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RESEARCH
Lynn Jackson, LCSW, ACSW, director of field education, became
the first of three new faculty members as the Department of Social
Work begins its new Master of Social Work (MSW) program. She
began her tenure in June. Nada Elias-Lambert began in August
2013, and an additional faculty member will join the department
in August 2014.
“For the director of field education position, we wanted someone
who had experience running a field department in social work.
We really wanted someone who had a doctorate, understood our
accreditation process, and had some familiarity with the Dallas-
Fort Worth area,” David Jenkins, social work chair, said. “We’re
really excited to have someone with that wealth of experience in
running a field department, but also committed to teaching well
and to the profession of social work.”
Collaborative efforts started as soon as Jackson was able to move
into her office. She began working very closely with Jenkins to
help move forward with accreditation documents, MSW program
orientation, expanding agencies for field placements and adding
field instructors.
Jackson will work with both undergraduate and graduate field
placements. She is looking forward to both the challenge and
the gratification of building a graduate level program. In order
to apply what they are learning in the classroom, MSW students
will be placed with social work professionals working in and with
organizations in the DFW area. Having been a field instructor
herself, she knows firsthand what it is like to work with students,
and understands some of the issues that may take place in this
type of practice.
“What I like about working with field instructors is that I get to
see what is happening in the profession, and I am able to stay up-
to-date about what is happening in the community and help the
students understand what is going on,” she said. “I think of myself
as the bridge between the university and the community for
the students.”
Working with the field instructors is one of the biggest areas of
her collaboration with the community because the social work
students are out in the agencies dealing directly with practicing
social workers and their clients. These agencies have partnered
with TCU to help the students meet their field hour requirements.
As part of the process, Jackson works with an advisory committee
that provides input about training needed for social work students
and to make sure coursework is relevant to current societal and
practice issues. Whatever issues or concerns these community
social workers share about students, the faculty wants to be able
to address in the classroom.
“For the most part, the faculty members no longer are practicing
in the field every day, so we rely on the field instructors to keep us
up to date on what is happening,” Jackson said. “And we also want
to be able to help them keep up with what is changing about the
way social work students are being educated as well.”
Part of the constant challenge in a field program is the need for
more and varied internship sites according to Jackson. While,
she currently has in excess of 30 possible sites for BSW and MSW
students, she is working to expand those placements for students
to work in aging, health care and the public school system. These
collaborative efforts are important because of legislative changes
and budget concerns in the last few years that require innovative
ways of dealing with problems or community concerns.
Because of the diversity in social work, students can be assigned,
sometimes based on their preference, to work with children,
seniors, people with disabilities, veterans or offenders. This work
also can be done in a variety of settings like schools, hospitals,
private clinics, indigent care facilities or for the state, in Child
Protective Services.
“I am trying to build up the range of field placements because
that is the place where the students are expected to integrate
what they are learning in the classroom with the real practice,”
Jackson said.
Jackson is also in charge of providing general training to all field
instructors in advance of their actual time with the students. Then
her job becomes checking in with them on a regular basis to make
sure that things are going well. She also meets with the students
every week in class, so that if something doesn’t seem right she
can touch base with the student and/or the instructor.
Jackson believes collaboration should always include being
involved with the National Association of Social Workers. “I hope
to keep up that tradition of helping our students be involved with
the organization either locally or nationally. It is important to be
in partnership with our national organization,” she said.
OUT IN THE FIELD
By Jim Hudson
F ATU ES
Harris College of Nursing & Health Sciences ·
16