Field Directors

Hi everyone,

I am currently doing my field placement with the WVU School of Social Work field office. The field education director and I were recently discussing creating an advisory board. If your school currently has an advisory board, how did you start that process? What is the structure of your advisory board? What are some of the benefits and challenges you have noticed?

Thank you!

Thank you for sharing! It is very much appreciated. 

Lia,

We don't have an advisory board,  but we do have a Practicum Education Committee whose membership includes students, faculty, administration, and community representation and we pretty much engage in the same activities that Dr. Faux mentioned. 

Best,

Warren

Thank you for sharing! It is very much appreciated. 

Hi Lia -

We used to have a structured advisory committee and, for the past two years, I made the meeting more open in the sense that I invite any/all field supervisors and agency contacts (who have a role in oversight of students and/or placements), students across all cohorts, social work faculty in our department, field liaisons and field staff to attend field advisory council meetings. I hold the meeting once per semester via zoom and set an agenda and also welcome agenda suggestions from attendees. I will have 25- 35 people attend. I want this space to offer an opportunity for community members to come and express themselves with field team members. I really like this format and am working to improve our approach and foster bi-directional input. 

Best-

Cara

Thank you for sharing! It is very much appreciated. 

Cara and Lia,

This is what we do in our program, too. We meet once or twice a year, inviting our field instructors and at least one alumnae to get their input on how we're doing - what's working, what isn't. We also update them on what we're doing - like holding a field fair, offering CEU events, changes to the programming/curricula... It's a great way to foster a sense of community and get vital input that surveys can't always capture. 

Angie