The University faculty liaison person has overall responsibility for assuring the field experience is a quality social work learning experience for each student.

The functions and responsibilities of the faculty supervisor are to:

1. Participate in the process of having students interview for field placement assignments. The faculty supervisor is a “facilitator” and an “information provider” to students and agencies in this process.
2. Orient students and agency field instructors to the expectations and mechanics of the field placement program.
3. Promote three-way open communication between interns, agency supervisors, and faculty supervisor related to such areas as exploring innovative suggestions for improving aspects of the field experience, and to dealing with issues and conflicts associated with field placement.
4. Monitor the progress of the student in field placement through student logs, telephone contact with the agency supervisor, and individual meetings with the intern.
5. If an intern at a placement has a limitation that needs attention, the faculty supervisor and the agency supervisor should jointly develop a program with the intern designed to meet this limitation. In rare cases, when it becomes evident that it is very unlikely that an intern will be able to develop those competencies required to fulfill the responsibilities of a beginning level social worker, the agency supervisor, and faculty supervisor should jointly “counsel out” such students.
6. Be present at the agency and participate in the evaluation of each intern at both midterm and the end of each field placement.
7. Review the merits and/or shortcomings of each field placement with students and field instructors at the middle and end of each field placement; explore suggestions for improving field placements.
8. Provide a grade to each student at the end of the semester. The final grade is based upon the field instructor’s evaluation, the logs filled out by the intern, meetings held with the intern during the placement, and the integration assignments written by the intern. The grade is also based on the student’s demonstration of skills, application of knowledge, and satisfactory display of professional social work behavior.