If your agency wants to expand its social services, consider tapping into Wichita State University’s School of Social Work students.

Social work majors at Wichita State University contributed more than $1.5 million and 82,180 hours in services to the Wichita community during the 2017-2018 academic year.

These students served individual clients through 75 agencies, some with multiple site locations, such as Wichita Public Schools and Via Christi Health.

All students at Wichita State must have an applied learning experience prior to graduation. For social work students, this means completing a supervised practicum through a community agency. These applied learning experiences serve a two-fold purpose: give students hands-on social work experience and expand services agencies provide.

“The School of Social Work has been integral in providing a qualified professional work force for social services in the community, state and region,” says Brien Bolin, director of the School of Social Work. “Our students are highly sought after by local agencies looking to fill positions with qualified, licensable social workers.”

Sixty-eight undergraduate social work majors provided 32,640 hours of service during this academic year. Beginning graduate students provided 11,040 hours, and advanced standing graduate students provided 38,500 hours.

“Social services agencies have always been clear in what they want from WSU and social work education—social workers who could do it all,” says Bolin. “The School of Social Work is an original innovative campus, with the Wichita community and Kansas communities as their learning opportunities. The Council on Social Work Education calls this our “signature pedagogy.”

The mission of Wichita State University is to be an essential educational, cultural and economic driver for Kansas and the greater public good. Wichita State is a doctoral research university enrolling nearly 15,000 students and offering 59 undergraduate degree programs in more than 150 areas of study in seven undergraduate colleges. The Graduate School offers 45 master’s and 12 doctoral degrees that offer study in more than 100 areas. Wichita State’s Innovation Campus is an interconnected community of partnership buildings, laboratories and mixed-use areas where students, faculty, staff, entrepreneurs and businesses have access to the university’s vast resources and technology. For more information, follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

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