A grant from the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education will allow Shippensburg University to enhance its joint master of social work program with Millersville University.
The university was awarded the $28,800 grant to purchase equipment and upgrade facilities to enhance teaching effectiveness through videoconferencing. The changes will allow greater flexibility in classroom arrangements and activities, as well as better interaction among students and faculty during simultaneously broadcast sessions at both campuses.
Project directors for the grant are Dr. Marita Flagler, co-director of the Millersville-Shippensburg MSW Program and a member of Shippensburg’s Department of Social Work and Gerontology, and Michael Yoh, Shippensburg’s director of media services.
The grant will be used to upgrade the videoconferencing equipment now used to link the two universities, including new graphics displays, and to improve the room’s acoustics.
Shippensburg and Millersville, in a historic joint arrangement, began offering an MSW program in Fall 2006. The joint program includes a mix of traditional campus based instruction and distance education technology and allows students to take courses at the campus of their choice. The program is fully accredited by the Council on Social Work Education.
The mission of the program is to provide accessible social work graduate education in the south central region of Pennsylvania in order to prepare students for advanced generalist practice and to provide professional leadership and contribute to the development and dissemination of social work practice knowledge.
The program seeks to:
- Prepare students for competent advanced generalist practice, with a focus on rural client systems, through the acquisition and demonstration of social work knowledge, skills, and values.
- Provide leadership and service for the social welfare systems and the social work profession.
- Foster commitment to professional development and the creation and dissemination of knowledge.
