News from the UVM Department of Social Work -

Gary Widrick, Ph.D., ACSW     
 

• We will be accepting twenty eight (28) new first year MSW foundation year students in the fall and we’ve worked hard to line up financial assistance for most of the incoming students. We also have thirty five (35) concentration year MSW students including five (5) new Advanced Standing students.
   
• This past May we saw six (6) of our MSW students graduate as Title IV E trainees who have already been assigned as part of their traineeship to public child welfare social work with the State of Vermont Department of Children and Families/ Family Services Division.
   
• We are awaiting permission from the UVM administration to start a national search for a new faculty member that can teach in both our undergraduate and graduate program.
   
• We are presently completing our self study document for the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) for reaffirmation of our accreditation. Both the undergraduate and Master’s social work programs are being reviewed based upon a new competency driven set of standards. We will find out the Council’s decision in June 2011 at a meeting of the Commission on Accreditation.
   
• Our Master’s program begins the inaugural year of the new single concentration in Transformative Social Work. The faculty have prepared for over two years to introduce this approach to social work education at the Master’s level which more closely reflects the philosophical tenets of our program. More information on both our Master’s and undergraduate programs is found on our web site www.uvm.edu/~socwork
  
  Gary Widrick, Ph.D., ACSW
  Department chair and faculty member