AREAS OF RESEARCH
Mass Incarceration, Homelessness, Substance Use
SP2 Initiatives and Faculty focus applied research, psychosocial services, and person-centered approach to better understand how to recover and provide service to vulnerable populations.
Featured Centers
Center for Carceral Communities
Goldring Reentry Initiative

FEATURED FACULTY
Dennis P. Culhane, PhD
Professor; PhD, Boston College, 1990. Homelessness; housing policy; policy analysis research methods.

FEATURED FACULTY
Malitta Engstrom, PhD, LCSW
Associate Professor; PhD, Columbia University. Substance use and intersections with criminal justice system involvement, victimization, HIV, and mental health, particularly in relation to women across the life course and families; informing, developing, and testing interventions to address co-occurring concerns; enhancing the value of scientific findings for use in practice; multigenerational social work practice with families.
Related News
Student Life
01/11

Penn Today and upenn.edu spotlight SP2’s Social Justice Scholars Program
Now in its second year, the Social Justice Scholars Program at Penn’s School of Social Policy & Practice (SP2) welcomed four scholars in 2022, offering a full-tuition scholarship, mentorship from […]
Alumni
05/17

Substance Use Disorder Treatment: Trust and Communication are Key
Currently, Johnna Marcus, MSW ’15, LICSW, works at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center’s Division of Addiction Psychiatry in Boston. There, she serves as a social worker for patients in both […]
Alumni
04/26

MSSP Alumna Named President of The Commonwealth Institute
As Ashley Kenneth explains, “I have always been passionate about social change and a strong advocate for justice”—and her notable social impact and professional achievements are evidence of that passion […]