The Graduate College of Social Work adds the 2013 Partners in Advancing Education for International Social Work Award to its trophy case. | Rebecca Heliot/The Daily Cougar
The Graduate College of Social Work has won a variety of awards during its time on campus and can now add the 2013 Partners in Advancing Education (PIE) for International Social Work Award to its trophy case.
-The Graduate College of Social Work is being recognized for its efforts to advance education in its field on a national and international level by the Council of Social Work Education with its 2013 Partners in Advancing Education for International Social Work Award.
“I think if you look at who we are … we discover something that is quite obvious: that we’re an incredibly diverse international community,” said GCSW Dean and professor Ira Colby. “Therefore, we have to understand … what are the gifts that diversity and international experiences bring to our workplace. We have to understand, just because of who we are as the University and truly as an international city. The award represents the power to the many different activities we’re engaged in as a global community.”
Among the efforts of the GCSW are its international programs promoting exchange studies, its role in the CSWE’s China Collaborative Project and the many partnerships it has established with universities all around the world. The college’s conceptual curriculum focuses on advancing international social work, which includes the requirement that students must participate in at least one international learning activity in order to graduate.
Patrick Leung, professor and director of the Office for International Social Work Education, said one of the department’s goals is “to offer Master of Social Work students opportunities to have international field practice and to increase opportunities for faculty to collaborate research with international scholars.”
The emphasis on international efforts by the GCSW has given its students opportunities to experience countries such as China, Europe, Central America, Mexico and Turkey.
“By studying social work in Turkey, I was able to become more compassionate, understanding social work with the ability to set proper expectations for clients from all over the world,” said GCSW student and President for the Students for the Advancement of International Social Work Jenna Cooper. “I learned words go so far — genuine expression of emotions is really a universal language.”
