North Central State College and The Ohio State University at Mansfield are teaming up to provide a new opportunity to students studying social work and human services which would allow them to begin their education at NCSC and finish with a bachelor’s or master’s degree at OSU-Mansfield.
Thursday morning, Dr. Tom Gregoire, Dean of the College of Social Work at OSU; Dr. Stephen Gavazzi, Dean and Director at OSU-Mansfield; and Dr. Dorey Diab, President at NCSC signed agreements which formalize the articulation of students studying social work and human services.
With these agreements, NCSC graduates who receive an associate degree in human services or social work under the new curriculum guidelines can continue their studies at OSU-Mansfield.
Dr. Gregg Busch, Dean of Liberal Arts at NCSC, said, “We’re very excited about this. These types of pathways are giving our students opportunities to stay local, keep their education affordable, and be able to get out into the workforce much sooner.”
Dr. Diab shared the same excitement and stated, “We believe this is another anchor that reinforces the foundation of the partnership that exists between the two institutions and serves the needs of our community.”
This opportunity has been in the works for close to 10 years, said Dr. Gregoire. He added, “Not only are we going to meet the needs of a lot of people that are going to get their education up here, but we’re also going to meet the needs of the community, too. Social workers work with the most vulnerable people in any community and there are people out there right now whose lives aren’t going to get better until our students show up.”
Dr. Gavazzi noted, “The thing that’s great about this for our campus is we now can portray to the community that this is a great place to start no matter where you are in your educational process”
“Taking advantage of the fact that a student can roll right through an associate’s to a bachelor’s and master’s degree is a very, very important thing for the Mansfield community and for Richland County in general,” he further stated.
NCSC and OSU-Mansfield share a campus with 600 scenic acres northwest of Mansfield. Together, the institutions serve the needs of more than 5,000 students each year.
These types of pathways are giving our students opportunities to stay local, keep their education affordable, and be able to get out into the workforce much sooner,” said Dr. Gregg Busch.
