Council on Racial, Ethnic, and Cultural Diversity (CRECD) Award
Presented by the Council on Racial, Ethnic, and Cultural Diversity (CRECD), the CRECD Award recognizes doctoral students and junior faculty members with outstanding scholarship in the areas of racial, ethnic, and cultural diversity in social work education. An award will be given to a doctoral student and a junior faculty member during the CSWE Annual Conference.
Please join us in celebrating the 2025 CRECD Doctoral Student Awardee: Kasandra Dodd.
Kasandra Dodd, MSW, LICSW, LCSW, CPM
Licensed Clinical Social Worker
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Kasandra Dodd, MSW, LICSW, LCSW, CPM, is a licensed clinical social worker with extensive experience in the child welfare field. She is a fifth year doctoral candidate (ABD) at the University of Georgia School of Social Work, where her research focuses on child welfare reform and the intersections of human trafficking and the foster care system. Her broader research interests include racial and gender equity, feminist theory, and qualitative methodologies. As a scholar-practitioner, Ms. Dodd is committed to leveraging her practice expertise to inform and advance child welfare research, policy, and reform. Please join us in celebrating the 2025 CRECD Junior Faculty Member Awardee: Dr. Kerri Evans.
Kerri Evans, MSW, Ph.D., LCSW
Associate Professor of Social Work, University of Maryland Baltimore County
Kerri Evans, MSW, Ph.D., LCSW, is an Associate Professor of Social Work at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, where her research focuses on agency-engaged projects related to the well-being of immigrants. Much of the research focuses on immigrants within the context of the U.S. educational system and ways we can establish a sense of welcome for new immigrant families. Kerri has previously worked in nonprofits with immigrant and refugee children doing both case management and program administration. Two-Spirit, Queer, and Trans People of Color (2-QTPOC) Award
Presented by the Council on Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity & Expression (CSOGIE) and the Council on Racial, Ethnic, and Cultural Diversity (CRECD) the Two-Spirit, Queer, and Trans People of Color (2-QTPOC) Award recognizes the significant teaching, practice, or service contributions of CSWE member(s) to the two-spirit, queer, transgender, gender non-binary and gender expansive communities of color in programs of social work practice. These contributions may include but are not limited to creating and fostering an inclusive environment in social work programs, developing innovative approaches to ensuring excellence in field education, mentoring two-spirit, queer, transgender, gender non-binary and gender expansive students, faculty, and staff, implementing activities that fosters or sustains a positive and inclusive culture and climate, and elevating core social work values in social work.
Please join us in celebrating the 2025 Two-Spirit, Queer, and Trans People of Color (2-QTPOC) Awardee: Dr. Alex Washington.
Dr. Alex Washington, PhD, MSSW, MA
BASW Program Director, California State University, Long Beach
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Dr. Alex Washington is a professor and BASW Program Director in the College of Health and Human Services at California State University, Long Beach. He is also the co-director for the Center for Health Equity Research Institute. He teaches research methods and statistics. Alex was a visiting professor in the UCSF Center for AIDS Prevention Studies, Department of Medicine. Prior to joining CSULB, he was a Faculty Fellow at the MorganJohns Hopkins University Center for Health Disparities Solutions, and an associate professor at Morgan State University (Baltimore). He has provided outpatient treatment group therapy in the Department of Psychiatry at the VA Medical Center (Memphis). Dr. Washington’s research focuses on transgender health, and PrEP medication for HIV prevention among Black and Latinx sexual minority males (SMM); inconsistent reporting of sexual orientation and sexual behaviors among men who inject drugs; and HIV testing and sex risks among substance using Black and Latinx SMM. He has received funding from NIDA/NIGMS/NIH and SAMSHA. Alex has presented research findings at national and international conferences, such places as Thailand, Canada, Egypt, Australia, South Africa, Amsterdam, and Peru. He has published in empirically-based journals, and serves on community advisory boards. He was awarded the 2022 Ellen Ward Leadership Icon Award from the LGBTQ Center Long Beach; the 2019 CSULB President’s Award for Outstanding Faculty Achievement; and the 2017 Distinguished Faculty Scholarly Achievement Award. He was also the recipient of the Gerald A. Ludd Lifetime Achievement Award (for HIV prevention and leadership in the Black community).