A Black History Month spring conference entitled “African American Social Work Pioneers: Remembering the Visionaries and the Call for Social Justice” will be held at Southern Arkansas University from 3-4:30 p.m. on February 16, 2015, in the Reynolds Center Grand Hall.
The conference is free and open to the public. It is being hosted by the Department of Social Work at SAU. Raymond Adams, assistant professor of social work, will give an opening presentation, which will be followed by a panel discussion.
Adams is going to chair the panel discussion, which will be comprised of SAU faculty and staff. Members of the panel include Shawn Young, assistant professor, Dr. Matthew Lammers, assistant professor of sociology, who will be talking on “Race and Rally Effects: Social Mobilization;” Cledis Stuart, associate dean of multiculturalism and diversity, who will discuss “Dangerous Ideas: Cultural Complexities and Conflict;” Anthony Williams, chief of police at SAU, who will elaborate on “Law and Peace: Complexities and Conflicts;” and Jennifer Turner, assistant Professor in the Department of Behavioral Social Sciences.
Adams joined SAU’s Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences as an assistant professor in the fall 2014 semester. He has more than eight years of social work practice experience with several different populations including at risk and abused children, adults with severe and persistent mental illness, persons with addictions, and children with severe emotional disturbances. Prior to SAU, he served as project manager for University of Missouri – Columbia School of Medicine CATCH planning grant (funded by the American Academy of Pediatrics), where he conducted in person interviews with different denominational congregation members about food insecurity and health care practices.
Currently, his primary research focuses on investigating cancer prevention strategies among church-affiliated African American men at risk for prostate and colorectal cancer. His research agenda emanates from community practice experience in Northeast Louisiana and the Midwest. He continues to remain active in local church life, consulting with church congregations who are engaged in responding to the practical needs of persons both domestically and internationally.
For more information about the conference, call (870) 235-4208 or e-mail raymondadams@saumag.edu.
