UT School of Public Health and UT School of Social Work to offer dual degree program
HOUSTON – (Jan. 9, 2009) – Students at The University of Texas School of Public Health Austin Regional Campus (ARC) will have the opportunity to receive a dual master’s degree through a collaborative program with The University of Texas at Austin School of Social Work, beginning fall 2009.
The dual degree in public health and social work was proposed to address the growing demand for social workers who are sensitive toward the public health needs of the community.
“The joint degree program, involving a master’s in social work and a master’s of public health, provides students with health promotion skills at the individual, family and community levels. This is a very attractive combination for employers and the two programs are very complementary,” says Cheryl Perry, Ph.D., professor and regional dean of the UT School of Public Health Austin Regional Campus.
According to the Association of Schools of Public Health (ASPH), the population is rapidly growing while the public health workforce has been declining over the last several decades. ASPH has projected that there will be a shortage of close to 250,000 professionals to combat public health threats.
The dual degree program will give candidates the knowledge and skills to solve critical public health and social work needs, Perry said.
U.S. News’s Best Graduate Schools 2009 report ranks the UT School of Public Health and the UT School of Social Work among the top 15 programs in the nation on their respective lists.
This summer, the ARC will be moving from its previous location in downtown Austin to the UT Austin School of Nursing building. This will be beneficial to students pursuing the dual degree by providing better accessibility to the School of Social Work.
The UT School of Public Health is accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health and the UT School of Social Work is accredited by the Council on Social Work Education. The application deadline for the dual degree program is February 1. Interested applicants must apply and receive acceptance by both the UT School of Public Health and School of Social Work to enroll. For more information on the program, contact the Austin Regional Campus’s academic affairs coordinator at (512) 482-6176.