January 2026 Dean's Note

The winter quarter is in full swing, and we are being reminded on a daily, almost minute-by-minute basis about the changing and increasingly complex landscape of the world and how we as social workers can continue to collaborate with others and lead in tackling today’s challenges. Times like these remind many of us why our mission as social workers is not done.

As a top-ranked program at an R1 research university, the Graduate School of Social Work (GSSW) remains the leader in funded research dollars among University of Denver graduate programs. At GSSW, we focus on rigor and impact and are wholly committed to leveraging science to advance justice and effect meaningful social change.

That commitment and those values were on display recently in Washington, DC, at the Society for Social Work and Research 30th Annual Conference, “Leading for Transformative Change: Aligning Social Work Science with Policy and Practice, where GSSW faculty, staff, students and alumni presented their latest research. Please read more about the GSSW research presented at this prestigious international gathering, including some of the faculty members leading research collaborations on topics such as aging, suicide prevention and intervention, and abolition in social work. I am sure you will be as inspired as I am knowing that our faculty are tackling some of the most urgent issues of the day.

At the conference, Professor Ramona Beltrán and community partner Olga Gonzalez of Cultivando received the 2026 Community–Research Partnership Award. Read more about their work to document the health impacts of an oil refinery on Latine and Indigenous communities in Adams County, Colorado.

I encourage you to also read about new research from PhD candidate Erin Flynn (MSW ’17), recipient of our 2025 Outstanding Dissertation Proposal Award. She is focused on equipping young people to build a regenerative society, and her deeply community-engaged research embodies GSSW values.

Finally, please save the date for a March 9 address by former Associate Professor Kaipeng Wang, 2025 recipient of the Jeffrey Jenson Endowed Annual Research Award (we will send registration information soon). Professor Wang’s research examines social determinants of health and mental health disparities among older adults to inform the development, evaluation and implementation of culturally sensitive interventions to improve their mental health outcomes. I hope you will join us in person or online to celebrate and learn from this exceptional scholar.

Henrika McCoy, MSW, MJ, PhD
Milton Morris Endowed Dean of Social Work and Professor