The Research Committee sponsored
a session on Friday October 27, 2006 at the BPD Conference in Los Angeles
entitled “Integrating Research into the BSW Curriculum”. The presenters were Dr. Rowena Fong (The University of
Texas at Austin), Dr. Frances Kominkiewicz (St. Mary's College) and Dr. Michael
Daley (University of Southern Alabama).
The presentation was well attended with a lot of discussion about what kinds of research content was taught at the various
colleges and universities. People were in agreement that more of this information and dialogue was needed.
At the Research Committee
meeting held on Saturday, October 28, 2006 as Chair of the Committee I mentioned that there seemed to be five areas of interest
indicated in the past from committee members: 1) Doing a survey to find out what kinds of research courses people were teaching
in their respective undergraduate programs; 2) linking with other professional groups such as SSWR, IASWR, NASW, and CSWE;
3) disseminating what people were doing in their programs; 4) integrating research into the BSW curriculum and 5) strengthen
research skills for specific populations such as practitioners, field instructors, agencies in the rural areas, undergraduates
preparing for graduate school etc.
At the Saturday meeting 3
out of the 5 areas ( #1, #2, and #4) were selected to be focused on during 2007. Dr Elizabeth Twining Blue from the University
Of Wisconsin-Superior will be working on developing and implementing a survey to
determine what kinds of research courses and content are being taught at the respective undergraduate programs in her 11 state
region. Others interested in working with her on this project are: Rowena Fong, Michael Dover, Cassandra Bowers, and Michael
Daley.
Michael Daley will pursue
the linkage of the Research Committee to BPD’s Publication Committee and the Journal of Baccalaureate Social Work. Rowena
Fong will pursue linkages to SSWR and IASWR. As Chair, I will see if there can be better coordination with these two groups
as to the kinds of research presentations and workshops are given at BPD so redundancy and overlap can be avoided, if possible.
Cassandra Bowers will work
on finding out how undergraduate programs integrate research into their social work curriculum.
Any one who wishes
to join any of these endeavors can email, Rowena Fong at rfong@mail.utexas.edu.
