Here are the 2025 ASU Social Work Month Awards recipients

Arizona State University’s School of Social Work presented its 2025 Social Work Month Awards to the following recipients at a March 5 ceremony on the Downtown Phoenix campus. You can read an ASU News story about the awards ceremony here.

Excellence in Student Research Award: Recognizes a student who has demonstrated excellence in independent research as a student.

• Zoe Reep – Reep is completing her PhD program, working as a graduate research assistant at the Southwest Interdisciplinary Research Center and as an AmeriCorps service member with the Arizona Child and Adolescent Survivor Initiative. She has also just started volunteering with the Fountain Hills Crisis Response Team. Reep designed and facilitated an Introduction to Programming workshop for her doctoral cohort.
• Lindsey Joy Smith -- Smith expects to earn her MSW degree from ASU in May 2025. She has been a perennial advocate of women's rights and has lectured on the health and equity needs of providing publicly available, no-cost, feminine hygiene products in Utah, Washington and Arizona. Smith was awarded an ASU Principled Innovation Grant to research the impacts of providing period products in stalls in Tucson public spaces in a project titled "A Stall for All."

Practicum Student Excellence: Recognizes a student who has made outstanding contributions to a social work organization while completing a social work practicum placement.

• Marjorie Ann Cunningham – Cunningham served child victims of crime and their non-offending caregivers as The Victim Advocate Coordinator for 10 years at The Edmondson Telford Child Advocacy Center in Gainesville, Georgia, and is a member of the Omicron Delta Kappa National Leadership Honor Society.

• Casseopea Jenkins-Saiz – Jenkins-Saiz, who is pursuing a Master of Social Work degree, earned a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology in 2024 and was named to the Dean’s List.

Student Leader of the Year: Recognizes a student nominated by peers as a future practitioner of promise and whose leadership sets an example for peers.

• Ezequiel Dominquez – Dominguez (’20 MSW), a social work doctoral student, currently works at the Office of Sex Trafficking Intervention Research and previously worked at Chicanos Por La Causa. He is a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Research Scholar. The Arizona Diamondbacks selected Dominguez for a 2024 Los D-backs Líderes (Leaders) Under 40 award.
• Crisanto Herrera Gonzalez – Gonzalez is pursuing an advanced generalist Master of Social Work degree at ASU’s Yuma location. He is completing an internship at the Regional Center for Border Health’s Behavioral Health Department.
• Tajea Monique Leach – Leach is a student worker with ASU’s Educational Outreach and Student Service and is affiliated with ASU’s Sankofa Leadership Institute.

Legacy Award: Recognizes alumni of the School of Social Work whose contributions to the profession have profoundly shaped its landscape and inspired generations. This award recognizes enduring dedication, groundbreaking achievements and the creation of lasting impact within the social work community.

• Carolyn Mitchell – Mitchell received one of ASU’s very first Master of Social Work degrees in 1965. Her six-decade career includes working in state and local government, then with patients with spinal cord injuries at both the former Good Samaritan Hospital and the Barrow Neurological Center at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center.

Professional Achievement Award: Recognizes school alumni who graduated five or more years ago and who have accomplished achievements of distinction in the social work profession to promote the general welfare of all people.

• Mark Clark – Clark (’86 MSW), recently retired as president and CEO of the Pima Council on Aging (PCOA) after 10 years of service there as part of a 40-year career “helping individuals thrive,” according to a Dec. 30 story on the Arizona Department of Economic Security website.

Early Career Research Award: Recognizes a social work faculty member in the initial stages of their research career (less than five years) who has conducted a distinguished program of social work research.

• Mee Young Um – Um is an assistant professor of social work whose research focuses on addressing health disparities by examining the social and cultural determinants of behavioral health among transnational populations, including refugees, immigrants and historically marginalized racial and ethnic communities.

Mid-Career Research Award: Recognizes a social work faculty member in the mid-career stage of their research career (six to 12 years) who has conducted a distinguished program of social work research.

• Karin Wachter – Wachter, an associate professor, joined the ASU social work faculty in 2017. Since 2012, Wachter has collaborated with U.S.-based refugee resettlement agencies and healthcare providers as an evaluator and researcher. Since 2023, she has served as director of the Office of Refugee Health at the Southwest Interdisciplinary Research Center and currently has two research grants under review at the National Institutes of Health and a third at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Director’s Distinguished Research Award: Recognizes a social work faculty member whose career achievements demonstrate exemplary performance in social work research and whose research has had a lasting impact on communities of the Southwest, the nation or the world.

• Jose Ashford – Ashford, a full professor of social work, is widely published in areas dealing with the assessment, classification and treatment of special need offenders, psychology and law, recidivism prevention, and forensic social work. He testifies around the country as an expert in the assessment of mitigating factors in capital murder cases and consults in sentencing and resentencing cases.

Teaching Dedication Award: Recognizes dedicated service to the school through teaching as a faculty associate and/or academic associate in the spring 2024 and/or fall 2024 semesters.

• Deborah Harper – Harper spent more than 40 years working in child welfare, human services, mental health, secondary education and the healthcare systems. Harper has been a faculty associate/academic associate since 2014.
• Joseph DePinto – DePinto’s experience includes working in the Phoenix Union High School District and the Arizona Addictions Treatment Program, as well as with the Arizona Department of Economic Security. A faculty associate since 2011, he earned both BSW and MSW degrees at ASU.

Distinguished Community Impact Faculty Award: Recognizes a social work faculty member whose career achievements demonstrate exemplary performance in social work education and/or social work research and whose work has had a lasting impact on communities of the Southwest, the nation or the world.

• Wendy Wolfersteig – For over 25 years, Wolfersteig’s work in substance abuse prevention and evaluation in Arizona has focused on the use of effective, evidence-based strategies and data-driven decision-making. A full professor, her recent community-based projects collected and analyzed data on social and health needs of Latino, American Indians and African Americans in Arizona around the impacts of COVID-19; evaluated county and state opioid prevention programs; and tested the efficacy of a child abuse and neglect curriculum for pre-K to 12th grade students.

Instructor of the Year: Recognizes excellence in classroom instruction as nominated and selected by students.

• Matt Ignacio, Tucson location – Ignacio, an assistant professor, teaches courses in borderland and immigration issues. He is a member of the Tohono O’odham Nation.
• Sarah Kurker, online – In her 20th year teaching at ASU, Kurker is an oncology social worker and mindfulness educator. She created the mindful eating and sustainability class and served as lead on the Implicit Curriculum Committee. Kurker has published three books, and co-published journal articles with ASU social work Professor Joanne Cacciatore.
• Kelley Hollie, Downtown Phoenix campus – Hollie has more than 18 years of social work experience in child protection, clinical practice, international adoption, foster care, nonprofit management and teaching in higher education. As a doctoral student at ASU, Kelley’s research interests focus on the Black family and autism with an emphasis on Black autistic encounters with law enforcement, Black fathers of autistic children, and caregiver mental health.
• David Hodge, Downtown Phoenix campus -- Hodge, Distinguished Professor of Spirituality, Religion and Culture, is an internationally recognized scholar whose scholarship has appeared in more than 100 scholarly articles in addition to numerous encyclopedia entries, book chapters, conference presentations and popular media.
• Kathleen Leonard, West Valley campus – Leonard, a faculty associate, teaches courses in social work practice and professional seminars.

• Brett Petersen, Yuma location

   – Petersen is the school’s Yuma MSW program coordinator and assistant teaching professor. Since relocating to Yuma in 2021, Brett has worked with students from Arizona Western College (AWC), Northern Arizona University (Yuma Campus) and local social workers to build a robust in-person MSW program located on the AWC Campus.

Laura Orr Service Awards: Recognizes school staff who made contributions to improving organizational effectiveness while advancing the mission of the school. This award is named in honor of Laura Orr, who began her career with the school in 1971, retiring in 2018 after 47 years of dedicated service.

• Marcos Enriquez – Enriquez has worked as an academic success advising coordinator for the Watts College since 2022. He is based on the Downtown Phoenix campus.
• Molly Gebler – Gebler is a senior academic success advising coordinator for the Watts College based at ASU’s Tucson location.
• Seancy Hawkeswood – Hawkeswood is assistant director of academic services for the School of Social Work, based on the Downtown Phoenix campus. Hawkeswood collaboratively leads a team of professionals who manage day-to-day operations at the front desk and in academic advising.

Outstanding Practicum Agency Award: Recognizes an agency or organization that exemplifies social work values and principles, provides outstanding services of impact to the community and provides excellent placement opportunities for ASU social work students.

• Emerge Center Against Domestic Abuse (Anna Harper) – The Tucson-based Emerge Center offers emergency shelter, community-based services, community education, a 24-hour crisis hotline and a housing stability program to nearly 6,000 survivors of domestic violence each year. Harper (’03 MSW) was named the center’s CEO in November 2024. She joined Emerge in 2009 and has led a transformation from traditional service delivery into a holistic approach that serves survivors in their full humanity.
• ASU Community Collaborative at the Westward Ho Hotel (Stacey Gandy) – The Collaborative is a student-run clinic and community center at the former Westward Ho Hotel in downtown Phoenix, now a residential center. The Collaborative provides residents with a wide range of assistance. Gandy (’98 MSW), an associate professor of social work, leads the collaborative. In 2024 she was among the first cohort of ASU’s Charter Professors.
• ChanceLight Ombudsman Arizona Charter Schools (Tarinda Craglow) – Glendale-based Ombudsman Arizona Charter Schools provides personalized educational services for nontraditional learners supported by evidence-based practices and services. As director of outreach and social work, Craglow (’18 MSW) leads a dynamic team, all of whom earned degrees at ASU and all dedicated to expanding opportunities for social work interns.

Collaborative Impact Award: Recognizes an organization that upholds the values and principles of social work, delivering exceptional services that significantly impact the community. This award also acknowledges the organization's strong partnership with ASU's School of Social Work, including contributions to research, ongoing education and training, and support for student and alumni events.

• Arizona Women’s Recovery Center (Mimi Rodriguez) – The center is a nonprofit dedicated to providing substance abuse treatment to women through a variety of programs that address individual needs and provide tools and resources to assist women in living financially independent, drug and alcohol-free lives. Rodriguez earned an MSW degree from ASU in 1983. She has supervised social work students for the last 40 years. Rodriguez founded and opened De Colores, Arizona’s first domestic violence program, as part of her graduate work.