Joe, Jonson-Reid to Join AASWSW 12/1/2017 Faculty; Social Work Share this Story: Sean Joe, Benjamin E. Youngdahl Professor of Social Development (left); Melissa Jonson-Reid, Ralph and Muriel Pumphrey Professor of Social Work Research (right) Sean Joe and Melissa Jonson-Reid, professors at the Brown School, will be inducted as fellows in the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare (AASWSW) for their distinguished accomplishments as scholars and practitioners dedicated to achieving excellence in high-impact work that advances social good. Joe is the Benjamin E. Youngdahl Professor of Social Development and the associate dean for faculty and research at the Brown School. He is a nationally recognized authority on suicidal behavior among African Americans. Jonson-Reid is the Ralph and Muriel Pumphrey Professor of Social Work Research. Her work focuses on understanding how to improve the behavioral, educational and health outcomes associated with childhood exposure to trauma, particularly abuse and neglect. “I am incredibly humbled by the honor of being invited to serve alongside such outstanding social work professionals,” Jonson-Reid said. “I am most excited by the action orientation of the Academy and its mission to take on some of the most complex and significant social issues of our time.” The Academy’s president is Sarah Gehlert, dean of the University of South Carolina College of Social Work, who previously served as the E. Desmond Lee Professor of Racial and Ethnic Diversity at the Brown School. “We are thrilled to be inducting Melissa Jonson-Reid and Sean Joe, both of whom have made significant contributions through their work,” she said. Other AASWSW fellows from the Brown School are: Wendy Auslander, Shenyang Guo, Shanti Khinduka (emeritus faculty), John Landsverk, Mary M. McKay, Nancy Morrow-Howell, Enola Proctor, Mark R. Rank, and Michael Sherraden. The Academy was established in 2010 to strengthen the field’s capacity for rigorous analysis that can guide effective human services policies, programs, and practices. It encourages and recognizes outstanding research, scholarship and practice that contributes to a sustainable, equitable and just future. The Academy aims to influence social policy by serving as a frontline source of information for the social work profession as well as Congress and other governmental and non-government entities. It promotes the examination of social policy and the application of research to test alternative policies, programs, and practices for their impact on society.