Fall 2011 - Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences - Case ...

News from the Doctoral Program
Aloen Townsend
We are delighted to welcome seven new students to our doctoral program this year. As you can see
from their brief biographical sketches, they are diverse in terms of their academic backgrounds,
research interests, gender, race and ethnicity, and countries of origin. What they all share is a passion
for social work and social welfare, and a desire to pursue doctoral training in order to contribute to the
profession as exceptional teachers, researchers and leaders. We are proud that they have chosen to
pursue their educational dreams at MSASS. They are now part of a community consisting of 55 current
doctoral students. Of our current students, 42 percent are taking coursework, 13 percent are preparing
the qualifying examination this year or writing their prospectus, and 45 percent are working on their
dissertation (post prospectus).
2011 Cohort
Jamie Cage received her B.A. in
psychology and her M.S. in community
mental health counseling from The
University of Rochester. Over the
years, she has been exploring the
foster care system and its impact on
adolescent and adult mental health.
She will develop additional research in
foster care while a student at MSASS.
Youngmin Cho graduated from Seoul
National University with a B.S. in
social welfare and a double major in
economics. He has worked in the field
of social welfare and wants to
continue researching economically
disadvantaged populations and policy
analysis for low-income working
families.
Chia-Ling Chung received her MSW
and BSW from National Taiwan
University. Her “Best Social Work
Thesis” award in 2011 focused on
mental health issues and caregiving.
Her research at MSASS will address
the mental health delivery system as it
relates to recovery/rehabilitation and
care aspects.
Hyunyong Park is a recent MSSW
graduate of the University of Texas at
Austin. He received his B.A. in social
welfare and an M.A. in social welfare
from Seoul National University. He is
an experienced counselor and has an
interest in the evidence-based
treatment of mental health, substance
use disorders and dual diagnosis.
Front row: left to right - Tanisha Tate, Gabriela Sehinkman, Susan Yoon, Chia-Ling Chung
Back row: left to right - Jamie Cage, Youngmin Cho, Hyunyong Park
Gabriela Sehinkman has a master’s
degree in psychology from the
University of Buenos Aires and a
master’s degree in social work from
Cleveland State University. She plans to
focus her research on culturallyeffective
interventions for minorities,
especially within the Latino community.
Tanisha K. Tate holds a bachelor’s
degree in biology and a master’s in
public health policy from the University
of Michigan. Her primary research
interests include community
revitalization, urban poverty, housing,
education and effective economic
development strategies for rebuilding
neighborhoods.
Susan Yoon graduated from Ewha
Woman’s University in Seoul, South
Korea with a B.A. in social work and an
MSW. Her field of research involves
the prevention of child maltreatment,
and enhancing the well-being of
cultural and ethnic minority children
using culturally competent
interventions.
From the Doctoral Suite…
Susan Smalling (2008 Cohort) has been
awarded the 2011 Arol Shack
Dissertation Award. Her dissertation is
entitled “American Indians and Social
Work Education: Addressing Issues of
Recruitment, Retention and Inclusion.”
Associate Professor David Miller is her
dissertation chair. The qualitative study
is designed to give an in-depth account
of the experiences and viewpoints of
American Indian faculty in social work.
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