The primary research Dr. Mary Carney of the Department of Sociocultural and Justice Sciences is undertaking during her 2017-2018 sabbatical year is the continued discovery of the history of social welfare in Buffalo during the 19th century.
She will explore two main social welfare developments that were national in scope, as they occurred in Buffalo: the U.S. Sanitary Commission and the Charity Organization Society. Heavy use of regional archives is planned in order to complete the projects. The findings of this research are planned to be disseminated as individual papers and will also be incorporated into a larger manuscript on the subject of the history of social welfare in Buffalo from 1860 to 1930.
Additionally, Dr. Carney will be completing a comprehensive 2008 Educational Program Assessment and Continuous Improvement (EPAS) social work assessment as the department retools under new accreditation standards, and she will be re-working two more practice oriented papers for submission to journals. The research activities will help inform her teaching in the social welfare history course, SOCW 249 Toward a Great Society, and the social work practice courses to which she is assigned.
