Second year MSW student Melissa Brazil was recently selected as an honourable mention winner for the 2009/2010 E-PARCC teaching case and simulation competition. E-PARCC is the online resource for the Program for the Advancement of Research and Conflict and Collaboration (PARCC).

Last year Melissa submitted a paper on one of her organizational experiences for Eli Teram’s Organizational Practice course. The paper analyzed Melissa’s work with 18 agencies that were collaborating on sexual and domestic assault issues and explored why the collaboration didn’t always work effectively.

Eli, who emphasizes the value of experiential knowledge and encourages students to write practice-based cases, suggested that Melissa consider developing the paper for publication. After learning about the E-PARCC competition, sponsored by the Maxwell School of Syracuse University, Melissa and Eli turned the paper into a teaching case and submitted it. The competition selected one $5,000 first prize winner and three $1,000 honourable mention winners, of which Melissa and Eli’s case was one.

The winning cases are available on the E-PARCC website.