Field Education
M.S.W. Program

Director: Ellen Masterson
Field Education Assistant: Jessica Slothower

An educationally directed field experience is a central part of graduate education for social work. Some key points about Field Education:

• Internships are arranged to meet individual student needs and interests and provide an opportunity to extend, apply, and test knowledge and skills through supervised field education.
• Settings include child welfare, schools, mental health, health, corrections, substance abuse, aging, domestic violence, homelessness, community programs, and other workplaces where Social Work has a role.
• Students complete 1,000 hours of field education over two academic years. Students participate in field education activities 16 hours per week or a total of 500 hours per year.
• Each student works in a different setting each year.
• The School utilizes more than 250 different field placement agencies per year which provide a wide range of learning opportunities.
• More information on Field Education is provided in the All About Field section.

The School, through its faculty and administration, is responsible for assessing the quality of field placements, the qualifications of field instructors, and the appropriateness of fit of a potential field placement with our M.S.W. curriculum. We ask that students do not contact field placement settings with the purpose of developing or applying for field placement. Ideas about possible field placements need to be discussed with your faculty advisor/liaison or the a member of the Field Education Team. Field education is typically scheduled for Tuesdays and Thursdays for M.S.W. students in their first year of field placement, and Mondays and Thursdays for students in their second year of field placement. There are some exceptions, especially some health care placements that require students to be present for four half-days per week.