Council on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity and Expression Awards

Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, & Expression (SOGIE) Award  

Presented by the Council on Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity & Expression (CSOGIE), the Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, & Expression (SOGIE) Award honors excellence in scholarship that celebrates the lives of; promotes social justice, equity, and inclusion, and expands understanding of intersectional topics that affect lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, sexual-expansive, gender-expansive, two-spirit, and all others under the LGBTQIA+ umbrella, in social work education and practice. The award is given to research that demonstrates high impact and advances the core values of the social work profession regarding LGBTQIA+ communities.  

Please join us in celebrating the 2025 Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, & Expression Awardees: Dr. Tyler M. Argüello, Dr. Michael P. Dentato, and Dr. Jennifer L. Kenney.  
 

Dr. Tyler M. Argüello, Ph.D., MSW, DCSW, LCSW
Professor, California State University, Sacramento

Dr. Tyler M. Argüello (he/él/they) is a scholar-activist-leader who has been a practicing social worker for over 30 years, primarily around community mental health, HIV, and 2LGBTQIANPK+ communities. Tyler’s scholarship is a transdisciplinary project that concerns communicative practices and the production of intersectional identities, sex/ualities, and health inequities, namely HIV. In addition, he works on the importation and application of Queer Theory into social work practice. He is the author of Queer Social Work: Cases for LGBTQ+ affirmative practice, and is currently working on the second edition. He is a Professor at the California State University, Sacramento, maintains a recognized psychotherapy practice, and is a Diplomate in Clinical Social Work. In 2023, Dr. Argüello was named Social Worker of the Year by the National Association of Social Workers, California Chapter. In 2025, he was named the Moya M. Duplica Distinguished Alumni award from his alma mater, the University of Washington, Seattle, recognizing his leadership, behavioral health pedagogy, Queer scholarship, and clinical practice. More background and current works can be found at: linktr.ee/DrTylerArguello. 


Dr. Michael P. Dentato, Ph.D
Associate Dean for Research and Professor, Loyola University Chicago

Dr. Michael P. Dentato is Associate Dean for Research and Professor in the School of Social Work at Loyola University Chicago (LUC/SSW). He is also co-director of the Center for Field Innovation, Research, Strategy, and Training (C-FIRST) at LUC/SSW. Dr. Dentato’s scholarship and research centers upon the assessment of health and health disparities among sexual and gender minority populations. The second edition of his text: Social Work Practice with the LGBTQ+ Community: The Intersection of History, Health, Mental Health & Policy Factors is published by Oxford University Press. 

Dr. Jennifer L. Kenney, Ph.D, MSW, MPH
Associate Professor, California State University, Sacramento

Dr. Jennifer L. Kenney is an Associate Professor at the California State University, Sacramento School of Social Work. She teaches graduate-level classes in the areas of behavioral health, forensic social work, and social work with marginalized and vulnerable populations. Locally and internationally, Dr. Kenney facilitates various trainings within the community for mental health practitioners and volunteers related to traumaresponsive care when working with system-impacted individuals and families, immigrants and refugees (most specifically from Afghanistan, Iraq, and Iran), and ICU patients and families. She was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice and the School of Social Work at the University of Alabama from 2013 to 2019. Prior to obtaining her PhD from the School of Social Work at Columbia University, she worked as a social worker in jails, prisons, community hospitals, and substance abuse and mental health treatment programs in Minnesota, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. Dr. Kenney also has a Master of Social Work and a Master of Public Health from the University of Minnesota. 
 

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

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).