Summer Institute Offers Intensive Skill-Building Courses

Registration has launched for the Brown School’s second annual Summer Institute. During the weeks of June 19 and June 26, the Brown School will offer 18 courses in areas like system dynamics, management and leadership, statistical analysis, policy and evaluation.

Each course unfolds over five consecutive days, with most courses eligible for 15 CEUs or CPH units. The focused, results-oriented coursework appeals to Brown School alumni and other working professionals.

Last summer Erdenechimeg Tserendorj, MSW ’02, returned to the Brown School from Mongolia for an intensive week of data analysis training on the software programs SAS and Stata.

Tserendorj, who was one of the first social workers in her country, directs the Center for Social Work Excellence, a research NGO she founded after earning her MSW. The center leads a variety of research and evaluation projects, such as examining the impact of livestock insurance on herders’ livelihoods in Mongolia, but the data analysis software she had been using was cumbersome and time-consuming. The Summer Institute offered an ideal format to learn a replacement tool.

“By using this software I can save a lot of time and do many other analyses,” she said. She recommends the Summer Institute to other professionals, emphasizing the intensive course format and networking opportunities with other professionals who have common interests. “This type of focused learning is the best way to learn very quickly.”

Nonprofit and government employees, including Washington University employees, are offered a special rate of $400 for most classes and $350 for a second class. (The general admission rate is $650 for most classes.) The registration deadline is June 2.

Degree-seeking graduate students, including visiting students, may enroll for academic credit. Brown School students should enroll as part of the regular summer registration process, beginning March 29. Visiting students should complete the application process by May 1. Learn more.

“The Brown School’s Summer Institute offers graduate students and practitioners from our community a unique opportunity to come together to build public health and macro-practice social work skills,” said Janet Gillow, director of Professional Development Programs at the Brown School.

“The pace is rigorous and dynamic,” she said. “In just a week, Summer Institute classes help our participants build a marketable competency they didn’t have before.”

This year’s institute features nine classes that have never before been offered by the Brown School:

• Words, Not Numbers: Using Qualitative Methods to Collect Information
• Introduction to Cost-Effectiveness Analysis for Evaluating Policies and Programs
• Introduction to System Dynamics Modeling and Simulation
• Community Organizing and Advocacy
• Community Based System Dynamics
• Data Management & Visualization: Advanced Applications of R
• Managing Evidence Based Practices: Leading, Adopting, & Implementing EBP in Social Service Settings
• Developing Comprehensive Program Evaluation Plans
• Introduction to Python for Public Health Data Analysis