Brown School

Missouri’s first Family Impact Seminar, a national program aimed at educating lawmakers on family policy issues, was held Jan. 17 in Jefferson City for legislators and aides, and the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis took a lead role in bringing the forum to the state.

Enola K. Proctor, PhD, the Frank J. Bruno Professor of Social Work Research and associate dean for faculty at the Brown School, has been named director of the Dissemination and Implementation (D&I) initiative at the Institute for Public Health.

The Refund to Savings Initiative, the largest savings experiment ever conducted in the United States, begins with this tax season and is expected to reach almost 1.2 million households within the next few months. The project is a novel collaboration of university researchers, led by Michal Grinstein-Weiss, PhD, associate director of the Center for Social Development at Washington University in St. Louis, and corporate partner Intuit Inc., the maker of TurboTax software, Quicken Books and Mint. This groundbreaking project is ushering in a new way of doing research.

In the decades ahead, China will have a very large older population, with many older adults who are relatively healthy and interested in being actively engaged in their communities. Contributions of older adults will be necessary for social and economic development of families, communities and society. Peking University Press recently published Productive Aging in the World: Toward Evidence-Based Practice and Policy. The book is the result of a conference on productive aging in August 2011 at Peking University, co-organized by the Center for Social Development (CSD) at Washington University in St. Louis, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and Peking University in Beijing.​

As China prepares to transfer its leadership in March, the potential exists for a more progressive government. With asset-based policies increasing throughout Asia in response to rising inequality and aging populations, there’s never been a better time for discussion and information. This past November, the Center for Social Development (CSD) at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis co-hosted the conference “Lifelong Asset Building: Strategies and Innovations in Asia” at Peking University.

Faculty and graduate students with an interest in labor, households, health care, law and social welfare are invited to take part in a series of Monday brown-bag luncheon seminars to be held biweekly on the Danforth Campus at Washington University in St. Louis beginning Monday, Feb. 4. In its 17th year, the Work, Families and Public Policy series features one-hour presentations on research interests of faculty from local and national universities. Presentations will be from noon-1 p.m. in Seigle Hall, Room 348.

Jason Q. Purnell, PhD, assistant professor at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, has been selected as one of 20 Young Leaders under 40 for 2013 by the St. Louis American Foundation.

Nominations are being accepted for Washington University’s annual Faculty Achievement Awards, known as the Arthur Holly Compton Faculty Achievement Award and the Carl and Gerty Cori Faculty Achievement Award. The Compton Award is given to a distinguished member of the faculty from one of the six Danforth Campus schools and the Cori Award to a faculty member from the School of Medicine.The deadline to submit nominations is Friday, Feb. 15.

Washington University in St. Louis researcher Michal Grinstein-Weiss, PhD, associate professor of social work at the Brown School and associate director of the Center for Social Development, is lead author on new research that studies loan activity in low- and moderate-income homeowners. The research confirms: financial literacy begins at home. Grinstein-Weiss offers five steps parents can take to drive home the power of the piggy bank.

As a new legislative session begins this week in the state of Missouri, a new study out of the Missouri Budget Project, co-authored by the Brown’s School Timothy McBride, PhD, is released. It examines the effects of potential boost in aid throughout the state but finds rural Missourians would benefit the most in 2014 if lawmakers approve more than $1 billion in new federal funding for Medicaid.