presence,” Alex Wagaman, Ph.D., was honored with one of VCU’s inaugural Excellence in Community Engagement Awards in May 2025. Wagaman, an associate professor in the School of Social Work, received her award in the […]
Marsha and Marian’s Neighbors: Youth shared-housing program could be national model
Using “radical imagination,” VCU School of Social Work faculty Maurice Gattis, Ph.D., and M. Alex Wagaman, Ph.D., and their collaborators have developed a youth shared-housing model in Richmond unlike any in the country. “There are just so few evidence-informed, co-designed interventions for this population,” says Dr. Wagaman, who is now serving a one-year term as special advisor […]
Fulbright awards fuel opportunities abroad for social work faculty Gattis, Burnette
One VCU School of Social Work faculty member is currently working abroad in South Africa, and a second will be headed to Mongolia this summer – both as repeat recipients of Fulbright awards. Maurice Gattis, Ph.D., an associate professor, was named a Fulbright U.S. Scholar for Social Sciences and Humanities and has been working in […]
Social work associate professor Gattis’ fashion line mixes business with creativity
A business partnership formed after a chance meeting with a couple in Ghana, and now Maurice Gattis, Ph.D., associate professor at the VCU School of Social Work, has a fashion line called Fort Mosé 1738 that carries a line of contemporary West African fashions. Fort Mosé 1738 refers to the first free Black community in […]
Social work-led project to reduce homelessness receives $800K+ grant
Two VCU School of Social Work associate professors, Maurice N. Gattis, Ph.D., and M. Alex Wagaman, Ph.D., have secured a Virginia Housing Trust Fund Homeless Reduction Grant The $883,014 grant builds on a previously funded project and will work to reduce homelessness among LGBTQ+ youth, pregnant and parenting youth, and young people at the intersection […]