VCU School of Social Work Launches Distance Education M.S.W. Program

By Mike Porter

Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of Social Work is launching a new distance education M.S.W. program, available beginning with the fall 2011 semester. The deadline to apply is Aug. 10.

The new four-year program allows students to pursue a master’s degree in social work without attending classes in Richmond. The distance education curriculum is guided by the principle of providing social and economic justice and human rights in a diverse and multicultural society. The curriculum emphasizes critical thinking about theory and social practice applications, evidence-based decision-making, diversity, self-reflection and self-awareness, and ethical integrity.

“We’ve been inundated with interest from across the country, even Germany,” said Laura Granruth, M.S.W., area coordinator for the distance education program and the school’s Northern Virginia field coordinator. “We’re getting a very good response from the human services industry and a good response from people who wanted to do their M.S.W. but couldn’t take the time away to come to class.” 

A recently enacted Virginia law requires that a social work degree come from an accredited institution, and, as a result, the School of Social Work is experiencing a spike in applications to undergraduate and graduate degree programs, including distance education.

Distance education allows students to communicate with professors and peers from all over the country through online discussions and social-networking tools such as Facebook. Granruth said the program’s structure enhances social presence in the online learning classroom so that students “feel they know their professors and their classmates.”

Students will meet three times a semester at the school’s Northern Virginia campus for on-site instructional experiences. These in-person courses are held on Saturdays to accommodate students’ workweek schedules.

For more details on the distance education program, visit: http://www.socialwork.vcu.edu/distance_education/index.html or contact Quimiko “Me-Me” Thornton, distance education admissions coordinator, at (804) 828-0703 or Laura Granruth, distance education area coordinator, at (703) 823-4132. Email inquiries may be sent to eMSW@vcu.edu.

Established in 1917, the VCU School of Social Work is a nationally-ranked social work graduate program that prepares students to promote social and economic justice in a diverse society. Students integrate their academic knowledge into practice in some of the approximately 500 field agencies that partner with the school across the State of Virginia. Classes emphasize “critical thinking, self-awareness, using evidence-based decision making and ethical integrity” (http://www.socialwork.vcu.edu/about/mission.html).