This semester, the University of Wyoming at Casper introduced their new part-time social work program. The program offers a Master’s of Social Work (MSW) through hybrid learning at UW Casper, with classes offered both online and in person.
Social work as a profession aims to help people, from the individual level to communities, policy, and beyond, by addressing the needs of folks.
UW Laramie also has a social work program, though the Laramie program is full time and primarily in person. The Casper program aims to address some of the issues people interested in an MSW may have in accessing that degree.
Currently, the Casper program offers only an advanced standing cohort, for students who have already received a bachelor’s of social work, though that won’t be the case forever.
“This coming summer we’ll admit two new cohorts, an advanced standing again, and then we’ll also start a standard program cohort,” said Cutts, who explained that a standard program cohort is for students who received a bachelor’s degree in something other than social work.
“The importance of bringing a master’s program to the Casper campus and having it be offered part-time is improving access to the degree program,” said Bethany Cutts, MSW coordinator of the part-time program at the Division of Social Work.
The demand for social workers in the country is increasing, and is expected to grow 7% between 2022 and 2032, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The importance of increasing social work education to Wyomingites specifically was also heavily emphasized, as Wyoming has an incredibly high suicide rate, being one of the highest in the nation. Suicide is also the eighth leading cause of death for people in Wyoming, according to the CDC.
The new MSW program aims to address these issues by educating future social workers and therapists.
“The work that social workers do is vital in our communities, and the state of Wyoming is in dire need of more social workers,” said Chelsie, an MSW student in Casper, in an interview with Oil City News.
