Consistent with the Association of American Universities recommendations to improve the quality
of doctoral education, the Group for the Advancement of Doctoral Education Guidelines for Quality
in Social Work Doctoral Programs (Revised), and with the Case Western Reserve University Vision
Statement (http://www.case.edu/vision) the MSASS doctoral program has
an over-arching goal of the program to produce academic leaders in social work and social
welfare.
Leadership skills are built through:
- course work
- student leadership opportunities
- professional development experiences
- faculty example
Coursework
Student can contract with faculty for independent study in a topic of their choice, including
aspects of leadership where they want to become better grounded in the knowledge of a specific area
of leadership.
Student Leadership Opportunities
Each year a first year student is elected to serve on the Executive Committee of the Doctoral
Program as a voting member. A second year student serves ex officio on the
committee. The student representatives this year are Kathleen Alman (cohort 06) and
Suzanee Brown (cohort 07).
Also, students develop other leadership experiences. For example, Karen Ishler (cohort '01),
suggested that the program develop a PhD Program BlackBoard site. Taking the lead, she
developed the site to post some SPSS lab handouts that were created for SASS 615 & 616, so that
Summer study students can have access to them. Later on, other materials (e.g., PhD Student
Handbook, links to dissertation resources, etc.) can be added to the site.
Stacey Barker (cohort '02) organized a writing seminar with summer study students to encourage
them to learn to have their writing critiqued and to offer a peer review of other student
writings. This seminar started in Fall 2004. During the 2007-08 academic year, the
writing group is led by Lance Peterson (cohort 05) and Ken Stoltzfus (cohort 05).
Derrick Kranke (cohort 06) has organized a study group for students taking the qualifying
examination in December 2007.
Susan Smalling (cohort 07) presented the film, " In Whose Honor?" and led
a discussion for masters and Ph.D. students regarding the use of images of Native
Americans as mascots in sports.
Professional Development Experiences
Students are encouraged to volunteer and serve local organizations in their area of
expertise. For example, Lindsey Houlihan (cohort '99) has served on the Board of Directors
for The Adoption Network, Cleveland, and has worked with the Rainbow Center for International Child
Health to develop a parent education program for families adopting internationally. Adoption
is her area of research.
Faculty Example
Our faculty are not only productive scholars and excellent teachers, they are active in the
community. We encourage you to look at faculty websites to see their areas of expertise and
community service where they provide leadership.
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