UTC's social work program, which was stripped of its academic accreditation in 2005, regained its national accreditation after a nearly five-year overhaul, administrators said.
The program's new status with the Council on Social Work Education will be retroactive, so students who have graduated since 2006 can say they earned their degree through an accredited program.
"It was a very difficult process," said Dr. Valerie Radu, head of the social work program at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. "The council has one of the most rigorous accrediting processes in the country."
The social work program, which now accepts 25 students per year through a competitive application process, lost its accreditation in August 2005 because of faculty turnover and an outdated curriculum. For the past few years, the program has been under review by the Council for Social Work Education and was granted temporary accreditation in late 2006.
Fast factsMore than 60 percent of mental health treatment is delivered by social workers.More than 600,000 people in the U.S. hold social work degrees.The Department of Veterans Affairs - the largest employer of social workers in the country - employs more than 6,000 social workers to assist veterans and their families.The need for social workers is expected to grow twice as fast as any other occupation, especially in gerontology, home health care, substance abuse, private social service agencies and school social work.Source: National Association of Social Workers
Accreditation officials visited the program between November 2009 and February 2010 to review its readiness for full accreditation status. The program's lack of accreditation before this month, made UTC the only campus within the University of Tennessee system without 100 percent accreditation.
The program will be reviewed again in 2014, officials said.
"We're proud of them," UTC Provost Phil Oldham said. "This is the gold standard for social work programs and we've been re-engineering the program for the past few years with the goal in mind. It's a significant accomplishment."
As part of the program, students complete 400 hours of field internships, and Dr. Radu said 50 percent of students go on to earn a master's degree in social work. The other 50 percent go into jobs, she said.
Accreditation is a requirement for social work licensure and also for admission into most graduate social work programs.
"Students have options open to them now that the program is accredited," Dr. Radu said.
Having a vibrant training program at UTC is important because social work jobs are expected to increase by 22 percent during the next decade, she said.
"I always tell students a bachelor's in social work is one of the most versatile degrees because you graduate with a set of generalist practice skills which are applicable in just about any type of practice setting," she said. "You can work just as effectively with an older adult as you can with a teen mom."