Richard Kenney: Social Work Program Accreditation and Community Impact at UT Tyler

Imagine embarking on a journey of hope and hard work, one that leads to the proud moment of celebrating 18 graduates earning their bachelor's degrees in social work. Richard Kenney and Ericka Freeman are the driving forces behind earning accreditation for UT Tyler's Bachelor of Social Work program. In our conversation, Keeney explains what accreditation means, not just for the graduates but for the countless lives they are set to transform, particularly in East Texas's underserved communities.

Beyond the academic milestone, accreditation and the graduation of the first social work class reinforces the essence of community and the power of collaboration within UT Tyler. Success blooms from a network of voices, from club officers to the wide-reaching campus community, all contributing to the growth of students like Emily Fowler, who explains that she's poised to make a significant impact among the homeless after she completes her master's degree. This story is a testament to the spirit of unity, the dedication of educational leaders, and the bright future that awaits those touched by the passion and commitment of new social work professionals being prepared by UT Tyler.

(Show notes are automatically generated and may contain phonetic spellings and other spelling and punctuation errors. Grammar errors contained in the original recording are not typically corrected.)

Episode Transcript

LANDESS (00:04):
Committing to a four-year university program
that's in the process of gettingaccreditation is a big risk,
but this spring 18 students willreceive their Bachelor of
Social Work degrees at UT Tyler.
Because they took that risk.
Ut Tyler Radio connects withSocial Work Program Director
Richard Kenney Rich.
You and your students weretaking a giant leap of faith.

KEENEY (00:25):
There's no question about that.
But we had been through thisprocess before my colleague
Erica Freeman and myself at ourrespective universities.
We came from and we believedthat we could make this happen
get the accreditation for theschool.

LANDESS (00:44):
How in the world did you convince students to jump in
and say one of these days we'regoing to be getting that
accreditation, so in themeantime, keep paying your
tuition, keep taking yourclasses and it's going to be
there.

KEENEY (00:54):
That was somewhat of a challenge, but I was very
impressed with the students.
They weren't as worried aboutit as I was.

FOWLER (01:05):
Interesting.

KEENEY (01:06):
They weren't as worried about it as I was and they saw
the larger picture and I thinkthey believed in us.
I think that's what reallyhelped is that they believed in
us and we kept the studentsinformed every step of the way.
I think being transparent,inviting them to ask questions
about the accreditation, helped.

LANDESS (01:27):
So tell us more about the process to get that
accreditation from the Councilon Social Work Education.
It took three and a half years.

KEENEY (01:34):
Three and a half years, also known as CSWE.
Three and a half year processin which they visited our campus
once and they did virtualvisits twice each November, and
during those visits they askedus many questions based on what

(01:55):
we had submitted to them.
We submitted three majorvolumes.
The first one was what theycalled the self-study.
The first one was what theycalled the self-study, which is
an overview of our program.
We covered such topics asmission and goals, the field
practicum, curriculum andassessment, and they interviewed

(02:20):
, when they did these visits,they interviewed faculty
administration students to seehow we were doing and apparently
we did pretty well.

LANDESS (02:31):
Apparently you did.
Some folks may not be aware ofthe need for more qualified
social workers in East Texas andacross the state.
Are there not enough programs,not enough applicants, either or
both?

KEENEY (02:43):
You know that's a great question.
Probably a little bit of all.
I think one of the problems isthat people don't know what
social work is.
If we could reach high schoolsand help to educate high school
students as to what social workwas, I think that would have
more or higher enrollment.

(03:03):
So it's really a process oftrying to educate the community
about what social work is.

LANDESS (03:10):
So give me in a nutshell what is social work
today?

KEENEY (03:14):
What is social work?

LANDESS (03:16):
I'll ask you first.

KEENEY (03:17):
And the best.
You know, there are manydefinitions, but the best
definition I ever heard camefrom a five-year-old girl by the
name of Melissa.
And I met Melissa and her momin a homeless shelter and we
were a team of social workersand I were helping them to find

(03:41):
housing, job, training for momand a school for Melissa.
And once we had done that, Iremember visiting them in their
new residence and Melissa oneday said to me when I grow up I
want to be a social worker.
And I said, melissa, why?

(04:02):
And she said they help you dobetter.
Wow and that's always beensomething I've remembered, yeah
from the mouths of babes.

LANDESS (04:12):
Yeah, yeah, kids, they get it.
We talked about this programbeing a leap of faith, and one
of the 18 who took a chance onthis four-year social work
program is about to graduatewith her degree.
She's Emily Fowler of Tyler.
Emily, were you ever afraidthat this chance you were taking
might not work out?

FOWLER (04:31):
I was a little afraid, but I mean I really like taking
chances and, you know, havingchallenges and things like that.
So, like Professor Kinney said,like they always kept us in the
loop, you know we got to attendthose meetings when the
accreditation process washappening.
So I felt really confident thatthis was going to happen,
because you know we got toattend those meetings when the
accreditation process washappening.
So I felt really confident thatthis was going to happen

(04:52):
because you know they didn'thide anything from us.

LANDESS (04:55):
You're in your early 20s.
What got you interested insocial work to begin with?

FOWLER (05:00):
Oh goodness, there's a lot of things that got me
interested in social work, justdue to my background and as a
kid, you know growing up andthings happening Just due to my
background and as a kid, youknow growing up and things
happening.
But I mean there really is aneed for people to go out into
the community and help others.
You know we need more advocatesand things like that for people
who are going through anything.
I mean, personally, I want tofocus on people who are unhoused

(05:23):
and finding housing for them.
But I mean, what I love aboutsocial work is that you can
literally do anything.

LANDESS (05:30):
And and you can put, make a major change in someone's
life, change the direction oftheir life.
Certainly You're from Tyler.
After you graduate, will youstay in East Texas?

FOWLER (05:42):
I will.
Yes, so I will be going to UTArlington online to do my
master's, but I do plan onstaying in Tyler and, you know,
maybe branching out a little bitinto different areas of East
Texas, but I do plan on stayinghere.

LANDESS (05:56):
What kind of?
When you talk about workingwith the unhoused, we see the
folks that are living under theridge here in Tyler and
certainly any number oforganizations make an effort to
touch base with them to be surethey're okay.
Medical care as much as theycan possibly help.
What do you think as a youngperson?

(06:17):
Where will you grab the tail ofthat tiger?
How will you begin to addressthat, do you think?

FOWLER (06:27):
Well.
So I believe macro work is alsomicro work and you know you
need to meet the individualneeds of people.
You know you can all.
I mean it's important to focuson community, but I think to
start addressing the needs is tofocus on everybody's individual
needs.
Same things Some people alreadyhave a job, they just need

(06:51):
housing.
But some people are unhousedand don't have a job.
I mean, there's just so manythings.
You can't just have a onesolution for everything.

LANDESS (06:55):
Yeah, it's not a one-size-fits-all deal, correct?
Yeah, exactly.
So any advice for someoneconsidering this field from a
student's perspective?

FOWLER (07:06):
Do it, take the chance.
It's so worth it, especiallyhere here at UT Tyler.
I love that.
It's a very small program.
It's more intimate.
Our professors are so amazing.
You know they want to help youevery chance possible.
You know, even if you just wantto stop by their office to chit
chat, you know like they justwant to be a part of your lives.

LANDESS (07:27):
How about, from the director's perspective, rich?

KEENEY (07:31):
I would suggest that a student interested in social
work meet with a social worker.
Try to find a social worker.
Ask them if they could spendthe day with the social worker
to see actually what they do.
Most social workers are veryhappy to do that.
I'd also recommend studentsbegin to read some of the social

(07:52):
work periodicals.
Several magazines that Irecommend are Social Work Today
and the New Social Worker.
Both of these publications arefree online and they give a
wonderful overview of what theprogram and they give some
wonderful overview of what theprogram, of what social work is.

LANDESS (08:13):
I understand there's also a social work club.
How does that work?

KEENEY (08:18):
We're very proud of our social work club.
Over the past two years, thestudents have been engaged with
over 25 activities.
They've been involved withvisiting nursing centers,
assisted living centers.
Rather, they've worked withdifferent community agencies

(08:40):
such as the Alzheimer's Alliance, path, casa for Kids, and it's
made up entirely of studentsthat they don't necessarily have
to be social work majors.
We look at anybody on campus.
Anybody that wants to join arewelcome to join us, and we're
very fortunate that we've hadsome great leadership.

(09:02):
We've had several presidentsover the past few years and our
current president is Emily.

LANDESS (09:07):
Is sitting next to you.
So what's that been like beingpresident of the club.
How do you, how do you directthe activities and that sort of
thing.

FOWLER (09:14):
So I like our thing is community and collaboration.
You know it's very important tocollaborate and have everyone's
ideas come in.
So you know I don't, I don'tview myself as just president
and you know, doing all thethings you know like I want to
communicate with the otherofficers and club members.

LANDESS (09:33):
Any final thoughts you'd like to share, Rich?

KEENEY (09:35):
We continue to grow and if students have questions I
welcome them to come visit mefor more of an overview, to
maybe see the campus.
But we're glad to spend timewith new students and help them
out.

LANDESS (09:54):
Thanks for listening as UT Tyler Radio connects with
Social Worker Program DirectorRichard Kenney and soon-to-be
Social Worker Emily Fowler.
For UT Tyler Radio News, I'mMike Landis.