My name is Mai and I'm the faculty advisor for this team. My overall goal is to support my students in increasing critical awareness of their identity and developmental needs so that they can continue to sharpen their communication, research, clinical, coping skills and healing process. In general:
I expect students to develop content expertise in two to three research topics during the graduate program. In other words, I expect students to continuously engage in research activity, critically read research documents, and prepare manuscripts for publication throughout their graduate training. In my group, students should expect to be deeply involved in all aspects of research and be comfortable with working independently over time. It is important to discuss and determine authorship when students are collaborating with people in our lab or with me. The minimal benchmark required in our lab is that students will need to submit at least a first-authored publication in the second or third year.
The School of Social Work website provides a list of degree requirements and benchmarks (e.g., courses, field work and research projects) from the program. Graduate handbook is available here. Field work is the cornerstone of social work education, where students will gain rich learning experiences in making real impact on internship. The University of Illinois follows the licensure requirement in the state for students to be able find job and practice. The School of Social Work at University of Illinois has the Field Education team, comprised of clinical faculty who have practice experience in the field of social work, will guide students throughout the internship process. A faculty liaison will be assigned to each student and will assist the student in securing an internship placement in an organization appropriate to their learning needs and interests. The liaison will provide support and guidance during the duration of the internship experience. While in the internship, students also will participate in a concurrent, integrative seminar course, taught by faculty who are specifically devoted to field education.
Email is the preferred way to reach me but for urgent question, texting can be used. I typically respond within three business days. In addition to regular lab and project meetings during the semester, all students can schedule individual meetings as needed and usually students in the first two years may need more support and check-in meeting. In individual meeting, students are expected to maintain topics of discussion or concern and will organize the time and agenda of these meetings.