Hard work and commitment equals a future of untold opportunities, new MSW students are told

June 9, 2009 - Michael Patchner, Dean of the School of Social Work, welcomed nearly 200 new Master of Social Work students and then quickly set to work to ease the jitters of anyone worried about whether or not they were cut out for graduate work.

Dean Michael Patchner

 

At the recent orientation session for students starting out in the MSW program, he told stories of falling asleep in a bathtub as an undergraduate because he was so tired from working to pay his way through school and trying to keep up with classes. When he decided to follow his dream of getting a master’s degree in social work, he quickly realized he couldn’t pay to go full-time as he was caring for his parents and working. He hoped to attend on a part-time basis, but at the time, there was no such thing as a part-time MSW student and his application was turned down.

Instead, he took another route and entered a graduate program in sociology. At his first graduate class, he listened as some classmates described how they already had graduate degrees in other disciplines and wondered if he could fit in. “Like many of you I was really apprehensive about what graduate education was going to be like.”

“I don’t know if you people are like me but I am the first person in my family to have a master’s degree,” Dr. David Westhuis, Executive Director of the school’s MSW program told the new MSW students.

Dr. David Westhuis

 

In fact, only a small percentage of students – about 7 percent – go on to get a master’s degree,  Westhuis noted. The percentage of students who go on to get a graduate degree is social work is even smaller, Westhuis said.

But responsibilities come along with their degree, he added. Families and children will come into their lives and depend upon their assistance to deal with whatever problems they face, he explained.

Dr. Westhuis traced his career from working in a residential treatment center, running a mental health clinic in the military to conducting research among other things as a way to help the students understand that if nothing else, they can expect to have a variety of opportunities in their careers.

Dr. Virginia Majewski, the Associate Dean of the School of Social Work, told the incoming students how she was working with agencies like the YWCA when a friend showed her brochures about social work education.

Associate Dean Virginia Majewski

 

She decided to give social work a try and took an undergraduate class and “fell in love with social work.” The graduate program helped enhance the skills she already had and gave her a theoretical and a values framework, she explained.

Some may already have a passion for a particular area they want to work in, but for those that may still be unsure what their passion is, “I guarantee this top-notch faculty here has so much passion about what they do, that it’s going to be transferred to you very shortly.”

While the decision to come to graduate school may not have been easy one, Dean Patchner congratulated the students on following their dreams. “This will open up enormous opportunities for you, opportunities you have never even thought about.”

“We admitted you and we are committed to you,” he said of the school’s faculty. “The only thing we can’t supply is what you have to bring with you – that commitment, that drive, that willingness to work.”

“If you bring that ingredient into this equation, I can guarantee you, you will be highly successful. You may even be dean or president of the university. Who knows what the future holds.”

“One of the things about our profession is we do good work, we do work we can be proud of, work that will make a difference in peoples lives, in the community and a difference in the world. All of us working together can make a huge difference in the world.”