Music Therapy and The Strategic Plan of the University
Centrality of Music Therapy Program to Strategic Plan:
Stewardship and Sustainability:
The music therapy program has a track record of how it has contributed “in meaningful ways to the vibrancy of our region and state through our service, volunteerism, and applied research efforts” through a series of over 50 grants involving applied research which resulted in direct services to agencies in the Chippewa Valley, including nursing homes and other long term care facilities, jail and juvenile detention programs, and hospitals as well as through the on campus Music Therapy Clinic. In addition a national service learning grant was received which engaged non-music therapy majors in community service at Sacred Heart Hospital for one year. Students who have joined in community service with music therapy have chosen to continue their volunteer commitments and have recruited others to join them, even after graduation when they move on to start new programs in jails, orphanages, and community facilities in their local places of employment, demonstrating sustainability and stewardship. Each week the music therapy program on campus services over 1000 people weekly in the Chippewa Valley.
Innovation and Continuous Improvement:
In the Strategic Plan student learning assessment is listed
as a critical component of the students’ own continuous improvement
efforts. Each music therapy student develops a Personal Professional Growth
Plan which defines measures to use to evaluate each area of competency
from the national professional competencies for the field of music therapy
as well as for any areas of special interest or need related to the practice
of music therapy and personal wellness.
Leadership:
The Strategic Plan notes that the “learning
goals support the development of student leaders, especially when
the lessons in the classroom are supported through connected curricular
and co-curricular learning experiences for leadership development.”
The curricular and co-curricular learning experiences have certainly resulted
in the recognition of our students as leaders. Within an 8-year period
5 music therapy majors have won Leadership Awards on campus, 3 have been
presented Outstanding Senior Awards, 3 served as Blugold Fellows, 1
was the first McNair Fellow to obtain a PhD, and 1 served as
a Diversity Mentor.
The plan continues to state that “individuals from all sectors of
the Eau Claire community have called upon UW-Eau Claire to assert its
leadership in improving the quality of life in western Wisconsin. Such
leadership manifests in many ways — the intellectual contributions
of faculty, staff and students; the economic impact of new facilities;
the volunteer leadership by members of the campus; and the programmatic
offerings that benefit adult and nontraditional learners. To foster civic
leadership we will identify better ways to connect the university with
the community, linking needs and resources and communicating opportunities
and university resources.” Music Therapy students and faculty regularly
give presentations to community groups and agencies in addition to serving
over 1000 weekly. A Citizen Scholar grant connected service learning students
who were not music therapy majors with Music Therapy student leaders at
Sacred Heart Hospital for two semesters.
Transformative Learning:
Quoting from the Strategic Plan:
“Transformative learning will be built on our strong base of academic
excellence as expressed through the many innovative programs already in
place at UW-Eau Claire: undergraduate research, service learning, student
internships, and active collaborations between and among all committed
parties. Its foundation will be the five learning goals of a UW-Eau Claire
liberal education: knowledge of human culture and the natural world, creative
and critical thinking, effective communication, individual and social
responsibility, and respect for diversity among people. It will be enriched
through a supportive learning climate that offers opportunities outside
as well as inside the
classroom for self-understanding, social responsibility, and personal
development. It will be powered by faculty and staff committed to student
success.”
As
noted previously, Music Therapy integrates research with service. Each
student completes an internship and accumulates a total of 1200 clinical
hours under supervision across the educational experience. The clientele
served are ethnically diverse, and this interaction results in respect
for their differences as well as in a broadening of the educational content.
Finding ways to reach into the worlds of the clients who are served demands
creativity and critical thinking skills, and implementation of treatment
plans requires effective communication. The students recognize the importance
of personal and social responsibility through their work inside the criminal
justice system and the health care systems, especially in the long-term
care facilities where so many needs are encountered and so few people
are available to meet those needs. Political and socio-economic lessons
are learned first-hand.
Centrality of Music Therapy Program to Learning Goals:
Learning Goal 1. Foster purposeful learning
Quoting from the Strategic Plan:
“Purposeful learning is transformative because it requires awareness
of the act of learning in all of its complexity and power. Learning in
this fashion forges an active partnership among the student, teacher,
university, and community. With the help of the partnership, always open
to growth and change, the student creates a learning plan marked by intellectual
expansion; rigorous development of academic and professional knowledge;
exchanges across disciplinary boundaries; meaningful integration of experiential
learning; personal, social and cross-cultural growth; and abundant opportunities
for surprise, insight, and transformation.”
In the Personal Professional Growth
Plans developed by Music Therapy majors the student intentionally integrates
community interaction alone as well as with the professor to develop a
plan of pursuit for meeting the professional competencies and for any
other learning goals specific to the student’s interests and needs.
The Strategic Plan continues:
“This kind of learning is best promoted by purposeful, strategic
teaching. The professor understands the value of liberal education, broadly
envisioned, and develops strategies to help students take in the facts
and knowledge of their world, its cultures, and its history;
appreciate the interconnectedness of all knowledge, ideas, values, and
truth; and accept the lifelong human imperative to develop and discover
new knowledge in whatever area best suits each person’s gifts. This
ambitious project is best supported by active, vigorous, deeply engaged
student services and activities beyond the classroom that help to develop
the whole person. Such activities empower each learner to nurture the
growth of a unique and durable personal character, to create strategies
for overcoming challenges and learning from failures and frustrations
as well as successes, and to awaken a sense that much is expected of those
to whom much has been given.”
The process of research involving
students and faculty from Music Therapy and other disciplines to assess
and design a new curriculum incorporated the content above. The letters
of support from the community members have served as a testimony to the
amount given back. The students themselves champion the amount received
on a daily basis and also present with pride at the national and regional
conferences when they describe the many valuable educational structures
at UW – Eau Claire.
Learning Goal 2. Promote connected learning
Quoting from the Strategic Plan: “Our goal is to help all students,
faculty, and staff see student learning inside and outside the classroom
as interconnected, inseparable from other courses, other programs, other
citizens of the globe. Connected learning embraces four distinct characteristics.
First, connected learning provides an environment in which students, faculty,
and staff have many and varied ways to interact with other learners, especially
those who may be from different backgrounds, abilities, ethnicities, or
who provide alternative perspectives. Connected learning serves the growing
diversity of learners across our state as well as offering opportunities
for students to study with and study about diverse ideas, cultures, and
perceptions. Such learning is essential if students are to be prepared
to think creatively, understand complexity, and live as citizens in a
changing society.
Connected learning provides multiple pathways for students to succeed
— building on their academic strengths, addressing their weaknesses,
and expanding their capacity to learn in varied ways.” In two required
courses as well as in the majority of placements for one clinical practica,
the Music Therapy students work with people who are African-American,
Hmong, Hispanic, and Native American. In their Personal Professional Growth
Plans the Music Therapy majors design activities to help themselves use
their strengths to target their weaknesses.
The
Strategic Plan continues:
“Second, connected learning reaches across disciplinary divides
and bridges the theoretical gaps between one college or department and
another. In this approach we are more interested in how our students encounter
the world and its facts, knowledge, and ideas, and less concerned about
which label should be attached to a course or program. We will commit
resources to achieve interdisciplinary and beyond-disciplinary synergies.”
As noted previously, the music therapy research as well as the clinical
courses have integrated work with faculty from other disciplines, and
these faculty have joined Music Therapy in regional and national presentations,
enriching our curriculum and our lives. It is a two-way street as the
Music Therapy professor has also taught courses in other departments.
Non-music therapy majors have reported much appreciation for the five
general education courses offered by Music Therapy, and many non-majors
have chosen to complete Service Learning projects with music therapy.
“Third, connected learning expands learning opportunities within
and
beyond the classroom, involving the entire campus in supporting the learning
experience. Not all undergraduate students arrive thoroughly prepared
for the rigor of transformational learning — but we are determined
to ensure that they will achieve that readiness before long. A strong
commitment to student development nurtures a sense of competence, self-esteem,
and social responsibility that assures students will be actively engaged
in their learning environment. At the same time, connected learning amplifies
the learning in the classroom by bridging the disciplines and linking
curricular and co-curricular learning.” Application questions from
the five general education courses offered by the Music Therapy program
reveal that students in other majors are greatly impacted by their involvement
with Music Therapy through their work with Music Therapy outside the classroom
environment.
“Fourth, connected learning bridges campus and community, enriching both. Student learning at the graduate and undergraduate levels is enhanced when we take advantage of the resources of our city and region, through internships, clinical experiences, applied research, and community service. The rigor of student learning is strengthened when it is tested in real-world environments. Scholarly work finds new dimensions in applied research or through teaching partnerships. The expertise of the administrative and professional academic staff and the classified staff is strengthened when it is informed by the effective practices of colleagues and other institutions outside the university. In turn, the community benefits when it can call on the skills, knowledge, and energy of the university’s faculty, staff, and students. Expanding needs for graduate and certificate programs that meet professional and business demands provide opportunities for the university to connect to our region through targeted graduate education.” The real-world involvement for Music Therapy majors includes 15 different clinical experiences prior to the internship. This real-world involvement in fact led to new dimensions in applied research and networking with other disciplines.
Music Therapy Reflects the Priorities of the Strategic Plan:
Expand experiential learning opportunities; promote learning that connects
and transcends disciplines and connects the university and community
Learning Goal 3. Accelerate global learning
The Music Therapy courses in which students serve people from other cultures
provide meaningful, boundary-crossing, multicultural experiences. Several
Music Therapy courses require students to learn songs in other languages,
and through the clinical courses they gain experience in presenting these
songs and interacting with people from the different cultures. They obtain
“a wider view — of home, of the campus, of the Chippewa Valley,
of the Midwest, of the nation, and of the world. It is a wider view that
looks past the boundaries of classrooms, laboratories, and libraries;
across programs, departments, colleges, and campuses; even across the
boundary between teacher and student.” Music therapy students join
their professor in genuine contexts beyond comfort boundaries. They readily
champion the dignity and well-being of the people they serve and fight
for the freedom to take intellectual risks, challenge themselves, and
thrive. The Music Therapy program has to fight to even exist. When the
people who are served by Music Therapy are not valued, then neither is
Music Therapy valued.
Music Therapy Reflects the Priorities
of the Strategic Plan:
Make possible an international or multicultural immersion experience for
all students, diversify and internationalize the campus and curriculum,
and expand international student enrollment.
UW - Eau Claire has a university-affiliated internship with
the prestigious Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne, Australia under
the supervision of Helen Shoemark who is the leading researcher for Music
Therapy in NICU. This internship is available for application each
spring to a student from UW- Eau Claire. An internship in Cambodia with
World Hope International is anticipated to open in 2008 with Jennie Morvak
serving as the first intern. A trauma center in Amman, Jordan is also
planning to offer Third World Trauma training for our students through
a Clinical Experience course which would serve as the first month of internships
in Third World Countries and which is hoped to itself become an internship.
One student from Jordan hopes to come to UW – Eau Claire as a Music
Therapy major.
Service learning credit is available to students who are interested in
translating the Music Therapy Populations Web site into other languages,
with a current need for Spanish in particular. Baiba Jakubovska from Latvia
earned a scholarship to study music therapy here and then return to medical
school in Latvia to incorporate the therapeutic use of music in her practice.
Jovana Bogdanov from Serbia studied music therapy at UW - Eau Claire last
year and is now integrating therapeutic music services into an orphanage
in Serbia. Her host mom Signe Matson joined in with music therapy students
and faculty to send over puppets, a keyboard, books, and equipment to
make homemade instruments and look forward to the expansion of this work
in Serbia and the continued networking with UW - Eau Claire and Jovana.
Aida Mujkanovic who came here from Austria as an international student
had originally planned to return to Austria and work as a psychologist.
As a result of taking a music therapy course for general education credit
and volunteering with Music Therapy at Sacred Heart Hospital, she decided
to return to her native Bosnia to serve the people there who are in traumatic
situations. She was influenced by the work that Jovana Bogdanov did in
the orphanages in Serbia after contacting Jovana about her music therapy
work. Here we have people from two countries in conflict who are working
together.
One former graduate from Japan, Mika Fujita, is currently practicing
as a music therapist in Chicago, and one alumni, Jonathan Lutz, is
practicing in Finland. Other alumni have taught abroad and presented workshops
to help get music therapy programs started. The founding Director of this
program, Dr. Dale Taylor, has traveled and presented abroad extensively
and has served for many years as the International Education representative
for the Great Lakes Region of the national music therapy association. He
has also served in various leadership roles with the International Journal
of Arts Medicine as well as with multiple international music therapy
organizations. Alumni Jan Malecha won the International Rotary Foundation
Scholarship for Teachers of the Handicapped with a project that
focused on inclusion through music therapy. She served on staff at
Heralding Camp School and studied at the University Oslo and Tetra Music
Conservatory where there is a music therapy major. UW-Stout student
Heidi Gajda is currently doing a special project with music
therapy here at UW - Eau Claire this semester to prepare for
returning to Romania after working there for 2 years in an orphanage.
Resource Goal 4. Nurture Human Resources
Music Therapy models respect for others
through their interaction with people with a variety of special needs
and backgrounds.