October 2025 Community Highlights

University of Denver Graduate School of Social Work faculty and staff continue to be recognized as leaders in the field by peers and the broader community. Here are some of their recent accomplishments and community impacts:

• PhD Student Tina Hulama was selected for the 2025-2026 Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) Doctoral Minority Fellowship Program.
   
• PhD Student Tina Hulama has been selected as a recipient of the Hawaii Pacific Foundation Doctoral Research Award in the amount of $16,600. This prestigious and highly competitive award is funded by the Hawaii Pacific Foundation and administered by the University of Hawai'i's East-West Center. The funding will support her dissertation research, currently titled: "Weaving Decolonial and Critical Indigenous Feminist Frameworks: A Transformative, Mixed-Method, and Arts-Based Study of Healthcare Oppression in Hawaii."
   
• Congratulations to PhD Student Sarah Sullivan for successfully defending their dissertation proposal!
   
• Congratulations to PhD Student Shikha Advani for being offered the CSWE Minority Fellowship and the APA's Interdisciplinary Minority Fellowship!
   
• Professor Lena Lundgren was accepted into Sigma Xi honor society last year.
   
• On Friday, September 26, several GSSW Faculty were recognized as AY25 Faculty Career Champions. These nominees not only demonstrated immense pride in their roles as teachers and experts, but as career and life mentors as well.  
  • Clinical Assistant Professor Amity Good
  • Associate Professor Amy He
  • Professor Daniel Brisson 
  • Adjunct Professor Dom Harris
  • Professor Eugene Walls 
  • Clinical Assistant Professor Jason Lester
  • Professor of the Practice Karen Bensen
  • Adjunct Faculty Lori Blinderman
  • Adjunct Faculty Lorna Lind McDonald
  • Adjunct Faculty Michele Smith
  • Adjunct Faculty Savahannah Matyasic
  • Adjunct Faculty Shenhaye Ferguson
     
• Additionally, the following two individuals were awarded on a campus level through DU Career & Professional Development as GSSW's Faculty Career Champion Award of Excellence recipients: 
  • Professor Daniel Brisson
  • Adjunct Faculty Shenhaye Ferguson