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TCU to offer region’s
first
private social work
graduate degree
A new graduate program in social work will
better prepare students for the changing
workforce and help fill an educational gap
in North Texas.
TCU’s graduate program is slated to begin
in fall 2013. Prospective students will
begin applying later this year.
“More and more jobs are requiring
graduate degrees in social work, from
adoption services to the medical field,” said David Jenkins, chair of
the Department of Social Work. “Even in the jobs that do not require
graduate degrees, the pay is better for those who have them, and
there’s greater opportunity for advancement.”
TCU will be the only private university in the North Texas region to
offer a graduate degree in social work. Only one public university in
the region, University of Texas at Arlington, currently offers one.
As part of the new program, the university plans to hire three new
faculty members in the next three years, Jenkins said, bringing the
total number of faculty assigned to the graduate program to six.
To earn a graduate degree, students will be required to complete
60 hours in the program, which is designed to be finished in two
years. The program will offer an advanced generalist focus with
specializations in health and mental health or children and families.
TCU also will offer a five-year program for students to earn both
their bachelor’s and master’s degree, Jenkins said, which will help
strengthen the undergraduate program by drawing top students
who want to earn two degrees in five years.
“We have wanted to do this for a long, long time,”Jenkins said. “We are
very excited to be moving forward and providing this opportunity to
our students.”
There are more than 400,000 Americans
with the chromosomal abnormality
Down syndrome. But, while adults
with Down syndrome are usually
overweight, most don’t experience the
same risks for metabolic issues as other
overweight people.
Phil Esposito, assistant professor of
kinesiology, will use a grant from TCU’s
Research and Creative Activities Fund
to study the potential correlation
between Down syndrome and obesity, the nearly nonexistent risk
for heart disease, diabetes, high cholesterol and other ailments.
Esposito’s theory is something in the chromosomal mutation that
causes Down syndrome may offer the individuals immunity.
“I will look at their levels of physical activity, their body compositions
and then the metabolic risk factors to see if our current methods
of measuring risks hold up in the Down syndrome group,” said
Esposito, who joined TCU in January and first studied the Down
syndrome population while completing his dissertation at the
University of Michigan.
Esposito is recruiting candidates from Down syndrome support
groups, organizations for the disabled and social media. A cohort for
blood-chemistry testing was expected to take place this summer,
and results could be released next summer or fall.
“When I was doing my dissertation research, we saw a lot of
people who had waist circumferences as wide as they were tall,”
he said. “In another population, it would definitely be indicative of
a cardiovascular problem; but, I didn’t (perform) blood chemistry
tests within that group of people with Down syndrome.”
National Down Syndrome Society statistics show the life expectancy
for a person with Down syndrome is 60, up from 25 in 1983. That’s
due, in large part, to improved medical treatment of the congenital
heart defects that affect many with Down syndrome.
“Ideally, we would like to study more than 30 people,” Esposito said.
“We want a good snapshot of that adult population; it will probably
be ages 18 to 40 because, once you start looking at people older
than that, there are age-related factors at play.”
Charting
New Territory
By Stephanie Patrick
research
The Harris College Magazine
- Summer 2012 ·
13
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