News & Updates - News

Congratulations to Dr. Susan Yoon, Dr. Joyce Lee, Dr. Smitha Rao and Dr. Gia Barboza-Salerno for their recent promotions, as approved by The Ohio State University Board of Trustees!

It’s not every academic year that a student walks up to a professor and notes her mother had him in class. It’s especially even more uncommon that that professor remembers this student’s mother from his first year teaching at The Ohio State University.

On Friday, May 8, over a thousand social work graduates and their loved ones celebrated their accomplishments at the college’s 2026 Evening of Recognition.

Congratulations to this year’s recipients of the 2026 University Outreach and Engagement Awards! These distinctions honor faculty, staff and students for outstanding achievement in producing engaged scholarship and community impact.

The College of Social Work would like to take this time to recognize one of its academic centers whose mission is to innovate with older adults through research, education and engagement to make central Ohio communities age friendly. The Age-Friendly Innovation Center (AFIC) is committed to a set of principles that guide and ground the work of the center including striving toward culture competence, accessibility, community engagement and interdisciplinary collaboration.

A fresh batch of faces brought social work to the U.S. capital during the 2026 D.C. Career Impact Week! Participants this year spent three jam-packed days networking with organizations in the social work field and gaining memorable mentorship experiences.

Hosted by the College of Social Work, the Evening of Recognition is an annual event that celebrates the countless accomplishments of this year’s graduation candidates earning BSSW, MSW, and PhD degrees from The Ohio State University.

The Engaged Scholars Academy celebrates a year of invaluable research and community conversations. This year’s cohort brought together 16 Ohio State faculty members from a variety of disciplines and challenged them to engage in education strategies that address societal challenges through community partnerships

Everyone has a story to tell and a life to learn from. For BSSW student, La’Ericka Butts, these narratives are the “why” that puts people and communities at the forefront of her work.

Congratulations to Dr. Jacquelyn Meshelemiah who has been appointed as the college’s new associate dean of Academic Affairs, effective May 15, 2026 through May 14, 2030.