Program Overview
Program Goals
The University of Michigan Geriatric Scholarship to Strengthen Geriatric Social Work was originally developed by a grant from the John A. Hartford Foundation (1999-2003) and was funded in part by the McGregor Foundation from 2005 to 2007. The School of Social Work has continued the funding. The program aims to address the increasing need for geriatric social workers by creating more aging-rich placements and increasing the number of students in the field of health care and social work for older people.
Recruitment
- Scholarships are awarded to 10-12 incoming MSW students per year whose career goal is to work in the area of geriatric social work. Click here for application instructions.
Program Benefits for Students
- Financial assistance in the form of a four-semester partial tuition scholarship.
- An integrative one-semester seminar that incorporates gerontology faculty from social work, nursing, medicine, and public health. Consortium agency field instructors will also participate, both as co-participants and as lecturers.
- Fieldwork rotations at 2 or 3 sites that expose students to the "spiral concept" of care and to the continuum of care for well-to-frail elderly. Students will have the flexibility to move between "anchor sites" and "satellite sites" that provide a variety of services to older adults. Agencies in our consortium represent a diverse range of populations served, services offered, and methods of intervention.
- Assistance with employment following graduation. The Geriatric Social Work Consortium agencies will take an active role in finding employment for Geriatric Social Work Social Work scholars, through resume circulation, guided networking, letters of recommendation, press releases, meetings, and contacts between students and alumni in gerontology settings.
- Affiliation with the University of Michigan's outstanding School of Social Work. Students will earn a master's in social work through the completion of courses in one of four concentration methods (interpersonal practice, management of human services, community organizing, or social policy and evaluation) and in the aging in families and society practice area. Required courses for the Geriatric Social Work scholars will generally be concentrated in the aging in families and society or health practice areas.
Program Requirements
All applicants must commit to:
- Enrollment in the 16-month curriculum.
- Selection of the aging in families and society concentration.
For more information, please contact:
Ruth Dunkle, PhD, Program Coordinator: 734-763-6575
or e-mail: geriatric.fellowship@umich.edu.