Published on : March 3, 2009
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Carrie Murdock deGuzman
1.703.519.2057, [email protected]
CSWE joins profession to celebrate March as social work month.
March 3, 2009 – ALEXANDRIA, VA—CSWE joins its profession to celebrate March as the month to reflect on the progress made in advancing social work education—internationally and domestically and among both current and future leaders.
Internationally CSWE’s Katherine A. Kendall Institute (KAKI) is building meaningful social work education relationships. March will be spent planning a disaster management seminar from May 8–12 in China to build on the successes of programming held in Barbados and South Africa over the last 2 years. KAKI is co-organizing this seminar with other partners who also highly value improving disaster management and preparation on a global level—China Association of Social Work Education, China Journal of Social Work, International Association of Schools of Social Work, Joint PolyU-PekingU China Social Work Research Centre, and the Department of Applied Social Sciences at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
Additionally, the scholarly work of the institute’s namesake, Katherine A. Kendall, will be built upon at 2009 UN Social Work Day theme, Global Poverty: Challenges for Social Work Practice. In a 2008 commemorative publication, Kendall documented the global contributions of social workers whose advocacy has advanced human rights. These observations will help inform discussions concerning poverty and how lessons learned can shape the work of future human rights advocates.
CSWE’s volunteer leadership bodies are very active this month. Comprised of members, CSWE’s Commissions on Curriculum and Educational Innovation, Diversity and Social and Economic Justice, Global Social Work Education, and Professional Development are working to improve social work education as a profession. One of the most significant developments is the emerging CSWE Leadership Institute. Spearheaded by the Council on Leadership Development, the Leadership Institute will offer special sessions at CSWE’s Annual Program Meeting (APM) designed to develop leadership among its members.
March is also the month that CSWE began its initial efforts to expand professional development programming for students each year at its APM. As a result of enriched programming tested in 2007, student participation doubled at the 2008 APM in Philadelphia. CSWE is currently working to raise the bar higher for what students can expect in 2009.
The White House officially recognized National Professional Social Work Month in 1984, with each year’s theme chosen by the National Association of Social Workers (NASW). In 2005, NASW launched an effort to improve the general public perception of social work and focus on a specific practice area each year. The theme for 2009 is Social Work: Purpose and Possibility.
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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