Master of social work to be offered in fall
USU’s new master of social work program is on track to begin fall semester 2008, said Derrik Tollefson, associate clerical professor and coordinator of the master of social work program.
“It’s really different from other social work master programs because we have a part-time format at our regional campuses,” Tollefson said. “That makes the program accessible and doable for people in parts of the state who wouldn’t otherwise be able to access it.”
Social work degrees are in high demand, Tollefson said, and that demand is reflected in the number of applications the program received.
Terry Peak, associate professor and social work program director, said “We received 150-160 applications. The application process is closed now. We’re just waiting for the last people we accepted to agree to come to our program. We’ll have 30 to 32 students on Logan’s campus and 11 to 12 on each of the regional campuses. That makes just under 80 students altogether.”
Tollefson said the process to create the master of social work has been going on for more than four years.
“We started with a formal needs assessment across the state,” Tollefson said. “We visited communities and made online surveys to demonstrate a want and need for the program.”
Peak said the assessments showed a big need for master of social work degrees because Utah’s communities need more workers with social work degrees. Peak also said the program is needed because the programs at Brigham Young University and the University of Utah are oversubscribed. BYU’s undergraduate social work program has been eliminated, but Peak said USU’s master of social work program was already being created and was not influenced by BYU’s decision.
“Our focus is for students to get their degree here in Utah and stay in Utah to work,” Peak said. “If they can’t get into the University of Utah or BYU, they’d have to go out of state and likely stay there and work.”
While creating the master of social work program, Tollefson said faculty visited schools like BYU, Utah and Walla Walla University in Washington to learn from their social work programs.
“We learned mostly about how to try and carry out the program, what worked well for them, what didn’t work,” Tollefson said. “Minimizing travel is one of the things we learned students want, which is why we’re offering a lot of courses over the Web and at distance locations.”
The application reviewing and accepting process for the program takes around two months, Tollefson said. He said each application is rated by two members of a committee, the two scores are averaged, and then the committee makes acceptance decisions based on that score and the students’ qualifications.
“They need to have an undergraduate degree and have completed some minimum coursework in social and behavioral science,” Tollefson said. “The average GPA was just under 3.5. Out of those accepted, they had an average of just under five years of work in social work area, and you have to do well on the admissions test.”
Once accepted, Tollefson said the curriculum is divided into two areas.
“They have what’s called a foundation part of curriculum where they learn basics of social work practice, including a practicum,” Tollefson said. “Then there’s the advanced portion of curriculum where they learn more specific skills and gain greater depth. A lot of that training has to do with providing counseling services to individuals, families and groups, as well as to prepare them to do community-level work.”
Although the new program is on track to admit its first students in the fall, Tollefson said, the master of social work program is not yet accredited and can’t be until its first set of students graduate.
“Like all new social work programs, we’re going through the process of being granted candidacy,” Tollefson said. “We have our documentation in and we expect to be granted candidacy in January. Then we’ll be in the two years candidacy period until we can be accredited.”
Tollefson said the goal of the program is to prepare professionals to work with individuals and make society a better place.
“Our ideal student is somebody who is passionate about social work and helping other people,” Tollefson said. “We want students who have real-life experience so they know what the work is all about and are prepared for the rigors of the work, students who can think critically and independently and who are open to learning and growing as a professional.”
-rac.ch@aggiemail.usu.edu