Julia Kleinschmit is a Clinical Associate Professor in the School of Social Work at the University of Iowa—but she doesn’t teach on the university’s gold-domed main campus in Iowa City.
Kleinschmit is a Bow Valley, Nebraska-based social worker and professor whose specialties include rural issues, social justice, disproportionate minority contact, and the overrepresentation of Native American children in child welfare systems. Since 1999, she has coordinated the UI’s part-time, three-year MSW (Master of Social Work) Program in Sioux City, Iowa.
She has just been selected by the University of Iowa’s Council of Teaching to receive the 2020 President and Provost Award for Teaching Excellence—a coveted honor that represents the highest level of achievement in teaching given at the University of Iowa. Just four faculty members are selected each year throughout the University of Iowa and its eleven colleges.
“Julia’s selection for this award is a testament to her commitment to students and their success, and her effectiveness as an instructor,” said Sara Sanders, MSW, PhD, Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives and Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the UI College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Sanders received the President and Provost Award for Teaching Excellence in the 2014-2015 academic year and served as the Director of the UI School of Social Work from 2015 to 2019.
Sanders said, “The award is a tremendous honor for any University of Iowa faculty member to receive. It’s a recognition of highest excellence and integrity in both instruction and relationship, with students and fellow faculty members. I think many people may not expect that level of excellence and connection in an off-campus, distance-learning, often online environment—but we do.”
The University of Iowa’s Sioux City MSW Program is a part-time, hybrid model. Students from western Iowa, eastern Nebraska and South Dakota, and southwest Minnesota attend class 1-2 nights a week and on some weekends, meeting either online or face-to-face at Briar Cliff University. There is no out-of-state tuition for this program – all students pay the same rate. The Sioux City program makes earning a highly-regarded and marketable MSW degree from the University of Iowa accessible to a vast swath of people who may not otherwise be able to pursue grad school, whether due to distance, life circumstances, professional obligations, or finances.
Kleinschmit said, “The Sioux City program was created to help meet a persistent shortage of professional master level social workers in the quad-state area. Nationally, we know that the need for social workers will grow by 11% in the next ten years. MSWs work in hospitals, schools, mental health organizations, aging, end-of-life, child welfare, economic and neighborhood development, and many, many other areas. Our Sioux City part-time program makes it possible for people to learn while keeping their jobs – and without having to leave their communities. As someone who grew up on a farm and now lives in a village of 125, I know how important that is. Our communities deserve high-quality social workers. At the U of I, we’re committed to making that happen.”
The University of Iowa School of Social Work houses the National Resource Center for Family Centered Practice, which recently conducted a statewide social work workforce assessment with the National Association of Social Workers-Iowa Chapter. The study demonstrated a growing need for social workers across many specialties and communities in Iowa, and revealed that employers in rural communities in particular struggle to find qualified social workers.
The Sioux City MSW Program admits a new cohort of up to 40 students every three years.