By Kamryn Wesson
Special from UTPB
The University of Texas Permian Basin is proud to announce our new Master of Science in Social Work. This degree will be a part of the Behavioral Health Scholarship opportunity. Thanks to a partnership with the Permian Strategic Partnership and the Scharbauer Foundation, UTPB now will cover tuition and mandatory fees for students getting their master’s degrees in social work, clinical psychology, and counseling.
The Social Work Program at UT Permian Basin prepares students to promote human and social well-being. Social work students receive training in many areas including interviewing, assessment, problem solving, crisis intervention, community outreach, case management and client advocacy.
The Permian Basin and greater West Texas area has an extreme shortage of behavioral health providers and needs professionals committed to this field.
UTPB’s mission is to grow the next generation of behavioral and mental health providers in the Permian Basin by training talented, experienced, and motivated professionals who are ready to serve the community.
UTPB Assistant Professor and MSW Field Director, Stacey Reynolds, has years of experience in building behavioral health programs at the local, county, state, and national levels. She recently moved to West Texas and is excited to kickstart the social work program for UTPB at the graduate level.
“Social work has so many opportunities,” Reynolds said. “We have the honor of working with individuals across the entire lifespan, in all stages of life with a wide variety of psychosocial issues.”
Reynolds explains the skillset that social workers have and why students in the Permian Basin should choose this career path.
“We can do individual and group counseling, work in an organization, and work within the community, county, state, national, and global level often at the same time. We are sound researchers, we think critically, and problem solve. If no one else can figure it out, social workers often can!”
UTPB will soon be accepting applications for the master’s in social work. For more information, please contact our graduate studies office at [email protected].
