Friday March 29, 2024
12:30-1:30 p.m.
Meeting Both In-Person and by Zoom
Dampeer Room, Second Floor of Kelvin Smith Library*
Case Western Reserve University
Dear Colleagues:
For this week’s “Friday Lunch” discussion I am very pleased to host a relatively recent and extremely accomplished addition to our faculty and our university leadership. Dexter Voisin came to CWRU as Dean of the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at the beginning of 2022 and joins us to talk about his major line of research, or line of major research.
Findings from this program of research demonstrate that neighborhood violence exposures are correlated with youth mental health problems, school failure, negative peer networks and high rates of HIV-related risk behaviors, which are interconnected outcomes in the lives of adolescents, particularly those who live in low-resourced communities.
How do these connections work, and what might be done about them? They might range from controversial but obvious policies, such as attempts to limit access to guns, to perhaps more striking dynamics. For instance, Dean Voisin and colleagues have found that within black communities, greater religiosity is associated with more positive behavioral outcomes. At the same time, it may seem even harder to save people if we have to save whole neighborhoods first. Join us to learn more about the challenge.
In-Person and Virtual Attendance
We will meet this week in our regular location, the Dampeer Room on the second floor of Kelvin Smith Library.
We continue also to offer the meetings on Zoom. We do require pre-registering so as to avoid “zoom-bombing.” The pre-registration link is posted below.
The discussion begins at 12:30 p.m., but the room should be open no later than Noon. We try to have beverages and refreshments set up soon after that. Participants should be able to sign on to Zoom also by Noon. But please remember not much will be happening online until the talk begins at 12:30 pm. Please also be prepared to show identification when entering Kelvin Smith Library.
Zoom participants should speak up when asked for questions or comments, or submit thoughts through Zoom’s chat function. Please keep yourself muted until you are choosing to speak.
Each week we will send out this newsletter with information about the topic. It will also include a link to register (for free) for the discussion. When you register, you will automatically receive from the Zoom system the link to join the meeting. If you do not get the newsletter, you should also be able to get the information each Monday by checking http://fridaylunch.case.edu Then if you choose you can use the contact form on that website to request the registration link.
This week’s Zoom link for registration is:
https://cwru.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJcrceCspjsrH9395qoSykKjTC-PaV9BJ8Ei
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
Please also e-mail padg@case.edu if you have questions about arrangements or any suggestions. Or call at 216 368-2426 and we’ll try to get back to you.
Best wishes for safety and security for you and yours,
Joe White
Luxenberg Family Professor of Public Policy and Director, Center for Policy Studies
About Our Guest
Dr. Dexter R. Voisin is the Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel Dean in Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University. Voisin is a licensed psychotherapist with more than 30 years of clinical, research, teaching, and administrative experience. He earned his Ph.D. and master’s in philosophy from Columbia University and his master’s in social work from the University of Michigan.
Before joining Case Western in January 2022, he was Dean of the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work and the Sandra Rotman Endowed Chair in Social Work at the University of Toronto. He was on faculty at the University of Chicago for two decades where he was director of the STI/HIV Intervention Network (SHINE) and co-director of the Chicago Center for HIV Elimination (CCHE).
Dean Voisin is an internationally recognized expert on how structural, racial, and structural inequalities influence health behaviors and outcomes among minoritized populations. He has secured more than $16 million dollars as principal or co-investigator in extramural funding from the National Institutes of Health, and the W. T. Grant Foundation, among others. Voisin has authored more than 195 peer-reviewed publications. His book, America the Beautiful and Violent: Black Youth and Neighborhood Trauma in Chicago, was published by Columbia University Press in 2019. In 2020, he was recognized to be among the top two percent of scientists in the world within his field.
A frequent keynote speaker at national conferences, Dean Voisin also has served his field as Board Member of the Society for Social Work and Research and of the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare.” He is current President of the National Association of Deans and Directors of Schools of Social Work.
* Kelvin Smith Library requires all entrants to show identification when entering the building, unless they have a university i.d. that they can magnetically scan. We are sorry if that seems like a hassle, but it has been Library policy for a while in response to security concerns. Please do not complain to the library staff at the entrance, who are just doing their jobs.
Schedule of Friday Lunch Upcoming Topics and Speakers:
April 5: WTFentanyl? What We Need to Know About the Current Opioid Crisis. With Ryan Marino, MD, Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine and Psychiatry.
April 12: Conspiracy Theories and Climate Change Skepticism in Europe. With Andreas Sobisch, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Political Science, John Carroll University.
April 19: Why Our Children Struggle in School: Going Beyond the ADHD Metaphor. With Arthur Lavin MD, FAAP. Alternate Room: Kelvin Smith Library LL06
April 26: What Does It Mean for Us? Local Needs and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. With Howard Maier FAICP, Adjunct Professor of Political Science. |
