Institute for Families in Society
Carolina Plaza
937 Assembly Street
Columbia, SC 29208
Phone (803)777-9124
Fax(802)777-1120

NEWS RELEASE

CONTACT:  Renée Gibson, 777-1121
                     gibsonr@gwm.sc.edu
DATE:          July 1, 2001

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

IFS appoints first associate director for research and scholarship

Peg McCartt Hess, Associate Dean and Professor at the Columbia University School of Social Work, has joined USC’s Institute for Families in Society as its first associate director for research and scholarship. She will coordinate the overall research agenda of the Institute, including collaboration across projects, and production of interdisciplinary scholarly works.

The Institute, a multidisciplinary organization inaugurated in 1992, was developed as a USC-community partnership to enhance the well-being of families and the communities in which they live. Currently, it provides research, education and consultation to over 200 community-based organizations as well as government agencies, social service professionals, and policy makers on local, state, national, and international levels.

"The continued expansion of the Institute’s portfolio necessitated the addition of a senior faculty member to help focus and disseminate our scholarship," said Dr. Arlene Bowers Andrews, the Institute’s cofounder and director. "We are pleased to have attracted someone of Dr. Hess’ stature who is also able to mentor faculty members in their research and community consultation endeavors."

In addition to her administrative experience at a top-flight academic institution, Dr. Hess brings a strong background in social work practice with families and children; social work values and ethics; and organizational and social contexts of social work practice, program development and advocacy.

Her practice experience includes program development and clinical supervision in visiting services for children separated from their parents; consultation to agencies providing intensive services to families at risk of dissolution due to child abuse and neglect; and advocacy regarding policies and programs in child welfare.

Dr. Hess recently concluded a three-year study of the comprehensive programs of the Center for Family Life in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Her findings are available through the Foundation under the title Good Works and will be published in an upcoming book from Columbia University Press. She is currently doing a study of the lives of influential women social work practice theorists in the latter twentieth century.

Dr. Hess has previously held faculty positions at Indiana University, the University of Tennessee, and the University of Alabama.

###