{"id":59611,"date":"2021-05-03T14:05:02","date_gmt":"2021-05-03T19:05:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=59611"},"modified":"2021-05-03T14:05:05","modified_gmt":"2021-05-03T19:05:05","slug":"fhsu-to-graduate-first-class-of-master-of-social-work-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=59611","title":{"rendered":"FHSU to graduate first class of Master of Social Work students"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>By UNIVERSITY RELATIONS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A need for more social workers in Fort Hays State University\u2019s service area led to the addition of a Master of Social Work (MSW) online program a year ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Like with any first-year\nprogram, FHSU was optimistic but maintained realistic expectations of how many\nstudents would enroll for the 2020-21 school year. The maximum number of spots\nfor the first year was 52, and applications far exceeded that number. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe thought it would be a\npopular program,\u201d Davis said. \u201cWe were concerned about filling our first class,\nbut we have had to put people on a waiting list. The response has been\ntremendous.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The program \u2013 the only\nfully online MSW in the state \u2013 offers two different pathways. The standard\nmaster\u2019s program spans four semesters, a summer term, and field practicum\nexperience. The\nAdvanced Standing Program is available to students with a bachelor\u2019s degree in\nsocial work from a Council of Social Work Education accredited social work\nprogram. This program can be completed in one calendar year of academic\ncoursework and two semesters of field practicum experience.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Next month, the Advanced\nStanding Program will celebrate its first graduating class of 28. That\ninaugural cohort of 26 was on campus this semester to take part in clinical\nIntensives, a unique comprehensive exam in which the students participate in\nnumerous hands-on practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The week-long clinical\nintensives model includes practicing professional and personal development\nwhere students display skills in assessing patients, family intervention, and\ntheory intervention. The program includes activities where FHSU faculty film the\nstudents, then give them feedback.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOne of the things I tell\nstudents is that our program is not just clinical education but clinical\ntraining,\u201d Davis said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While the MSW curriculum\nis entirely online, FHSU\u2019s goal is to maintain a strong, hands-on clinical training emphasis. The program features\nsynchronous Zoom meetings where students can interact with instructors and\nweekly video updates to ensure that students feel connected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe want to educate good\nclinical social workers and build communities of practice,\u201d said Dr. Tim Davis,\nchair of the Department of Social Work. \u201cTherefore, we are making sure that we\nare training people with real-world experiences.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Davis said the department\nplans to give ongoing support to alumni at no cost after graduation by\nproviding group supervision for clinical licensure and ongoing professional\ndevelopment activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt is important to us\nthat our graduates continue developing their skills and seek advanced clinical\nlicensure when necessary to better serve our communities,\u201d he said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In addition to the\nstandard requirement of 16 to 24 hours a week of clinical practicums, students\ncomplete several short clinical rotations\nat health clinics, mental health clinics, or other clinical sites at the start\nof the clinical practicum period. A lot of those\nwill work in underserved areas of many kinds when they graduate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe are underserved out\nhere in rural Kansas,\u201d Davis said. \u201cHowever, underserved can also mean urban\nsettings that might have problems attracting social workers to their area.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Most of the current\nstudents are from Kansas, but this year\u2019s class also represented numerous other\nstates, including bordering states Colorado, Oklahoma, and Missouri, as well as\nGeorgia, Illinois, and Indiana. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>FHSU has increased its\nfull-time faculty to eight, including seven who are primarily dedicated to the\nMSW program. With the addition of two more faculty members, the number of\nstudents next year can increase to a total of 85 full-time students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe MSW program at FHSU\nprovides high quality and affordable solution to the demand for clinical social\nworkers in Kansas,\u201d Davis said. \u201cThere is an acute, unmet need for social\nworkers at the master\u2019s and clinical level across Kansas, and particularly in\nthe FHSU service area. This will improve access to health and mental health\ncare for residents in the underserved rural areas of the state.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By UNIVERSITY RELATIONS A need for more social workers in Fort Hays State University\u2019s service area led to the addition of a Master of Social&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11722],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-releases"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=59611"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59611\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59612,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59611\/revisions\/59612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=59611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=59611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=59611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}