{"id":237649,"date":"2025-10-27T14:31:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T18:31:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=237649"},"modified":"2025-11-06T14:50:23","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T19:50:23","slug":"uconn-ssw-well-represented-at-2025-cswe-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2025\/10\/uconn-ssw-well-represented-at-2025-cswe-conference\/","title":{"rendered":"UConn SSW Well-Represented at 2025 CSWE Conference"},"content":{"rendered":"

Several UConn School of Social Work faculty, students, alumni, and friends attended the Council on Social Work Education’s (CSWE) 71st Annual Conference<\/a> Oct. 23-26 in Denver, Colorado.<\/p>\n

The conference theme, “It\u2019s Time to Act: Championing Disability Justice and Disability Joy in Social Work,” championed the need for social work conversations around disability joy, justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion.<\/p>\n

Seven SSW faculty, 12 Ph.D. students, and one SSW research consultant delivered 11 presentations at the event including:<\/p>\n

\"Fizza<\/a>
Fizza Saghir, SSW Ph.D student presents her research titled, “A Critical Analysis of Economic Sanctions Policy: The Debilitating Impact on Healthcare in Afghanistan.”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cA Critical Analysis of Economic Sanctions Policy: The Debilitating Impact on Healthcare in Afghanistan\u201d by Fizza Saghir, MSW, Ph.D student.<\/p>\n

\u201cStudents\u2019 Perceptions of Master of Social Work Programs\u2019 Preparation for Working With Far-Right Clients” by Zhenrong Su, MSW, Ph.D. student; Kylie Harrington, LCSW, Ph.D. student; Jon Phillips, assistant professor; Kelsi Carolan, assistant professor; and Gio Iacono, assistant professor.<\/p>\n

\u201cExamining Practicing Social Workers’ Perceptions of MSW Program Preparation to Work with Clients with Disabilities or Chronic Illnesses” by Kelsi Carolan, assistant professor; Jon Phillips, assistant professor; Zhenrong Su, MSW, Ph.D. student; Doreek Charles, MSW, Ph.D. student; Laura Moynihan, LICSW, OSW-C, APHSW-C., Ph.D. student; Kylie Harrington; and Gio Iacono, assistant professor.<\/p>\n

\u201cEmbracing the Resistive Nature of Imagined Futures for Disabled LGBTQ+ Communities\u201d by Spencer Evans, LMSW, Ph.D. student, and Megan Feely, associate professor.<\/p>\n

\u201cMutual Aid and Interdependence: The Role of Community Sponsorship in Refugee Integration and Belonging\u201d by Craig Mortley, M.Sc., Ph.D. student; Kathryn Libal, professor and director of the UConn Human Rights Institute; S. Megan Berthold, Ph.D., professor; and Scott Harding, associate professor and associate dean for Academic Affairs.<\/p>\n

\u201cSocial Work, Nonprofits, and Unionizing: Examining Organizational Structure to Promote Equity and Labor Rights\u201d by Fernando Ricardo Valenzuela, MSW, School of Social Work research consultant.<\/p>\n

\"CSWE
SSW Ph.D. student Zhenrong Su; Ph.D. student Elizabeth Goldsborough, and Jon Phillips, assistant professor in the School of Social Work gather at CSWE.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cDo MSW Programs Prepare Students for Independent Collaboration? Results From a National Survey\u201d by Jon Phillips, assistant professor; Zhenrong Su, MSW, Ph.D. student; Kylie Harrington, LCSW, Ph.D. student; Elizabeth Goldsborough, MSW, Ph.D. student; Gio Iacono, assistant professor; and Kelsi Carolan, assistant professor.<\/p>\n

\u201cSocial Work Practice With Forced Migrants With Disabilities and\/or Other Chronic Health Conditions\u201d by S. Megan Berthold, Ph.D., professor; Craig Mortley, M.Sc., Ph.D. student; Yvonne Mbewe, LCSW, Ph.D. student; Kathryn Libal, professor and director of the UConn Human Rights Institute; Elnara Klicheva, MSW, Ph.D. student; Scott Harding, associate professor and associate dean for Academic Affairs.<\/p>\n

\u201cPreparing Social Workers for Affirmative Practice With LGBTQIA+ Populations: Recommendations for MSW Programs\u201d by Gio Iacono, assistant professor; Leah Holle, MAR, LCSW, CEDS, Ph.D candidate; Craig Mortley, M.Sc., Ph.D. student; Jon Phillips, assistant professor; Kelsi Carolan, assistant professor; Zhenrong Su, MSW, Ph.D. student; Kylie Harrington, LCSW, Ph.D. student.<\/p>\n

\u201cUplifting Palestinian Perspectives: Peer-Based Learning for Critical Consciousness and Values-Guided Action\u201d by Fernando Ricardo Valenzuela, MSW, School of Social Work research consultant and Jamie Smith, MSW, LCSW-C, Ph.D. student.<\/p>\n

And \u201cUnderstanding Factors That Impact the Emotional Well-Being of Hispanic Immigrants in the United States\u201d by Leah Holle, MAR, LCSW, CEDS, Ph.D candidate.<\/p>\n

View additional conference photos on the UConn School of Social Work’s Facebook post<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The conference, titled “It\u2019s Time to Act: Championing Disability Justice and Disability Joy in Social Work,” championed the need for social work conversations around disability joy, justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":201,"featured_media":237651,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2076,1870],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2514],"class_list":["post-237649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research","category-ssw"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-26 02:46:38","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/201"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237649"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237649\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":237661,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237649\/revisions\/237661"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/237651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237649"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=237649"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=237649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}