Event Description
Learn how careers in social work are making a difference in society! You're invited to join the Mandel School for our 2023 Impact Talk series—four excellent opportunities to be inspired by our faculty and their specializations.
The event will be held in Noble Commons and via livestream, and be recorded for viewing on the Mandel School's YouTube channel.
Current Mandel School students can receive one PD hour for each Impact Talk they attend. One CEU will be offered for everyone else.
Lunch will be provided for in-person attendees, and prizes will be raffled off to those attending online and in-person (two 10-inch Samsung Galaxy tablets and four bluetooth wireless earbuds).
Advancing Anti-Racism, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (ADEI) in Data Sciences for Social Impact
Francisca García-Cobián Richter
Research Associate Professor
Professionals in social work, public health and social sciences in general aim to advance the wellbeing of all people, particularly those who are vulnerable, oppressed, marginalized or living in poverty. This work often involves supporting individuals as they navigate the established societal institutions, but ultimately it should lead to enhancing these institutions through effective social policy.
Over the last decades, unprecedented advances in technology, artificial intelligence and big data have come to permeate all aspects of life, including those directly concerned with social welfare. Data held by social service agencies contain key information about the characteristics of those they serve, their needs and the programs and interventions in which they are involved.
Predictive models and algorithms are increasingly used to guide the provision of services in the areas of child welfare, homelessness and in the criminal judicial system. Moreover, there is a growing recognition of disparate treatment and impact in our society based on race, gender, sexual orientation, immigration and other statuses. These injustices leave a footprint in data of many types. As more data becomes available, there is a need to update the skills of data users—from social workers to social analysts—to ethically and thoughtfully make use of this data for social good.
In response to this need, the Mandel School and the Case School of Engineering, two of CWRU's top schools, have developed a Certificate in Data Sciences for Social Impact. Launched in 2022, we continue to work to make it broadly available with the goal of diversifying the field of Data Science for Social Impact within a framework that advances antiracism, diversity, equity and inclusion (ADEI). This presentation will focus on how ADEI materializes in the curriculum, providing examples relevant to social work practice at the micro and macro levels.
Event Location
