BOONE—The master of social work (MSW) degree program in Appalachian State University’s Department of Social Work has received full accreditation from the Council on Social Work Education, the field’s national accrediting agency.

The accreditation process began four years ago when the program was approved for candidacy by CSWE. The program enrolled its first students in January 2007.

The MSW offered by Appalachian offers concentrations in either individuals and families, or communities and organizations.

“Undergraduate programs are pretty much standard across the country. There is a little room for individualization,” said Dr. Gail Leedy, chair of the Department of Social Work. “At the MSW level you can have specializations. That provided us a chance to look around the community and region and see what we should be offering specific to meet this region’s needs.” Those needs include graduates to work in hospitals, mental health settings, criminal justice systems, non-profit agencies and schools, as well as licensed clinical social workers, supervisors or administrators in all of these settings.

After conferring with professionals in various social work settings, as well as graduates of the program, faculty developed a crossover design in which students take courses from both concentrations with the goal of providing skills and experiences that will serve graduates in any setting in which they end up being social workers.

“The reality is that if you are in direct practice you often don’t think you will be moving up to a leadership role, but in reality you often will. Thus it’s good to have some leadership skills,” said Kellie Reed-Ashcraft, an associate professor in the department. “And if you are interested in leadership, you often will have to start out in direct practice. We want to make sure that regardless of which concentration a student is in he or she will have some knowledge and skill development in the other area of concentration.”

Certain sectors of the social work field are facing the same kind of attrition through retirement as the nursing and teaching professions, Reed-Ashcraft said. According to some estimates, as many as 90 percent of directors of social services will be retiring in the next 15 years. Other areas also are facing a growing need for those with the MSW degree, including the expanding fields of health and gerontology.

“Our graduates are employed as school social workers, medical social workers, in the mental health system, and in the Veterans Affairs system,” said Leedy, who was named chair of the social work department in July.

Regardless of the career path they take, social workers typically have one thing in common.

“You will hear time and again ‘I want to help people.’ That’s in its simplest form, but there is a lot of complexity in that statement,” Reed-Ashcraft said. “Many students have either received services or know someone who has received services, so they know about the field. They like the idea that they can help people. And there is a pride that goes along with the fact that there is a need for professionally trained social workers.”

Leedy said plans for the MSW may include a focus on the promotion of health and well being.

“Right now in social work there is a heavy emphasis on treatment and some interest in prevention. Social work in some other Western countries is moving towards the promotion of well being,” she said. “I would love to see our program be at the forefront of that here in the United States.

For more information about Appalachian’s master’s in social work degree program, visit http://www.socialwork.appstate.edu/masters.php.

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