Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, June 28, 1993 TAG: 9306280041
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
She worked part-time as a secretary. A single parent, she had an 11-year-old and an 18-month-old to tend to.
"It was one of the hardest things I had to do," said Kirtley, who, when pregnant with her younger child, went into labor while taking an exam. "But I knew if I didn't do it, we'd just live in poverty."
Kirtley, of Roanoke, received her associate's degree in mental health curriculum last month. Still, she wanted more, educationally.
She considered entering Radford University's bachelor's degree program in social work. But low finances and family obligations made commuting impossible, she said.
This fall, Kirtley, 31, will begin working on a four-year degree without the long commute. Virginia Western and Radford have teamed up to offer a bachelor of science degree in social work on the Virginia Western campus in Roanoke.
It is the first such partnership in social-work education in Virginia, designed to meet the needs of people who want a four-year degree but who - for job, family or other reasons - are confined to taking courses close to home, said Richard Gaynor, a professor of mental health technology at Virginia Western, who will head the program.
The college awarded Gaynor a $10,000 grant to help develop the program with June Allder, a Radford University professor of social work. Gaynor was interested in helping students who wanted to continue their education but couldn't, because they had to work in the Roanoke area while going to school. Radford, in turn, was interested in establishing an off-campus social work program.
Why social work?
"Sociologically, there is a return to caring for the community," Gaynor said. "It represents an interest in people looking ahead to preparing for a career in the helping services."
Thirty students will enter the program this fall, Gaynor said. Most are from Virginia Western, but the program includes some from other colleges and universities, including Radford.
Students taking courses that normally would fall within the first two years of a college education will pay Virginia Western tuition. Students taking upper-level courses - or courses normally falling in the second two years - will pay Radford tuition rates.
The first two-year courses - in mental health curriculum - will be taught by Virginia Western faculty. The second two-year courses - in social work curriculum - will be taught by Radford faculty. Students will wind up with two degrees: an associate's in mental health from Virginia Western and a bachelor's in social work from Radford.
Partnerships between community colleges and four-year institutions could signal a trend - filling a void, for example, created by the absence of a public four-year institution in the Roanoke Valley, Gaynor said.
"It's a beginning step, or maybe an alternative step," he said. "It's an attempt to meet that demand as well."
Virginia Western joined forces with Old Dominion University four years ago to offer a bachelor's degree program in engineering technology on the Virginia Western campus.
"It really started as a need in the industry," said W.R. Owen, an ODU professor who heads the engineering program. "Students working full-time jobs and going to school in the evenings to earn a B.A., that need in the industry was not being fulfilled in our area. The [engineering] program was the result of cooperation between two institutions trying to see if this concept would work."
The value of such partnerships is twofold, said Mark Emick, assistant to the president of Virginia Western.
"It provides opportunity in a community that would not necessarily have a four-year program available," Emick said. "The other value points more toward economic efficiency. We're looking at more creative ways to bring programs to existing facilities and into existing budget constraints.
"We're using resources available normally at two institutions and condensing them down into a single offering."
The social work program has brought Gaynor statewide recognition. He was honored with the Chancellor's Commonwealth Professors Award this year, in part for his work in developing the program.
For more information, contact Virginia Western's social science department at 857-7276.
by CNB