The School of Social Work is pleased to congratulate Dr. Moses Okumu, Assistant Professor, and Jeehae Kang, PhD student, on receiving the 2026 GADE Research & Mentoring Awards.

Dr. Moses Okumu stands to receive the Faculty Award for Early Career Achievement in Social Work Doctoral Education. This award is given to an early career faculty member at a member institution of GADE who has made significant contributions to doctoral education through teaching, mentoring, service, and/or leadership

Jeehae Kang stands to receive the Social Work Dissertation/Capstone Grant for her research topic, “Pathways to Progress: Understanding Wage Mobility Among Low-Wage Workers in the U.S.”. This award is given to two doctoral students who are conducting rigorous dissertation research and capstone projects addressing a significant substantive area relevant to social welfare and the field of social work, with potential to advance scientific inquiry and impact policy and practice in social work or social welfare.

Awardees will be recognized at the 2026 GADE Annual Reception hosted at the Society for Social Work & Research Annual Conference in Washington, DC on Friday, January 16, 2026 at 8:15-10:00pm EST.