AUGUST 16, 2011

Charu Stokes, a doctoral student at the Boston College Graduate School of Social Work, is this year's recipient of the Jane B. Aron Doctoral Fellowship. The National Association of Social Workers Foundation awards the $2,000 fellowship to a social work doctoral candidate whose dissertation focuses on health policy and practice. Dissertations that include a diversity component are encouraged.

"It has been a pleasure to work with Charu on her dissertation research, which has involved face-to-face interviews with a sample of mid-life African-American women living with HIV/AIDS and serving as informal kinship care providers," said Professor and Donahue and DiFelice Chair, Ruth McRoy.

Before entering the doctoral program, Stokes worked in diverse practice settings both in the U.S. and abroad, including serving as a substance abuse/mental health counselor, an intensive in-home services specialist, rape crisis counselor, crisis hotline counselor, and as a school based clinician. Her international experience includes a year working in Malawi as a Save the Children Fellow and two years serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in South Africa.

The National Association of Social Workers Foundation administers a wide variety of educational and research programs in an effort to fulfill its core mission of enhancing the well-being of individuals, families, and communities through the advancement of social work policy and practice.