Strategic Priority 4


Dr. Michael Riquino, assistant professor, providing continuing education presentation in Garden City

Community Engagement

We are committed to strengthening partnerships with communities in Kansas, the Kansas City Metro area and nationally. We will broaden opportunities for our faculty, staff and students to strategically engage community partners and identify ways to collaborate with each other. We recognize the importance of working together to address needs and problems and will share how research is impacting our communities through promotion and dissemination of scholarship and research findings.​ ​​

Goal 1:

Strengthen and increase community partnerships, outreach and engagement efforts in the state of Kansas and beyond

Tactics

  • Reconnect with champions of our school ​(COMPLETE & ONGOING) ​​

    • Establish a communications plan identifying audiences and communications​​

    • Review past stakeholder lists and create plan to reengage each particular audiences​

      • Alumni​

        • Identify and analyze alumni list (location, positions, giving/not giving, school connections)​​

        • Partner with Social Work PRN to promote existing CEU opportunities to alumni and licensed social workers in Kansas​​

        • Update contact information for alumni​

        • Ask Advisory Board members to assist with contacting alumni and ask for updated info​​

        • Add a link to all alumni communications that allows them to update their contact information​

        • Send returned mailings and emails to KU Alumni Association​

        • Recognize alumni participation throughout the years by publicly displaying records such as past Alumni and Advisory Board presidents and alumni awards​

        • Resurrect the Annual Outstanding Alumni Award​

      • Donors​​

        • Pull list of promised estate gifts and schedule individual donor meetings​​

        • Analyze annual donor list over last 10 years​

        • Establish faculty committee to identify new donors from alumni list and/or social service leaders in Kansas and Missouri​

      • Social Service Agencies and Partners​​

        • Hire Associate Director of Field to work directly with field agencies​​

        • Collaborate with faculty and the Research Office to engage community partners​​

        • Establish a contact database​​

        • Visit agencies with thank you gifts​

        • Display publicly field instructor honors and awards​​

        • Analyze annual research office survey​​

      • Retired faculty and staff​​

        • Develop web page honoring retirees​​

        • Honor School history through the website, social media posts, conference room wall art panels, events such as the 30th Anniversary of the Strengths Perspective​​

        • Update the Transitions book and interview former deans from 1983 to present day​​

  • Encourage involvement in activities with the School​​ (COMPLETE & ONGOING) ​​

    • Develop a detailed involvement list (such as serving on Advisory Board, input through surveying, talking with prospective and current students as mentors, etc.)​​

    • Seek regular input through surveys and focus groups and follow-up by providing results and outcomes​​

    • Increase engagement with young alumni - discussing a young alumni board where members are all over the world acting as ambassadors and invited back to campus for a one-time in-person meeting around Homecoming​​

  • Award grant dollars for community-engaged projects​ (COMPLETE & ONGOING) ​​

  • Increase research partners and funding sources​ (COMPLETE & ONGOING) ​​

  • Establish the Center for Community Engagement and Collaboration​ (COMPLETE & ONGOING) ​​

Goal 2:

Increase professional continuing education options and post graduate advanced certification opportunities for community members to extend their education beyond graduation ​

Tactics

  • Resurrect Professional Continuing Education (PCE) and hired a dedicated PCE director​ (COMPLETE & ONGOING)

  • Produce continuing education and agency support through the Center for Community Engagement & Collaboration (COMPLETE & ONGOING)

  • Utilize online formats to deliver training and events (COMPLETE & ONGOING)

  • Launch online MSW macro certificate and psychopathology course for non-degree licensure requirements​ (COMPLETE & ONGOING)

  • Provide home visitor certificate (COMPLETE & ONGOING)

  • Compile list of community needs through the Dean’s listening tour​ to better understand the current social work practice environment (COMPLETE & ONGOING)

  • Evaluate and collect feedback at each event​ (COMPLETE & ONGOING)

  • Allow non-degree seeking students to enroll in pre-PhD courses ​(IN PROGRESS)

  • Realign Professor of the Practice positions to allow them to dedicate time and expertise to educational community offerings​ (COMPLETE & ONGOING)

Goal 3:

Be champions in innovative and researched solutions and partner with community stakeholders to support and advocate for the needs of our communities, equitably and honestly, and challenge existing structures and systems that impede progress towards a world free of injustices

Tactics

  • Serve the needs of rural communities by identify areas of Kansas that are suffering from a shortage of master’s level social workers and partner with higher education institutions in the area to develop more partnership sites: Garden City, Pittsburg, Salina​ (COMPLETE & ONGOING)

    • Track number of graduate employment rates in Partnership Site areas ​

    • Track number of Partnership Site graduates who choose to stay in the area after graduation ​

  • Increase partnerships and events through the Center for Community Engagement and Collaboration​ (COMPLETE & ONGOING)

  • Foster faculty and researcher projects that have direct impact on policies and advocate for our most vulnerable citizens ​ (COMPLETE & ONGOING)

  • Sponsor local event with social work ties ​ (COMPLETE & ONGOING)

  • Make an impact with economic and social contributions and activities (COMPLETE & ONGOING)

Outcomes

Holding ourselves accountable

Increased community partners​ & requests for faculty & staff involvement

Increased number of donors​ and funding

Increased event attendance​

Increased alumni participation

Reach out

We welcome your thoughts
As always, please reach out with questions or concerns at any time.
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