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Solicitor: Public hearing on W-B Area high school not yet required

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Their view: American: We have to stop here and turn it around

<p>DALLAS TWP. &#8212; Misericordia University is launching a new &#8220;accelerated&#8221; bachelor of social work degree that can be earned without class time on the Dallas Township campus, and Department Chair Susan McDonald predicts it will draw larger numbers of students than the traditional program.</p><p>&#8220;Many students now have families, they work, and the traditional classroom doesn&#8217;t fit with their schedules,&#8221; McDonald said.</p><p>The new program is completed using &#8220;mostly online classes, with a hybrid class. They meet on the Luzerne County Community College campus three times during a semester.&#8221;</p><p>Why LCCC? &#8220;That is where we have some of our expressway courses.&#8221;</p><p>The program is designed to theoretically let a student get the degree &#8220;a little faster&#8221; than traditional on campus classes, McDonald said, with the traditional 15-week semester broken into two halves, allowing the student to get six credits the first half and six the second half. Typically, a student would earn 12 to 15 credits a semester.</p><p>Along with the flexibility of online work schedules, the program lets students begin any time during the year taking pre-requisite, core and elective classes. When it comes time to take the required social work classes, they begin more traditionally as a cohort in the fall.</p><p>Successful program participants can also take advantage of Misericordia&#8217;s articulation agreement with Marywood University in Scranton. The agreement let&#8217;s Misericordia graduates transfer up to 21 credits to Marywood, letting them earn a master&#8217;s degree in about a year and a half.</p><p>The program officially begins next fall, but thanks to the online flexibility, McDonald said she expects students to enroll in the spring for elective and core courses.</p><p>She also expects the new program will draw more students than the traditional one, which remains available.</p><p>&#8220;We should have 16 to 20 students in the first cohort,&#8221; she said, while the traditional BSW program usually has 10 to 12 each fall.</p><p>&#8220;It is a lot more accessible,&#8221; McDonald said.</p><p>It also is a degree with high job demand in this area, according to the state Department of Labor and Industry, which lists several professions &#8212; in schools, medicine and children services &#8212; on the list of &#8220;high priority occupations.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Mark Guydish</p><p>mguydish@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mark Guydish at 570-991-6112 or on Twitter @TLMarkGuydish</p></shirttailMeta></div>

New accelerated program for social work degree at Misericordia