Page 132 - ThePhoenix1993-94

Social Wor){ Program Alive And Well, Says Rees By HEATHER REESE demic Planning Committee and the deci- keep it because they made a promise to reaccreditation, which Rees is working C"",UibldiJl,Wriur sion was reversed. Coley said she be- us," said Ditto. on now. The application will be submit- It has see-sawed back and forth and lieves that. ''The initial decision was The Social Work Club members ted in the summer or early fall and the no one could predict its fate, but now it flawed." were not the only ones writing. Letters school can expect to get a response in looks as if the social work major at Rees feels that. ,. The decision to hire were received from social work agen- the spring of '95. WMC is here 10stay. a full-time faculty member for fall [of cies, alumni, parents. and students, all of According to Rees, the delay in ap- According 10 Dan Rees, associate '94] in actuality sends the message that which made a difference. "When some- plying and the past problems will not professor of social work and program the program is supported by the school." one writes a reasoned response people have a negative influence on the chances director, "The social work program is And in fact it is. On at least two occa- listen," said Coley. She added that the for reaccreditation. "The Council [on alive and well!" The only thing that sions the question of whether to keep the support from local agencies shows that Social Work Education] is not interested stands between WMC and an accredited social work major was brought up at fac- this program is a big part of the commu- in the process, they look at the program social work major is approval by the Na- ulty meetings where the vote was to keep nity. and I can't foresee any problems [to tional Council on Social Work Educa- the major. Dean Coley has also been a The possible abolishment of the so- prevent approval]," assured Rees. tion, but that does not concern Rees at strong supporter of the social work pro- cial work major did not only affect stu- Coley agrees" I fully expect their all. gram throughout her 20 years at WMC. dents. According to Coley, hundreds of [CSWE) response will be positive," she There are currently 38 social work "The social work program has been letters were sent to President Chambers said. Coley credits Rees as a major fac- majors at WMC and if all goes well all both a strong program and exactly the by concerned people in many areas. Al- tor in maintaining the program. "Dan will be able to graduate with an accred- kind of program we should have at a though ending the program would not Rees' willingness to do that [work on itedB.S.W. school like this," said Coley. "When I have directly affected Bowles, she the reaccreditation] is important in the For the past year and balf the social stepped in to the role of dean I wanted to fought hard for the program because she success of the program," said Coley. work program bas been under much make sure that the program got a fair believed getting rid of it would hurt the Despite all the problems the social scrutiny. The departure of Professor hearing." school. "There were no logical reasons work program bas encountered through- Karen Adkins last spring, for personal WMC offers students the opportunity for ending the program," she said. out the past year and a half the major has reasons, put another log on the fire. In to attain a bachelor's degree in social "Nothing now has changed. What survived. "Our enrollment is still at its order 10 have an accredited social work work from an accredited program. A happened in the past. with people not higbest, even with students knowing major the program must have two full- B.S.W. who graduates from an accred- wanting the program makes no differ- about the possible end of the program," time social work professors. Adkins' ited social work program has to attend ence now," said Rees. All that remains said Rees. resignation left the Academic Planning only one year of graduate school in order to be done is the application for Committee to decide whether to hire a to eam a master's of social work. Rees second social work professor or give tbe feels that a program like WMC's is im- opening to another department. portent to maintain because the interest Had the position been given to an- in social work on campus and nationwide other department the social work pro- is increasing every year. gram would have been ineligible to re- According to Rees, 'There has been ceive reaccreditation. Since WMC's ac- rapid and significant growth in enroll- creditation runs out in the spring of 1995 ment all over the nation." He attributes this vacancy left tbe class of '96 unsure this to the increase in jobs available to of their future. social workers if President Clinton's In fall of 1993 Joan Coley, acting vice plan for universal health coverage be- president of Academic Affairs and dean comes law. of facuity, and the Academic Planning Interest in tne social work program by Committee authorized filling the vacant WMC students has never faltered, and position, and have since been in the pro- students have had a big impact "I think cess of finding a new full-time social the student voices were heard and lis- work faculty member. This makes the tened to," said.Cotey. Social workma- program completely eligible for jors and students in otber departments reaccreditation. pulled together and petitioned the fac- Sophomore Social Work major Cara ulty, deans, and President Bob Chambers Ditto who would have been affected by to keep the program alive. The Social the termtnauon of the program feels that Work Club was also very active in the this is a good decision. effort throughout last year. Rees stresses that the social work "We wrote letters to the president and program's need to apply for Budget Committee. Many of us came I!WI APublic_e 01 reaccreditation is neither the cause nor specifically for social work and they said ~J ThIJ_Ioallon the result of a problem. Every program we could just major in sociology or psy- Earth Share,~ comes up for reaccreditation every five chology," said senior Jen Bowles, head years, not just social work, he pointed of the Social Work Club's executive out. committee. According to Rees, when the ques- For Ditto the first choice would have CAl'!l'UACE HOtnE tion of ending the social work program been to transfer, but because of financial ~ was first brought to the attention of the aid she would have been forced to stay Academic Planning Committee the deci- and change majors. So Ditto is happy 113WGT MAIN 3TUr sion was to terminate the program and try that the program will remain, but she also S4S·:MeS to get the classes of 1994 and '95 feels that it was the only decision the through. Then when Dean Coley got in- school could have made. volved the issue went back to the Aca- "I think as an institution they had to SPECIALS Mickeys Quarts $ .99 quarts Schmitt's ~ Drugs Milwaukees Best & Light $ 13.99 case C8m $ 7.99 case 9t~ Coors & Bud MiUer High Life $ .10.47 case cans 1!411-59800 FAX-1f76-2081 55KMAJN sTi!EET. WF.5Th1INSTER. 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