AU Social Work program now offering a minor in Family Studies

This fall, exciting changes have taken place within the Social Work department. Many students were taken aback last year when Ashland University announced the elimination of the Family Studies major. This year, the Department of Social Work has now become the Department of Social Work and Family Studies.

A Child and Family Studies minor is now offered and can be completed in just 15 credit hours’ worth of courses, many of which closely tie into the already existing Social Work curriculum. For instance, Human Behavior and the Social Environment I (a course that examines the relationship among biological, social, and psychological systems) is a part of both the Social Work and Family Studies curriculum (click here to view a full list of courses for a Family Studies minor).

Dr. Michael Vimont, head of the Social Work and Family Studies Department, believes this to be a very beneficial change for both current students as well as future students beginning their search for potential college programs.

For more information about the Social Work and Family Studies Department, visit our website.

Summer has almost arrived...

We wish everyone a wonderful & safe summer break!

Congratulations to all graduating seniors!

Academic Honors Convocation

This past Sunday, the University's Academic Honors Convocation took place and was held in the Jack and Deb Miller Chapel. Pictured below are a couple of award winners from the Social Work department. Many congratulations to the students!

Haley Mossing wins the Sophomore Award

Jessica Heck wins the Senior Award

Potluck

Yesterday evening, the Department of Social Work held a potluck. Faculty and students brought various dishes to share, and the seniors discussed their field placement experiences with other social work majors.

AU alumna presents a donation to the Social Work department

Barbara Chuburko, a 2005 graduate of the AU Social Work program, recently chose to give a generous check to the department on behalf of her place of employment.

Chuburko currently works as a social worker for Hospice of North Central Ohio. The local organization has a “Jeans for Generosity” program in which employees may pay three dollars to wear jeans to work on Friday. Then, the names of the individuals who wore jeans are put into a hat, and a name is drawn from that hat once every quarter. The person whose name is chosen gets to choose a non-profit of his or her choice in Richland or Ashland counties and donate the total collected money.

This is actually the second time that Chuburko has chosen to donate the “Jeans for Generosity” money to the Social Work department. While a student in the program at AU, she herself was married with two children at home, and she remembers the difficulties that some other students had with juggling multiple monetary responsibilities. It could be an especially difficult situation when a student is both attending college and balancing other items such as working hundreds of hours for an unpaid internship.

“I saw students struggle,” said Chuburko.

She said that by giving the money to the Social Work department, she “would be sure they would put it in the right hands.”

Jayne Meyer, the director of marketing and development at Hospice of North Central Ohio, was also present for the donation of the check and offered her opinion on Chuburko’s decision.

“AU supports Hospice a lot…it’s nice to support them back,” she said.

Chair of the Social Work Department Nancy Udolph (right) accepts a donation from Barbara Chuburko, a social worker for Hospice of North Central Ohio.

Social Work Club in recent publication

The AU Social Work Club was recently featured in the On-Campus Hospitality publication.

In the February issue, the club and their work on the annual "Skip-A-Meal" program is covered. The article included details about last semester's program, such as collecting 477 total meal swipes.

"Skip-A-Meal" took place in October 2012, benefiting the Associated Charities in Ashland, OH.
 

Have a great break!!

Wishing everyone a safe and enjoyable winter break! We'll see you all next semester!