[MSW] Spring Schedule

[Rebecca Judd]

Good Morning Everyone,

I want to respond to several points in the email below that was distributed to concerned students.

First, the need for a schedule change was brought to my attention in the Mesquite parking lot by Samantha and I told her at that time I would look into the issue and make the changes, but it would be at least a week before I had an opportunity to investigate. I also assured her that we would work out a solution.

Second, we have never told students specifically to "take additional time away from work" or "to take SWK 595 in the summer and graduate of Summer 2016". Janis Cirkles did respond to requests indicating there were other sections of SWK 595 open and the one in Mesquite was full. However, she was unaware of a potential time conflict among the sections you were directed to consider.

Third, the only oversight on my part was not additionally providing the options of SWK 505 and SWK 506 in the evenings in Mesquite. The current schedule posted is the exact schedule offered each Spring semester.  The problem is in SWK 595 in Mesquite being full. The problem is NOT a scheduling error or oversight.

Because I believe emails deserve a response, I spent a great deal of time responding to emails on this topic while I was out of town at NASW conference, despite Janis sending out the email that adjustments will be made.

The reality is course schedules are not always optimum to meet "every" student's individual desires and compromises must happen on all fronts. I can in all confidence say, there has NEVER been a time in the history of TAMU-Commerce's MSW program that a student was forced to delay his/her graduation due our schedule and refusing to allow exceptions. And not myself nor any other faculty have verbalized to current students they would have to postpone graduation.

So, I will ask one more time, please be patient until I have time to look at the situation from all angles. As history shows, we will either open an additional section in Mesquite or make other adjustments. However, it will be the end of the week before I will have an opportunity to talk with faculty involved and make an informed decision.

Regards,


Rebecca G. Judd Ph.D., LMSW-IPR
Associate Professor
Department Head/Director
School of Social Work
Texas A&M University-Commerce

(903)468-8190 office phone


On Friday, November 13, 2015, Julie Diffenderffer <Email at schoolemail.org<https://outlook.tamuc.edu/owa/UrlBlockedError.aspx>> wrote:
Dear colleagues,

This email pertains to those students who are needing SWK 505,506,554 & 595 in order to graduate in the Spring.

As you all know,  SWK 505 & 506 were not initially offered as evening courses but have since been added to the schedule however there are now scheduling conflicts with SWK 595. We have been informed that SWK 595 on Tuesday at the Mesquite campus is full and they will not be offering any permits for that class. We have been instructed to select another SWK 595 offering. The only offerings are Monday evening in Commerce, at the same time SWK 506 is being offered in the evening. Or to select SWK 595 on Wednesday in McKinney, at the same time SWK 505 is being offered in the evening. So you can see the problem/challenge. We appreciate that they opened up sections SWK 505 & 506 in the evening for those working professionals; i.e. who work full-time, go to school full-time, and doing an internship, all with the goal of graduating May 2016 according to the degree plan developed for us by the university. How does this remedy the problem of evening class offerings when there is a conflict between 3 of the class offerings; SWK 505, 506, & 595?

It has been advised that we either modify our schedule based on the current class offerings; take additional time away from work or take SWK 595 in the summer and graduate Summer 2016. For many of us we do not have the flexibility with our employer to take time off from work and for others we have been on this path approximately 3 years with the end in sight of May 2016. That path was developed by the university in accordance with the sequencing of classes offered at certain semesters and due to a scheduling error/oversight, some of us may have to either postpone graduation a semester or jeopardize our lively hood.

We have been advised to contact Dr. Judd by email in order to communicate the need for these courses to be offered in the evening and at times that don't conflict with other needed courses. Please help raise awareness that this is an issue and that we would like a workable solution for those that are working professionals.

** I just received an email from Janis Cirkles as of this morning (11-13-2015) that "MSW students registering for spring classes schedule adjustments will be made next week." I still think it is important that we let them know who/how many people this impacts.

Thank you in advance for supporting this effort.


________________________________
From: Janis Cirkles
Sent: Friday, November 13, 2015 10:39 AM
To: 'msw at tamuc.edu'
Cc: Rebecca Judd
Subject: Spring Schedule

MSW students registering for spring classes schedule adjustments will be made next week.

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