University to Offer Master of Social Work and Bachelor of Music Therapy Degrees Beginning Next Fall

Pacific University's College of Arts & Sciences will begin offering a master of social work degree and a bachelor of music therapy degree beginning in the fall of 2014.

The university's Board of Trustees approved the addition of the music therapy program and the curriculum of the master of social work offering at its fall meeting Dec. 6-7.

The bachelor of music therapy is an intense five-year program designed to give students a path to board certification in the growing profession that melds the arts with health professions.

Students will develop music proficiency, as well as take coursework in psychology, neuroscience, anatomy and healthcare ethics and philosophy.

They also will complete 1,200 hours of clinical work under the supervision of a board certified music therapist.

The program is pending accreditation by the American Music Therapy Association. According to the AMTA, Pacific will become just the third university in the Pacific Northwest to offer the degree.

The master of social work degree is the university's newest graduate-level offering and will be based at the Eugene Campus. The Board of Trustees approved the addition of the program and named Spencer Ziegler the director of the MSW program earlier this year.

Ziegler and other social work faculty developed the curriculum that was approved last week.

The program will provide a two-year course of study and hands-on training to prepare students for a career in social work.

The first year of the program will feature generalist training, while the second year will go more in-depth in one of two concentration areas: health and wellness or Latino studies.

The program will also include significant fieldwork with local social service organizations.

Pacific is just the second institution in Oregon to offer a master of social work degree and will build on its existing bachelor of social work program offered in Forest Grove.