Ericka Deglau will retire from her position as Professor of Teaching and Director of the Intensive Weekend Program at the School of Social Work in January 2022.
Ericka Deglau received an MSW from Hunter College School of Social Work in 1986. She received her PhD in anthropology from the Graduate School of the New School for Social Research in 1996, focusing on developments in child welfare reform. Her work has appeared in the Journal of Social Work Education and the Journal of Public Child Welfare, as well as short pieces in NASW’s NJ Focus and NJAMHAA’s Newswire, and as a book chapter in Leung and Leung’s Title IV-E Education: Impact on Workers, Case Outcomes and Social Work Curriculum Development, published by Routledge.
Ericka Deglau joined the School of Social Work in 2006, after having worked in program development and administration in both child welfare prevention and HIV/AIDS services for many years. She was tasked with developing the School of Social Work’s Intensive Weekend program, designed to permit working students to pursue an MSW while continuing full-time employment.
The Intensive Weekend program was first directed to public child welfare workers. It has since become an important avenue to obtain an MSW for working human service professionals in New Jersey and adjacent states. Since the program began more than 750 students have graduated with an MSW without interrupting their careers. The program includes many innovative characteristics, including the writing support program, which was developed in partnership with the Rutgers New Brunswick English Department, focusing on student’s experiential strengths and on increasing both academic and professional writing skills.
Dr. Deglau sees a key success of the Intensive Weekend program in the development of collaborative relationships with important state-wide organizations, such as the New Jersey Association of Mental Health and Addiction Agencies (NJAMHAA), the Department of Children and Families, and County Care Management Organizations. Also important are the ongoing relationships with alumni of the program, as well as the many employing agencies of students in the program.
She is excited about the continuing evolution of the Intensive Weekend program and the enduring role the program can play in developing New Jersey’s human services workforce.
