M. Emilia Bianco Appointed Clinical Assistant Professor at BU School of Social Work
After a highly competitive national search last fall, Dr. Bianco was selected and appointed to the rank of Clinical Assistant Professor in Boston University School of Social Work’s (BUSSW) Macro Practice Department to fill an open approved Macro search position. This significant milestone reflects her extensive contributions to social work, gender studies, mental health, and social justice.
Bianco’s research focuses on women living at the margins of society in Latin America, the United States, and Africa. She has documented how structural violence and inequality impacts the mental health and quality of life of marginalized women, while centering women’s agency to survive and preserve the lives of their children in difficult circumstances. In addition, she has observed how “entrepreneuring” as well as “migrating” are two ways marginalized women realize their agency to respond to oppressive contexts of gender-based violence, precariousness, and institutional neglect.
She has made a global impact by designing and implementing gender-informed development programs for women living in informal settlements in Argentina, as well as programs and research for Oxfam on women entrepreneurs in other Latin American and Caribbean countries. Currently, she is working on a research and development project with Prof. Margaret Lombe from BUSSW on women entrepreneurs in Africa.
In Massachusetts, she co-led the development of a grassroots humanitarian initiative with local community leaders and organizations that assists Central American asylum-seeking mothers and their children arriving in the Boston area. This work inspired her dissertation research on asylum-seeking mothers’ human rights abuses, maternal practices, and mental health impacts. She also collaborated with local organizations at the Boston College Center for Human Rights and International Justice on a participatory action research project focused on improving access to services for immigrant families.
Bianco currently co-leads the Colors of Kindness Evaluation Program with Dr. Tami Gouveia, director of the Center for Innovation in Social Work & Health at BUSSW, which evaluates a socio-emotional learning curriculum for asylum-seeking children residing in Massachusetts shelters. The project also addresses families’ experiences across borders, their psychosocial needs, and their parenting practices. Bianco also spearheads an academic/community research initiative with Lombe and DeNovo, exploring the impact of family separation on the well-being of asylum-seeking families.
Bianco is bicultural and bilingual (Spanish/English) and holds an MSW and a PhD from Boston College School of Social Work, as well as a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in Communications from Universidad Austral in Argentina.