For Immediate Release
Contact:
Carrie Murdock deGuzman
1.703.519.2057, cmurdock@cswe.org
CSWE Gero-Ed Center awards cycle 1 funding to winning social work programs
August 26, 2008 – ALEXANDRIA, VA—The CSWE Gero-Ed Center is granting 46 BSW and MSW programs nationwide up to $5,000 each over 2 years to give faculty the tools to plan for and infuse gerontology into their required curriculum and organizational structure. Funded by the John A. Hartford Foundation, in the first 2 years of the projects, the Curriculum Development Institute (CDI) Program will directly finance educational programming to enhance students’ gerontological knowledge and skills. The 3rd year will be reserved for continued implementation, evaluation, and dissemination of lessons learned to social work educators and researchers both nationally and globally.
“The CDI Program will be very successful because it uniquely focuses on preparation and follow-up outreach in addition to the programming itself,” said Nancy Hooyman, coprincipal investigator of the CSWE Gero-Ed Center and Hooyman Gerontology Professor at the University of Washington, Seattle. “Careful, strategic planning, and ongoing communication about the lessons learned will maximize the impact of the gerontological infusion achieved.”
Participating faculty will develop innovative ways to embed and sustain gerontological social work content, working closely with national mentors, who will advise them regarding effective strategies to attain their goals. Faculty also attend annual meetings, where they have opportunities to learn from their national peers and consult with their mentors and experts in gerontology.
The universities awarded the CDI Program grants represent social work departments throughout the United States with both BSW and MSW programs, as well as those with only one of these degree levels. The 46 awardees are Appalachian State University, Bethany College, Bethel College, Binghamton University, Briar Cliff University, Buena Vista University, Campbellsville University, The Catholic University of America, Christopher Newport University, East Central University, Ferris State University, Florida International University, Grand Valley State University, Johnson C. Smith University, Luther College, Marywood University, Mississippi Valley State University, Mount Mary College, New Mexico Highlands University, New Mexico State University, North Carolina A&T State University, Northwestern College, Oakwood University, Park University, Prairie View A&M University, Savannah State University, Slippery Rock University, Smith College, Spalding University, University of Arkansas at Monticello, University of Central Florida, University of Central Missouri, University of Connecticut, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Puerto Rico - Rio Piedras, University of South Florida, The University of Texas at Arlington, University of West Florida, Wayne State University, West Chester University, West Virginia University, Western Illinois University, Western Michigan University, Western New Mexico University, William Woods University, and Xavier University.
Nationwide, 137 social work education programs—small and large, rural and urban, BSW and MSW—have embedded gerontological content into their foundation courses, as a result of 8 years of support from the John A. Hartford Foundation. Now with 5 additional years of Hartford funding, the CSWE Gero-Ed Center will reach an additional 46—totaling nearly 40% of these programs—via the CDI Program.
Founded in 1929, the John A. Hartford Foundation is a committed champion of training, research, and service system innovations that promote the health and independence of America’s older adults. Through its grant making, the Foundation seeks to strengthen the nation’s capacity to provide effective, affordable care to this rapidly increasing older population by educating “aging-prepared” health professionals (physicians, nurses, social workers), and developing innovations that improve and better integrate health and supportive services. Mr. John A. Hartford and his brother, George L. Hartford, both former chief executives of the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, left the bulk of their estates to the Foundation upon their deaths in the 1950s. Additional information about the Foundation and its programs is available at www.jhartfound.org.
The Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) is a nonprofit national association representing more than 3,000 individual members, as well as graduate and undergraduate programs of professional social work education. Founded in 1952, this partnership of educational and professional institutions, social welfare agencies, and private citizens is recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation as the sole accrediting agency for social work education.
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Visit the CSWE Gero-Ed Center for more information about the CDI Program.