More than 100 people participated in the School of Social Work’s annual Appreciation Conference for Field Instructors and Task Supervisors on May 21. This year’s event was held virtually and honored agencies across the state for supporting the School’s Field Education Office and for providing valuable internships for MSW students.
This year’s conference theme “Critical Theories, Anti-Oppressive Practice, and Social Work Field Education,” included a keynote presentation from Travis Albritton, the School’s associate dean for diversity, equity and inclusion, and Laurie Selz Campbell, clinical associate professor. Their presentation focused on understanding how critical race theory and anti-oppressive frameworks are integrated into the School’s MSW curriculum.
Afternoon sessions focused on supporting field instructors in applying this content to their work with MSW students in agency settings and strengthening their skills as field educators.
Because of the pandemic and the challenging work all field instructors faced over the last year, rather than hand out individual recognition awards, the School chose to honor all participants this year. MSW students and field education faculty showed their appreciation and support with the presentation of a “thank you” video, which was produced and edited by Thaddaeus Edwards, the School’s technology support technician. The video can be viewed here: https://vimeo.com/552397221/42054b864e
The Field Education Program recruits and develops new field instructors on a continuous basis. If you are interested in becoming a field instructor, please contact Rebecca Brigham at brigham@email.unc.edu.
