An Analysis of Professional Roles & Career Patterns of Portland State University School of Social Work graduates, 1964-1973

This was a follow-up study of graduates of Portland State University\u27s School of Social Work from 1964 to 1973. The study gathered information in four areas: (1) graduates\u27 career patterns, (2) tasks graduates presently perform in their jobs, (3) tasks graduates felt are necessary for students to learn in a school of Social Work, and (4) graduates\u27 continuing education needs and experiences. It was hoped that this information would prove valuable in curriculum design, both in the School of Social Work and in the Division of Continuing Education. A stratified random sample of sixty-one graduates, totaling 15.4% of the ten-year population of 396 graduates, was surveyed by mailed questionnaire. Fifty-two of these responded for a return rate of 85.3%. Results from the questionnaire were transferred to punch cards and frequencies, means, standard deviations, and a factor analysis of data were performed by computer. Forty-five of the fifty-two respondents considered themselves to be presently practicing social work. Twenty-four of these respondents worked primarily in direct treatment, and all but one of these reported having collateral duties in administration or facilitative services. Respondents showed almost no interest in pursuing further graduate study in social services or any other field, and indicated only moderate interest in continuing education seminars or classes. Of all continuing education offerings, family therapy received the highest interest score and research received the lowest. Respondents felt that the most important tasks to be taught in graduate school were direct service tasks. A factor analysis was performed to reduce these tasks to more easily reportable shared factors, and the tasks seen as most crucial for learning were those concerned with direct treatment, resource assistance, and client contact. Although respondents believed that direct service tasks should be stressed in the School curriculum, most of the respondents also were performing non-direct service tasks such as leadership and consultation in group process

The impact of emotions on practicum learning

Nine mature aged, experienced practitioners enrolled to gain a BSW qualification in social work were interviewed regarding a course requirement to complete the first placement. At the time of interview no recognition of prior learning for previous experience in the field was made possible for these students. As educators we had experienced considerable hostility from students who believed they should be exempt from completing this course requirement. This paper reports on interviews with the nine students, where we consider how student sentiment about completing the practice learning component might impact upon their learning experience. As anticipated, some students expressed strong negative views about being on placement. However, others were much more positive about the experience. These mixed views prompted us to explore further the relationship between emotion and practice learning. The article begins with a review of the literature concerning mature student engagement with tertiary education, followed by an overview of theory and research related to the ways feelings and emotion influence learning. Using passages from the interviews, expressions of participant anxiety, anger and excitement about the practicum are discussed with the view to extending discourse about practicum learning to include consideration of emotional intelligence and investment.<br /

Language and modern human origins

The evolution of anatomically modern humans is frequently linked to the development of complex, symbolically based language. Language, functioning as a system of cognition and communication, is suggested to be the key behavior in later human evolution that isolated modern humans from their ancestors. Alternatively, other researchers view complex language as a much earlier hominid capacity, unrelated to the origin of anatomically modern Homo sapiens . The validity of either perspective is contingent upon how language is defined and how it can be identified in the paleoanthropological record. In this analysis, language is defined as a system with external aspects relating to speech production and internal aspects involving cognition and symbolism. The hypothesis that complex language was instrumental in modern human origins is then tested using data from the paleontological and archaeological records on brain volume and structure, vocal tract form, faunal assemblage composition, intra-site diversification, burial treatment, ornamentation and art. No data are found to support linking the origin of modern humans with the origin of complex language. Specifically, there are no data suggesting any major qualitative changes in language abilities corresponding with the 200,000-100,000 BP dates for modern Homo sapiens origins proposed by single origin models or the 40,000-30,000 BP period proposed as the time for the appearance of modern Homo sapiens in Western Europe. Instead, there appears to be archaeological and paleontological evidence for complex language capabilities beginning much earlier, with the evolution of the genus Homo . © 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/37660/1/1330360607_ftp.pd

On the Matter of Time

Drawing on several disciplinary areas, this article considers diverse cultural concepts of time, space, and materiality. It explores historical shifts in ideas about time, observing that these have gone full circle, from visions in which time and space were conflated, through increasingly divergent linear understandings of the relationship between them, to their reunion in contemporary notions of space-time. Making use of long-term ethnographic research and explorations of the topic of Time at Durham University’s Institute of Advanced Study (2012–13), the article considers Aboriginal Australian ideas about relationality and the movement of matter through space and time. It asks why these earliest explanations of the cosmos, though couched in a wholly different idiom, seem to have more in common with the theories proposed by contemporary physicists than with the ideas that dominated the period between the Holocene and the Anthropocene. The analysis suggests that such unexpected resonance between these oldest and newest ideas about time and space may spring from the fact that they share an intense observational focus on material events. Comparing these vastly different but intriguingly compatible worldviews meets interdisciplinary aims in providing a fresh perspective on both of them

Women and power: a theoretical approach using the example of copreneurial businesses

Despite the gradual recognition of strategic issues related to the integration of women into the economy, female entrepreneurship continues to receive little attention. Family business research attributes this situation to a lack of recognition given to the (decisive) role of women in these organizations. However, there is one type of family governance that formally acknowledges the man/woman combination: the copreneurial company. Copreneurs are couples who run a business together. This theoretical article highlights the role of women in the copreneurial context by distinguishing between formal and informal power- the latter being primarily held by women, but which is no less influential. The distribution of power reduces opposition costs between partners and the social costs of non-compliance, and improves the clarity of the entrepreneurial structure. Moreover, it increases satisfaction and a feeling of equality between the partners. These results can be generalized and shed light on the role of women in other entrepreneurial and social contexts. This article is published as part as part of a collection on the role of women in management and business