Social work professor to teach in Spain as Fulbright Scholar

Social Work professor Flavio Marsiglia will embark for Spain later this semester as a Fulbright Scholar. After teaching a graduate research methods seminar for years at the University of Seville in southern Spain, Marsiglia has been named a 2018 Fulbright Scholar. He will work with researchers there on how to colloborate with their community and develop research programs similar to what he's established in Arizona.

It’s been a busy year for the Regents' and Foundation Professor of social work. Last fall, he and a team of ASU researchers received a $7 million dollar grant from the National Institutes of Health to study minority health and health disparities. The "U54" grant is funding a Specialized Center of Excellence on Minority Health and Health Disparities at ASU. It’s one of 12 funded by NIH nationwide. Marsiglia and ASU researchers previously studied the social and cultural aspects of minority health. This grant allows them to measure the role of nutrition and exercise on the health of young people.

If you don’t know who he is, here’s the Cliff’s Notes version of his curriculum vitae. A native of Uruguay, Marsiglia started out in Cleveland as a university research assistant and public school social worker three decades ago. As a professor at Arizona State University, he pioneered a culturally grounded middle school substance use prevention program called “Keepin’ it REAL.” It’s now international. Marsiglia founded the College’s largest research unit, the Southwest Interdisciplinary Research Center also known as SIRC and the new Global Center for Applied Health Research.

Learn more about the expansion of "Keepin' it REAL" to Mexico and Uruguay, the new U54 research grant and Marsiglia's role as a Fulbright Scholar in the podcast below.