Reception to Welcome Dr. Betsy Randall as MSW Coordinator in Southern
West Virginia

On Thursday, September 6, 2007, from 5-7 pm, the West Virginia
University Division of Social Work will host a Networking and Welcome
Reception to announce the appointment of Dr. Elizabeth (Betsy) Randall,
PhD, as Coordinator of the Master of Social Work (MSW) Program in
southern West Virginia. The Division has a long history of offering the
complete MSW curriculum in Charleston and Beckley and plans to do so for
a long time to come.

Betsy Randall came to higher education with extensive practice
experience in the field of behavioral health, including work with
individuals, couples, families, and groups, in both inpatient and
outpatient settings. Her practice experience was further enhanced
through the completion of a year-long doctoral level internship in the
Department of Psychiatry and Health Behavior at the Medical College of
Georgia, where she trained side by side with psychiatry and psychology
residents and learned much about the way behavioral health professionals
from other disciplines view their craft (and the world). She also
learned a lot about medical model thinking, which has come in very handy
(yet also increased her appreciation for the unique aspects of the
social work perspective on behavioral health practice!).

The great majority of Betsy’s practice experience was gained in rural
settings, and although she could see the New York City skyline (on a
clear day) from the hill behind the home in New Jersey where she was
raised, Betsy has felt more at home in rural areas than she ever did in
the shadow of the Big Apple. So for her, coming to West Virginia to
begin her career in social work education in 1994 seemed natural and
fitting, and these feelings have only grown deeper over time.

Betsy has found the mission of bringing social work education to
place-bound people through off-campus programs to be deeply meaningful,
and has also enjoyed working with distance education technologies to
offer courses to students all over the state simultaneously. She now
moves into a role including more administrative responsibilities for
program coordination in the southern part of the state, and is looking
forward to these new challenges and opportunities, as social work
education continues to expand and strengthen its potential as a force
for positive social change in West Virginia.

The September 6 reception will be held at the Charleston Area Medical
Center, headquarters of the Southern West Virginia MSW Program. The
address is 3110 MacCorkle Ave., SE, Charleston, WV 25304. Please RSVP
your attendance to administrative secretary Judy Newhouse at (304)
347-1331 or [log in to unmask]