Professors Yoonsun Choi and Waldo E. Johnson, Jr. are inducted as 2023 fellows by the American Academy of Social Work & Social Welfare (AASWSW)
We congratulate Crown Family Professors Yoonsun Choi and Waldo E. Johnson, Jr., who were among the 14 scholars inducted as fellows by the American Academy of Social Work & Social Welfare (AASWSW). The ceremony, which took place on January 13, 2023, during the annual SSWR conference, recognizes distinguished scholars and practitioners dedicated to achieving excellence in the field of social work and social welfare through high-impact work that advances social good. Induction as an AASWSW fellow is one of the profession’s highest honors.
This honor aptly recognizes the outstanding research and contributions by Professors Choi and Johnson. Since joining the Crown Family School faculty, Professor Choi has emerged as one of the leading scholars on Asian American families and youth. Peers hold her in the highest esteem, praising her exceptional methodological and conceptual rigor, and the ways her work challenges conventional stereotypes about Asian Americans. Her ambitious and labor-intensive projects have yielded two large data sets on Asian Americans, which have become critical tools contributing to the training of numerous students.
Professor Choi’s research agenda has focused on several broad and intersecting questions regarding the mental health of Asian American youth; Asian American family dynamics and parenting; and the role of culture, ethnicity, and race in youth outcomes. Her research has powerfully challenged the notion of Asian Americans as a “model minority,” and revealed how Asian American youth are at high risk for internalizing mental health problems.
Professor Johnson is widely regarded as a leading scholar on African American men and, more specifically, a path-breaking scholar on African American men as fathers. His research has been central to informing policy and practice related to African American fatherhood and the experiences of African American men, and contributed to a paradigm shift in the field.
In Winter 2022, Professor Johnson was appointed as Vice Provost, with wide ranging responsibilities, including leading the University’s Diversity & Inclusion Initiative, supporting the Center for Identity + Inclusion; the Center for the Study of Race, Politics, and Culture (CSRPC); and the Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality, and collaborating with units across campus to advance their diversity and inclusion efforts. He also leads the Faculty Development Program, oversees chair development, dual careers, and recruitment/relocation, as well as manages the Provost’s Postdoctoral Fellows Program and the Neubauer Family Assistant Professors Program.
Professors Choi and Johnson join 10 other Crown Family School faculty who are AASWSW Fellows:
Robert Chaskin, McCormick Foundation Professor; Faculty Director, Kiphart Center, (2020)
Mark Courtney, Samuel Deutsch Professor, (2012)
Deborah Gorman-Smith, Dean & Emily Klein Gidwitz Professor, (2017)
Colleen Grogan, Deborah R. and Edgar D. Jannotta Professor; Deputy Dean for Curriculum (2020)
Sydney Hans, Frank P. Hixon Distinguished Service Professor, (2019)
Julia Henly, Professor; Deputy Dean for Research and Faculty Development, (2022)
Susan Lambert, Professor, (2022)
Jeanne C. Marsh, George Herbert Jones Distinguished Service Professor; Director, Center for Health Administration Studies; Co-Director, Graduate Program in Health Administration and Policy (2010)
Curtis McMillen, David and Mary Winton Green Professor, (2013)
Harold Pollack, Helen Ross Professor, (2015)