Some of you know this is the first full year of existence for the Department of Behavioral Sciences (and my first year as a department Chair) at CBC. Until now, all psychology and counseling classes were in the Department of Social Studies along with history and geography.Every year, the Chair of each department gets an opportunity to communicate directly to the Board of Trustees through a brief written report. The board met this weekend, and I presume they were given my first report. What follows is an excerpt of that report – you might consider it a “state of the union” summary of sorts. Some readers might be interested.
The 2007-2008 school year has been an exciting time of growth for the newly formed Department of Behavioral Sciences....
The formation of the new department has been a great success. I have made it my goal to prepare every student in this department for both immediate employment in social services and for graduate work in psychology, counseling, and social work. We are quickly gaining a reputation on campus as a department committed to serious academics and service to others. Our students are appreciating a greater sense of identity that comes from having their own department. And the establishment of the new department has already proven to be beneficial in marketing and student recruiting.
We have been fortunate to work with two new adjunct instructors recently. Ms. Blair Presley is a CBC graduate and a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. Her experience as a hospice social worker was invaluable as she taught “Aging, Death, and Dying” for us in the fall. Mr. Mic Wright is currently serving as the school’s counselor and has an extensive background in counseling and mental health administration. I can sense a growing passion in Mic for teaching, and students in his current “Crisis Counseling” class are giving us very positive remarks.
We have changed the name of the degree from “Social Services” to “Psychology and Social Services.” This has reduced the ambiguity and confusion regarding the content and purpose of our program. In addition, we have added a Bachelor of Arts degree to the existing Bachelor of Sciences degree. The former allows students to take nine hours of a foreign language (we recommend Spanish) rather than nine hours of math and science. This has already proven to be attractive to some students, and it will better prepare students for meeting the needs of Spanish-speaking clients in social service organizations.
We have also added two new courses to the Psychology and Social Services degree plans. “Marriage and Family Counseling” has replaced the sociology course “Family Systems” and will introduce students to the basics of premarital, marital, and family counseling. “Human Sexuality” has been added as an elective to provide students with honest and factual information about sexual issues from a Christian perspective.
Students of the department are excited about the growth and changes of the past year. And we continue to see greater numbers of students decide to pursue Psychology and Social Services each semester. Just one indicator of student interest in the program is the increase in graduates. In 2006, there were five graduates from this area. In 2007 there were two. This year, I expect twelve students to graduate from the department and we are already looking forward to another great incoming class in the fall….
Those of you unfamiliar with CBC should know we are a small school – we currently have only about 350 traditional students on campus. But we are growing like a weed. In fact, we are setting enrollment records each year. We have some exceptional students and I am very excited about our future, especially in the Department of Behavioral Sciences.
Posts
1 comment:
As as student of CBC and of the new department I am very excited to see the changes that are being made. I regret that this is my last year, but I am excited for the students who will be benefiting from the changes in this department.
Post a Comment