KU School of Social Welfare’s Partnerships Equip More Social Workers to Serve Rural Kansas
Lauren Stiles was upset by what she saw. As she worked with pregnant women and families at a community health center in rural southeast Kansas, she was shocked by the health disparities and health inequities she noticed. “It really got to me, and I wanted to do something about it,” she recounts.
Stiles took a big step in her life to help address this challenge. She enrolled in a partnership program between the KU School of Social Welfare and Pittsburg State University that allows students to earn their master’s in social work from KU on the PSU campus. After completing the Graduate Social Work Foundation Certificate at PSU, Stiles is beginning her MSW Advanced Standing program in summer 2023.
As a working mom with a young baby, Stiles says earning her MSW would not be possible without this unique partnership, which enables her to attend in-person classes and do her practicum work close to home in Pittsburg. “This program has honestly made all the difference,” she says. “I don’t think I would have been able to go back to school if we didn’t have this program. I’m really glad I decided to go this route.”
Kristina Mayhue has spent her career advocating for children and families. She holds a bachelor’s in social work from PSU, and has served as a child protection investigator for the Kansas Department for Children and Families and as a permanency case manager for TFI Family Services. But she knew she would be able to do more if she held a master’s in social work. “I want to do whatever I can do to help children and families, and here in the rural areas, there is a lack of resources,” she says.
When Mayhue discovered she could earn her MSW from KU at the PSU campus, she was thrilled. “It was a game-changer,” she says. Like Stiles, she is juggling family, work and school, so driving hours from her home in Parsons to attend classes at the KU Lawrence campus was out of the question for her.
Mayhue graduated with her MSW in 2022 and is now a school social worker for the Parsons Unified School District, providing services for 1,300 students pre-K through 12th grade and their families.
“In this area, there is such a lack of resources, and there is so much trauma. I try to be that cushion for students, a bridge to resources and services, to let them know it’s OK. I love what I do, and I’m glad I chose this career path.”
— Mayhue
MSW partnership answers the call for more social workers in underserved communities
For years, Kristen Humphrey, Ph.D., program director and professor of social work for Pittsburg State University, has seen the need for more master’s level clinical social workers in southeast Kansas. She says this rural area of Kansas experiences high poverty, high unemployment, high drop-out rates, and many other negative social determinants of health. The need is great, and there aren’t enough social workers to meet it, yet.
“We’ve had students for as long as I can remember asking for a master’s program. At the same time, we also had agencies saying we need MSW professionals down here. The agencies were saying, please, please start an MSW program so we can have more social workers in the area,” Humphrey says.
So, she was thrilled to help bring about the partnership between KU and PSU. The Advanced Standing program, which allows students who hold a bachelor’s in social work to earn an MSW from KU in a year, launched in June 2020.
The Traditional program, which launched in 2021, is a cooperative effort between KU and PSU and enables students who hold a bachelor’s degree in any area outside of social work to achieve their MSW from KU in two years. The first year of the Traditional program is led by PSU and equips students with a necessary, generalist background in social work so they are ready to begin their specialist work in their second year of study, alongside Advanced Standing students.
“Bringing the program here, closer to home for our students, was something that put the MSW in reach for them,” Humphrey explains. Twenty-one students were a part of the 2022–2023 Advanced Standing/specialist year cohort and received their MSWs in May 2023.
Program reflects KU’s mission to serve Kansas
Renee White, Ed.D., associate professor of the practice for the KU School of Social Welfare, has worked as a social worker in rural communities for decades. She has seen the critical need for services firsthand. And now, she is working to meet that need by teaching KU courses at PSU. As a PSU alumna, she’s particularly thrilled these two universities are partnering to help rural Kansans receive much-needed services.
“The KU School of Social Welfare has such a strong reputation and strong history. It’s a long-term, stable, forward-thinking, evidence-based, research-based entity, and the power of all that together, to go out into rural areas, really reveals the mission of the School,” White says. “It’s not just to educate our students, but to make a difference in the lives of all people, particularly in Kansas.”
Graduates are putting their skills to work
There was a time when Kristina Mayhue was sure she wanted to leave her rural community to practice social work in a large city hospital. But when she learned about the opportunity to be the social worker for the Parsons Unified School District, she says, “I realized this is where I need to be, to stay in a rural area; it’s home.”
Now, equipped with the added skills and experience she gained as an MSW student at KU, Mayhue is excited to make a difference in the lives of the students and their families.
“I love what I do, and I’m glad I can serve in this small community. I’m also glad I can show little boys and girls who look like me that you can be something in a small town,” she shares. “In this area, there is such a lack of resources, and there is so much trauma. I try to be that cushion for students, a bridge to resources and services, to let them know it’s OK. I love what I do, and I’m glad I chose this career path.”
New Partnership with Kansas State University Salina Will Bolster Rural Social Work Workforce
To help meet the great need for clinical social workers in Kansas’s underserved rural and frontier communities, the KU School of Social Welfare has launched a second master of social work partnership that will make it easier for students who live in rural communities to earn their MSW closer to home.
The school is partnering with the Kansas State University Salina Social Work Program to offer a Master of Social Work at the KSU Salina campus, beginning the summer of 2023. The partnership includes an Advanced Standing MSW program for students who have already received their bachelor’s degree in social work.
A Traditional MSW program will be launched in the fall of 2024 for students who have received their undergraduate degree in a field other than social work. Through this collaborative effort, the first year of the Traditional program is offered by K-State Salina. Students then transition into the KU Advanced Standing program to receive their MSW from KU.
