ASWB scholars and mentors
Path to Licensure mentors and scholars (left to right): mentor Deana Morrow, scholars Jane Hurley Johncox, Kelly Bass, Carolyn Szafran, Shakira Kennedy, Joan Groessl, and mentor Dorinda Noble.
The Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) has selected the first group of social work faculty members to participate as scholars in a new educational initiative, the Path to Licensure Institute. The institute is part of ASWB’s Path to Licensure program, which is designed to help schools of social work infuse information about professional licensing and social work regulation into their programs.The institute comprises a three-day intensive at ASWB’s offices, which took place May 23-25, 2017, when the scholars developed a Path to Licensure program customized for their schools’ needs; program implementation at the scholar’s school of social work in the fall; and completion of social work regulation-specific research by August 2020.
The scholars who attended the institute are:
- Kelly Bass, DSW, CSW-PIP (SD), ACS, MSW Program Director, University of South Dakota, Sioux Falls, South Dakota
- Joan Groessl, MSSW, Ph.D., LICSW, BSW Program Coordinator, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, Green Bay, Wisconsin
- Jane Hurley Johncox, MSW, LICSW, LCSW, Clinical faculty and Director/Coordinator of Student and Career Services, University of St. Thomas/St. Catherine University School of Social Work, St. Paul, Minnesota
- Shakira Kennedy, MSW, Ph.D., LMSW, Assistant Professor Coordinator, At-Risk Populations Research and Grant Initiatives, Touro College Graduate School of Social Work, New York, New York
- Carolyn Szafran, MSW, LSCSW, Practicum Coordinator and Instructor, Washburn University Department of Social Work, Topeka, Kansas
Two consultants served as teachers and mentors to the scholars - Dorinda N. Noble, Ph.D., a former ASWB president and former chair of the social work department at Texas State University, and Deana Morrow, Ph.D., director of the social work department at West Virginia University. Both consultants have extensive regulatory experience as past appointees to state social work regulatory boards. In addition, Texas State University was a pilot school for the Path to Licensure program when Noble was department chair.
ASWB’s Education and Training Services Senior Manager Janice Fitts, who manages the Path to Licensure program, said, “I am excited that not only will we be providing an incredible opportunity for faculty of schools of social work to understand regulation and licensing, the research conducted will help prepare students for professional practice.”
