CSWE Conference Brings New Challenges and Opportunities

Visit CSWE to learn more

Professors Mike Vimont and Nancy Udolph attended the annual program meeting for the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) held in Denver on October 15th through the 18^th. According to Dr. Vimont, “attendance at this conference is essential in maintaining and enhancing our program, and to learn about new accreditation guidelines.” This year was particularly important due to new competency standards that were published during the summer. “We discovered that as an institution, we will be among the first to be evaluated under these new standards,” explained Dr. Vimont. “This provides us with a challenge and yet also an opportunity. Once we go through this process, other institutions of higher learning will be looking upon us for guidance for their own upcoming accreditation.”

Plans are already underway in reviewing and making necessary changes to curriculum to comply with these new standards. The social work professors will be presenting information obtained from this conference to the social work program’s advisory board at a meeting scheduled for November 20^th. 

Need for Social Work Professionals to Grow by Nearly 20%

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the governmental agency that compiles labor economics and statistics, jobs for social workers will experience an 18.8% rate of growth, which is faster than the national average.  Positions under this category include social workers in the education, healthcare, and mental health fields.

By 2022, jobs are expected to grow from 607,300 jobs nationwide to 721,500, an addition of 114,200 jobs.  Additionally, 128,600 jobs will be available due to individuals retiring or leaving positions for other reasons.

Ashland University's Social Work Program combines classroom instruction with real-world experiences throughout each student's time in the Program, culminating in a 500-hour internship with one of 40 affiliated agencies in the Ashland area.

This successfully prepares students for employment or graduate studies in the growing field of social work - in the past five years, over 95% of our graduates have either gotten a job or been accepted into graduate school.  Most who apply to graduate school in social work have received advanced standing allowing them to complete their master's degree in less than the typical two years.

To learn more about Ashland University's Social Work Program, visit our website.

Visit the Employment Projects table to view these statistics and more.

AU Social Work Club's "Give a Meal" Drive

This year's "Give a Meal" (formerly known as "Skip a Meal") service project will start on Monday, October 19.  Social Work Club members will be available from 11 am until 1 pm in the Eagle's Nest on Monday and Tuesday and from 4 pm to 7 pm in Convo on Wednesday of that week.

Club members will be collecting meal swipes (worth $6.50) and monetary donations for the drive.  All money collected will be used by AU's dining services to purchase food in bulk, which will then be donated to Associated Charities and the Ashland County Food Bank.

Be sure to stop by and help "Give a Meal" to an Ashland County family in need!

Social Work Professor and Program Director Conducts Community Presentation

Dr. Michael Vimont, Assistant Professor of Social Work and Director of the Social Work Program, conducted a community presentation regarding research activities he has undertaken.  Over the past four months, he has researched the Ashland community's health needs as part of a five-year grant funded by the Ohio Department of Health and administered by the Family and Children First Council of Ashland.

For more information about the presentation and the research methods Dr. Vimont is using in his research, visit the AU News Center.

Social Work Faculty to Travel to Council on Social Work Education Conference

Next week, Professor Udolph, Field Director, and Professor Vimont, Program Director, will be travelling to Denver, Colorado, to attend the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) Conference on the Frontiers of Change.  CSWE is the accrediting agency for social work in the U.S., and is the accrediting body for Ashland University's Social Work Program.

The Conference will feature 14 hot topic sessions that represent a wide range of emerging and important topics for social work educators.  These sessions focus on topics ranging from social welfare policy to values and ethics, teaching methods and learning styles to immigrants, refugees and displaced populations.

Professor Nancy Udolph, who directs the field experiences social work students complete throughout their time at Ashland University, will be attending numerous sessions focusing on field experience.  "I'm most looking forward to learning about best practices in field experience, which I can then bring back and integrate into the program here at AU," says Professor Udolph.

This year's Conference will also provide updates on CSWE's new core competencies (CSWE establishes core competencies which social work students strive to master in order to be effective practitioners in the field after graduation).  Ashland's Social Work Program will implement these new competencies for the 2015-16 school year.

Safe travels, Professors!