SOCIAL ECONOMY SCHOOL OPENS ON OCTOBER 1

Dr Hibbs Says New Institution Has Prospects for Large Number of Students

The Richmond School of Social Economy, which is the first training school for social workers and public health nurses to be established in the South on a permanent basis, will open October 1 at is quarters on the third floor of the Juvenile Court Building. Dr. H. H. Hibbs, Jr., director of the school, and Miss Loomis, his associate, will be assisted in the instruction by the leading social workers and public health officers of Richmond.

Dr. Hibbs reports that the prospects for students outside of Richmond appear to be much brighter than the committee expected. The number of students during the first year of the school work, however, will be definitely limited. The applications which have been accepted so far are all from persons well qualified to succeed in social and public health work. Applications for information about the school have been received in the last two weeks from all over the country. Some have com in from such distant States as Kansas, California, Wisconsin and Ottawa, Can.

The courses will be planned primarily for students who will give their full time to study in preparation for salaried positions in social and public health work. A number, of course, however, will also be open to qualified students living in Richmond who are not able to give their full time to study, and do not wish to prepare themselves for professional work. The war will greatly increase the number and seriousness of the social and health problems in every community. The number of well-trained social workers, therefore, both in paid and volunteer must be greatly increased to cope with situations, which will become worse as the war continues.

Courses will be offered in preventive medicine, rural health problems, anti-tuberculosis, social science, introduction to social work, rural social work, case work with families, institutional social work, recreation and juvenile court and probation. All of these courses will be given in the afternoon and each will meet two hours weekly.

Source:

(1917 September 26). Richmond Times-Dispatch, p.3.

SOCIAL ECONOMY SCHOOL OPENS WITH 30 STUDENTS

Attendance Exceeds Expectations of Those Who Have Projected New Institution.

The Richmond School of Social Economy opened yesterday. The opening address was delivered by Dr. J. T. Mastin, secretary of the State Board of Charities and Corrections. Dr. Mastin took for his subject “The Nature of Social Work.” He said that he thought that there was no term so difficult to define and clearly expressed as social work. In spite of this difficulty, however, the public is coming to understand the nature and purpose of social work, and to appreciate the value of scientific methods.

Dr. Mastin expressed his surprise at the number of students attending the course. He said he had followed the development of the school since the project was first proposed several years ago.

He told the students that he thought that the time would come when they would be proud to say that they had studied in the first training school for social workers to be established in the South. He said that the establishment of this school was one of the most important steps forward in social work which had occurred in a decade.

Dr. H. H. Hibs, the director, announced that the registration had been a great deal larger than had been expected. Every seat in the classroom was filled, and it appears that the quarters of the school are outgrown at the outset. Thirty students so far have registered. Eight of these are from points in Virginia outside Richmond, and two are from North Carolina.

Source:

(1917 October 5). Richmond Times-Dispatch, p. 5.

SPECIAL COURSES FOR VOLUNTEER WORKERS

School of Local[sic] Economy Announces Afternoon Classes in Health and Social Service.

The Richmond School of Social Economy, a training school for social workers and public health nurses, announces the beginning of a new course of instruction for social workers. The school, which began on October 1, provides in its morning and afternoon classes a course for social workers and public health nurses who are preparing for professional positions. But to provide training for volunteers briefer courses are to be offered in the afternoon classes. This, of course, is the result of the great demand the war has made on the great body of professional nurses and social workers. It is essential, therefore, to increase the body of the professional and the volunteer workers.

It is hoped that a large registration in these courses will follow their announcement. Already the nurses of the Instructive Visiting Nurses’ Association, of the Health Department, of the senior class of the Memorial and the Sheltering Arms Hospitals have registered in these classes, which are as follows.

1. General introduction to social work. Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5 to 6 P. M. This is a course in general principles and methods, and will cover in a briefer and more concentrated manner all the subjects of the regular courses in the social work department.

2. Social science, Wednesday from 4 to 6 P. M. This course is offered through the co-operation of the faculty of Richmond College , and will cover the principles of economics, political science, sociology and social psychology. The lectures will be given by Professors D. R. Anderson, W. J. Young, E. L. Ackiss and D. N. Davidson.

3. Preventive medicine and public health. Mondays and Fridays from 4:30 to 5:30 P. M. under the direction of Dr. Ennion G. Williams. This is principally a course covering all the phases of sanitation and the prevention of communicable diseases.

These courses will begin in the week of October 22-29. The first and the third are eight months’ courses of two terms. No. 2 will end February 1, at the ending of the first term.

Source: 

(1917 October 14) Richmond Times-Dispatch, p. 3.

SERIES OF LECTURES

Richmond School of Social Economy Gets Work for Winter Well Under Way

   Getting well under way for the winter’s work, the Richmond School of Social Economy is enlisting the services of Richmond people whose work along certain lines has made it possible to secure them as lecturers before the student body.

Included in this last are the following:

Dr. J. T. Mastin, secretary of the State Board of Charities and Corrections; Judge J. Hoge Ricks, Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court; Rev. W. J. Maybee, D. D., Children’s Home Society of Virginia; Miss Helen Blanon, head of social service department, Howard Hospital, Philadelphia, formerly of Richmond; Mrs. Eula Young Morrison, director of publicity, War Relief Association of Virginia, a member of the staff of The Times-Dispatch.

Source:

(1917 October 22). Richmond Times-Dispatch, p. 8.