A Delegation of Perm State University Visited Iowa State University
The university partnership programme of the ‘Eurasia’ fund is directed towards the support of the co-operation between American and Russian universities. Professors of Perm State University visited an American university from the 2nd to the 11th of October to familiarize themselves with the American model concerning the organization of students’ fieldwork.
The associate professors Svetlana Gasumova (the project leader), Elena Gritsenko, Larisa Coboleva, Tatiana Popkova, the professor Vladimir Bronnikov, and the senior professor Milana Grigoreva gave lectures in English on the current directions of the State’s social policy in Russia, to the professors and students of Iowa State University. The lectures of the Permian scholars encountered a genuine interest from their foreign colleagues and students.
The participants in the project exchanged experiences in relation to students’ fieldwork, discussed the methods of organization of such fieldwork and met with the fieldwork instructors. Bruce Harreld, the President of Iowa State University greeted the delegation.
Furthermore, the professors of PSU discovered a few state institutions, as well a series of organizations and establishments working in the social sector, including:
- Iowa Medical and Classification Center at Oakdale jailhouse, that is part of the Iowa's Department of Correction, which possesses on its premises a hospice and offers to the prisoners a service of canine therapy (involving the use of dogs), etc.;
- The Centre for Disabilities and Development, a rehabilitation centre within the University of Iowa Children's Hospital;
- A public school in Des Moines, Iowa organizing a programme of social and medical help for its students (giving out foodstuffs to children from poverty-stricken families, food banks, etc.);
- Women’s Resource & Action Center, which operates from Iowa State University and leads a protection programme for the victims of rape;
- The department of the large international nonprofit fundraising organization «United Way» for eastern Central Iowa (in Des Moines), which collects the generous donations from the population and the businesses and redistributes the resources, on a competitive basis, amongst non-governmental organization conducting social work;
- «Brain Injury Alliance» of Iowa which works on the prevention of such trauma, raises awareness of this problem's importance, leads research, but also forms and supports people with brain injuries and their relatives;
- «Primary Health Care», a nonprofit organization providing basic medical care to poor citizens;
- The National Association of Social Workers's local chapter in the State of Iowa (in Des Moines).
The material on the experience of social work abroad gathered during the visit, will be used for the teaching of these disciplines at PSU and in scientific works.
In PSU publishing centre, a collection of the project’s materials – including the translation in Russian of the documents relative to the organization of students’ fieldwork from the State University of Iowa – is being prepared for publication.
PSU’s department of social work and conflict studies thanks and expresses its gratitude to the President of the University of Iowa, Bruce Harreld, the dean of the social work Faculty, Sara Sanders, the director of fieldwork and experiment, Lily French, the Associate professor and leader of the project, Carolyn Hartley, the lecturer Amy Butler, the associate professor Aislinn Conrad-Hiebner, for the organization of the visit, and to the other professors who were involved in the visit of PSU’s delegation.
Presentations in English:
- Vladimir Bronnikov: The Organization of rehabilitation of the disabled with stroke consequences in the regional Center for complex rehabilitation
- Svetlana Gassymova: The participation of the Perm University Social Work and Conflict Studies Department in the Independent Quality Assessment of Social Services
- Milana Grigoreva: Why is Social Work in Russia the Way it is or the History of the Social Work Formation in Russia
- Tatiana Popkova: Globalization of the Educational Process:Field Experience as a Transnational Interaction of Views
- Larissa Soboleva: Social Infrastructure of the Perm Region
- Larissa Soboleva: On the Organization of Field Experience in Government Authorities of the Perm Region.
For information
In 2015–2016 within the framework of the university partnership programme of the ‘Eurasia’ fund a joint project between the Social Work and Conflict Studies from PSU and the Social Work School of Iowa State University received a grant. This project is entitled ‘Field Agency Engagement and Supervision Models for Educating Social Work Students: A Comparison of Approaches between Russia and the US.’ In May 2016, a delegation from Iowa State University visited Perm State University.
Department of Social Work and Conflict Studies
