Ja-V 15, 1D7G
School of Social Work director:
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By Theresa Foreman
The problems of NlTs School of Social Work are part of
the reason Hcbart Burch decided to accept tbe position of
director of the school, sold Burch, who wCl assume the
director's duties next mouth."
"The problems the school is facing will be a challenge,"
Burch said. 1 wouldn't wast to sit on a fat schooL"
The Graduate School cf Social Work was threatened last
year with loss of accreditation by the Council on Social
Work Education, bat accreditation was extended
tentatively until 1977, after the UNL and University cf
Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) programs were merged at
UNO.-. '
Curcb said be is confident the school will be accredited in
good standing by the end cf nest year. "The threatened
loss of accreditation is a crisis bet with changes and with
the support I expect to receive from the university, we wEl
be accredited if we do our work," he said.
, ' ": Ne revsSstasa p yrrscd J
Burch said he is not planning a "revolution"" in the school,
bat that this fall he will be reviewing and "presumably
revising" its gradoate curriculum. He will be recruiting
new faculty members, Burch said, to 3 vacant positions
and one new position. He saM he was not sere the new
faculty members could be hired by September.
"Nebraska's School of Social Work has a unique
opportunity to serve both the rural and urban social needs
of the state and the region," Burch said.
Reasons for temporarily denying accreditation included:
Lack of university support for the schooL
Lack of coBgruity between the missions of the Lincoln
and Omaha campuses.
A minimal number of racial minorities in the faculty
and student bodies.
Uneven quality in the school's curriculum.
Burch said that after talking with members of the
CbcneO on Social Work Education he found another reason
for the accreditation problem was lack of information about
Arts and Sciences College requirements outside the School
cf Social Work. '
He said he wi3 try to find out why this information was
not available and said he weald send it to the accreditation
team if possible. -
Fmanefsl eutlsck better
Eurch said the financial problems of the school are not as
severe as they were last year when the accreditation team
visited the schooL
"I cannot say right now whether the funding is adequate
but it is better than it was because we are doing less. The
school was spread too thin," he said. He said the scope of
the program has narrowed since programs do not have to
be maintained on both campuses. Burch added he would
Eke to continue freshman and sophomore courses on the
UNL campus and said he hopes to continue student
internships in social work organizations in Lincoln.
Burch said his 20 years of social work experience have
made him qualified to Mpu3 the school together."
"My career has been one cf leadership in bringing
disparate organizations together without being able to
force them." His background includes program
development, he said.
Executive director
Burch is cow executive director of the National
Assembly cf National Voluntary Health and Social Welfare
Organizations. -
The assembly is made up cf 43 national organization?,
such as the American Bed Cross and the Boy Scouts cf
America. '
Burch said the locate cf the school was another factor
in his decision to accept the director's job.
"I have never liked the congestion, the pollution and the
noise of the East Coast metropolitan areas," Burch said,
"but it has been the price I had to pay to do what I wished."
Burch will be paid an annual, salary cf as
director. This is about $7,CC3 less than his salary cow, he
said.
' "Money has never been a factor in my decision to accept
a job," he said.
Burch will replace Ronald OzaM, acting director cf the
School of Social Work.
Burch's wife, Genevieve, will join NU as a research
assistant in the Center for Applied Urban Research.
ggsuOo u . mum
UNL Chancellor Roy Young will ask the NU Board cf
Regents Saturday to approve the establishment of an
Energy Research and Development Center at UNL.
The board will meet at S am. in Regents hall, 3333
HokLvgeSt.
In an explanation to the board. Young saM that in view
of the urgent snd broad scale energy problems confronting
the state and the nation and the numerous capabilities
available at UNL to study problems associated with energy
conservation and energy resource development, UNL
should establish the center. v -
The center would develop a broad-range program of
energy studies in several disciplines and would coordinate
energy-related research, training and public service
programs at UNL, Young said.
Young said the energy studies programs would be
concerned with planning energy consumption, energy
generation and distribution and its environmental effects.
Budgets on agenda
The board wCl approve the university's 1375-77
operating budget and will consider guidelines for the
1S77-73 operating and capital construction budgets.
This year's operating budget had to be revised because
the Legislature cut $1 million from it. Next year's budget
must be given to Gov. J. James Exon by Sept. 15.
University of Nebraska Medical Center Cb"rQor
Robert Sparks wCl ask the board to approve a $25 Pregrca
and Facility Fee to be paid each semester by medieni
center students for student health services at the medical
center. Sparks' will ask that coverage for a student's
dependents be available fur the same rate which students
would pay...
The board also will be asked to approve a contract with
the Nuclear Regulatory Ccmmisskn for 53,222 to develop
a detailed study cf the seismic risk factors cf the Nemaha
Ridge Area in Nebraska. Ia an explanation. Yossg said
several nuclear and fossil fud plant site studies ia
Nebraska have been prepared recently by industry to -evaluate
seismic risk foctsrs. The studies were ecmpkted
by the Nuclear Regslitcry Ccmmicsina but they show a
lck cf continuity across state lines.
Young said the new study would be feslpfcl in site :
evaluation for present trd future psrer plsmts.
An agreement between the university and the Nebrasia
Department cf Ikcnosk Dsro&pipst hen the tnda for .
the rtgsnts tpprovsL
The Department cf Ikssssda Dcrt!32rt, with a
grant fxesa tha UJ5. DpsrtsscBt cl E!,ft. Ef-ra tad
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it lyiuvjiL omoirgjy ggohlgd3
Welfare, has asked the university's Department of
Psychology to assist in a project which would provide
county officials with information and explanations of the
laws governing the processing cf mental health and
mentally retarded persons in public systems. Bruce Sales,
associate professor of psychology, would be project
director. - ,
The regents are expected to approve Osmund GiDbertson
as chairman cf the UNL. Department cf Agricultural
Education. GUbertson is the chairman of the Agricultural
Education Dept. at California Polytechnic State
University. If approved, he will succeed Roy Dillon, who is
serving as interim department chairman.
Also scheduled for board approval is the
recommendation of Daryl Swanson as manager of the new
Nebraska East Union, scheduled for completion in
December. Swanson is now assistant director of the
Nebraska Union on the city campus.
"'V
V , :
tki&izlcmft rocstop could be beginning
of naiv &t progmm at U&L P. 4
rot by Steve Caeca
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