The Council on Field Education (COFE) is a council of the Commission on Educational Policy (COEP). COFE advances the role of field education as the signature pedagogy in social work education by promoting, collaborating with, recommending, and distributing information to social work field educators and related membership organizations. The council actively participates in discussions regarding the Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards to ensure and strengthen the integration of theory and practice.
Charge from the Commission
The Council on Field Education shall have the following functions:
- To provide leadership and consultation to CSWE and COEP by recommending policy statements and accreditation standards that advance field education as the signature pedagogy of social work education.
- To plan education and training for field educators and others interested in social work field education, including reviewing and accepting proposals for the Field Directors’ Development Institute at CSWE's Annual Program Meeting in coordination with CSWE’s Council on Conferences and Faculty Development.
- To develop initiatives and disseminate relevant knowledge to assist and/or inform social work educators and various constituencies about field education.
- To promote curriculum integration between classroom and field education among members of the professional community by encouraging systematically designed, supervised, coordinated and evaluated field education models to educate competent beginning professional social workers.
- To collaborate with stakeholder groups and membership organizations such as the North American Network of Field Educators and Directors and the Association of Baccalaureate Social Work Program Directors.
- To employ a nomination process that assures Field Council representation using a transparent process that is geographically broad and embodies diversity.
Leadership & Members
Lindsey Trout, MEd, LCSW
MSW Field Director, Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Chair
Anne Vande Berg, DSW, LISW, PhD
BSW Program Director, Department Chair, Field Director, and Professor at Winona State University
Candace Harrell, DSW, LMSW, LGSW
MSW Practice Education Director at Capella University
Cherry Malone, LMSW, BSW
Clinical Assistant Professor and MSW Field Director at the University of Memphis
Courtney McDermott, MSW, LCSW
Associate Teaching Professor and Director of Field Education, School of Social Work at the University of Missouri-St. Louis
Dezette Johnson, PhD
Faculty and MSW Practicum Education Director at Eastern Oregon University
Frank Gaetani, MSW, LCSW
Director of Field Education at the Catholic University of America
Jacquelyn Garcia, LCSW
Clinical Assistant Professor, Practicum Director of the School of Social Work at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte
Jean Sienkewicz, MSW
Senior Lecturer, Practicum Education Coordinator at the University of Vermont
Kanako Okuda, DSW, MSW, LCSW-R
Assistant Dean, Practicum Education & Clinical Associate Professor at Boston University
Kari Meyer, MSW, LMSW
College of Staten Island, CUNY
Kia Lee, MSW, LICSW, MBA
BSW Field Education Director and Assistant Professor at St. Catherine University
Laura Krishnan-Mackie, MSW, LICSW
Assistant Professor and Director of Online MSW Practicum Education, School of Business & Social Sciences, at Colby-Sawyer College
Lena Allen, MSW, LCSW
Field Education Coordinator & Lecturer at California State University, Monterey Bay
Lindsey Rinehart, MSW, LICSW
Field Education Director and Service Assistant Professor at West Virginia University
Mohammad Mostafizur Rahman Khan, PhD, MA, MSW, MPS
Assistant Professor at Stephen F. Austin State University
Traci Lilley, MSW, LCSW, BACS
Associate Director, School of Social Work, and Director of Field Education at Louisiana State University