Hi, my name is Dr Anita Tucker and I am a professor in social work at the University of New Hampshire in the College of Health and Human Services. In the department I serve as the associate chair. I also am the co-director of our dual master's program in the college, which is combined social work and rec management, preparing students to have careers as clinical social workers in the field of adventure therapy.
I was drawn to UNH as a faculty because it's big and small. You're not taught by grad assistants; you have frontline access to all your faculty, whether that's face-to-face or in online classes. Core faculty teach, they advise you, they're there with you every step of the way.
I think it's really important to have students experientially practice. I can teach them about research but what better way to learn about research than to do research and experience all the challenges and successes we find in engaging in the research process.
We have both undergraduate and graduate programs in social work. Our graduate programs are really unique. We have all different models and options. We have a dual master's with social work and the law school, so we have MSW-JD; we also have an MSW program that has partnered with the Department of Recreation Management, which is the one that I coordinate, which is two masters in two-and-a-half years. We bring in students internationally and across the country who have, after their undergraduate, gone out and worked in the outdoor field, whether that's that's Wilderness, whether that's Peace Corps, whether that's Nature's Classroom, some folks work in schools that have outdoor programming. We have students who come from Outward Bound, from the National Outdoor Leadership School, lots of different places where they really believe in the power of experience.
We're really training the next generation of Adventure practitioners so that we can retire and leave it in good hands. It's the only one like it in the country and actually in the world, and we're really proud of that. My aim is that I'm not needed- they replace us! We are not needed when I retire I'll know the field is in good hands.
