Faculty Notes
Our full- and part-time faculty are leaders in research and practice. They are experts in fields such as gerontology, child welfare, family violence, international social work, homelessness, mental health and health. This section of our newsletter will keep you up to date on the most recent research accomplishments of the School of Social Policy & Practice faculty.
Richard Estes, DSW, spent the summer traveling the globe (not once, but twice). For much of June and July he taught an intensive course at Kyung Hee University in Seoul, Korea on “Dilemmas in Asian Development.” His 50+ students came not only from the East Asian region (i.e., Korea, Japan, China, etc.), but also from Penn. Following that, Estes continued on to Grahamstown, South Africa to chair the 7th international conference of the International Society of Quality of Life Studies, of which he is President. He was presented with a “Distinguished Service Award” by that group. In late August, he traveled to Beijing, China where he presented the keynote address at the “2006 International Symposium and Lectures on Social Policy” co-sponsored by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Beijing Normal University.
In between, and during, his trips Estes completed work on the following publications: A Quick Reference Guide (300 pages) to the Child Sexual Exploitation, which is based on his earlier three-volume series on the same topic and will appear in late October (St. Louis: G.W. Medical Publishers) and Advancing Quality of Life in a Turbulent World – a compilation of thirteen of the very best papers presented at the 2004 Philadelphia meeting of the International Society for Quality of Life Studies (ISQOLS). That volume, too, will be available in late October, 2006. In addition to his new books, Estes published critical analyses of “Development Dilemmas Confronting Economies in Transition” and “Development Challenges Confronting Asia and the Pacific.” Both articles already are in press and will be featured in forthcoming 2006 issues of Social Indicators Research (Berlin: Springer Publications). The articles reflect Estes’ analyses of development changes (and challenges) confronting many of the world’s poorest and most conflict-ridden nations. Currently, he is completing work on a related analysis focused on Africa, a highly heterogeneous continent consisting of some 50 nations. Unfortunately, the social situation for Africa is less optimistic than that reported for either the Asian-Pacific region or the successor states for the former Soviet Union.
This year, Estes plans to concentrate more on his nine Penn students who undertook independent international studies during summer, 2006. He will also undertake a formal analysis of development trends occurring in Latin America – one of the world’s richest, but slowest to develop, geopolitical regions.
Roberta Rehner Iversen, PhD, is the author of the new book, Jobs Aren’t Enough: Toward a New Economic Mobility for Low-Income Families, published by Temple University Press and co-authored with Annie Laurie Armstrong of Business Government Community Connections in Seattle, WA. When the book was released at the end of August, 2006, radio stations and newspapers in the five cities of the research (Philadelphia, New Orleans, Milwaukee, St. Louis, and Seattle) aired extensive interviews with Dr. Iversen. For a full review of the book, visit www.temple.edu/tempress/titles/1755_reg.html.
Giselle C. Coutinho, MSW’84, LCSW, adjunct professor at the School of Social Policy & Practice, recently graduated from the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia with a Masters in Divinity. The New Jersey Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America ordained The Rev. Coutinho as Pastor and Mission Developer of Bridge and Peace Community Church in Camden, NJ on September 17, 2006. She served one year as an intern in this congregation prior to her ordination where she frequently used her multi-lingual and social work skills. Beginning November 1, Rev. Coutinho will begin her ministry at Bridge of Peace, which is a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic and multi-racial community that celebrates God’s unconditional love and amazing grace in Jesus Christ by welcoming all people regardless of background and circumstance, reaching out in love and service, and advocating for peace, justice, and dignity for all people everywhere. She serves with Laura Nicholas-Sanchez (SW’80) who is the Peace Center Coordinator and administrates the social services of the congregation. For more information on Bridge of Peace and its social services, visit www.bridgeofpeace.com.