Monica Mickles Ascar

Ms. Monica Mickles Ascar, 1996 BASW graduate, is the 2010 Social Work Alumna of the Year. She received her Masters of Social Work from Wayne State University in Detroit in 1999. She received the Ohio National Association of Social Workers Dayton Region MSW Student of the Year Award in 1999. Monica is currently completing her dissertation on childhood obesity in pursuit of her PhD in Social Work from The Ohio State University.

Monica’s social work practice has included working in health care and child welfare settings. She has been a social worker at The Children’s Medical Center of Dayton since 2000 where she conducts psychosocial assessments, crisis intervention, emergency department services, and child abuse assessment and prevention. Destry Fallen, Director of Social Services at Children’s Medical Center speaks highly of Monica’s devotion to families who are facing enormous challenges. Ms. Ascar also worked at Miami Valley Hospital and Montgomery County Children’s Services helping families where there was risk for child abuse and neglect.

Monica Ascar is a researcher and educator of Social Work. Her research has included grants supported by the Susan G. Komen Foundation for cancer prevention and the Robert Woods Johnson grant addressing childhood obesity within the Columbus, OH Public School District. She co-presented a paper on conducting systematic reviews of evidence based practice at the annual conference for the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE). She has been an adjunct professor for the Department of Social Work at Wright State University and the College of Social Work at The Ohio State University since Fall 2003, receiving high student evaluations. Ms. Ascar received the competitive Minority Fellowship Award from CSWE. Dr. Denise Bronson, former chair of the OSU doctoral program, described Monica as a role model and source of support for other doctoral students through Monica’s research and dedication to Social Work.