Episode Six: Exploring Student & Faculty Collaboration at the GSSW

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What does intentional mentorship and high-touch support look like at The Garland School of Social Work? 

You’re invited to hear Christen Argueta, PhD, LCSW, MSW Online Program Director and Associate Clinical Professor, share how The Garland School cultivates deep, meaningful relationships between faculty and students through mentorship, graduate assistantships, and collaborative learning. Discover how intentional curriculum design and personalized support prepare students for social work leadership and service across the globe. Dr. Argueta also reflects on her own journey as a former student and faculty member, offering heartfelt advice on knowing your “why” as you pursue a career in social work. 

Join us for this inspiring conversation about the power of connection, growth, and community in social work education.

Transcript

SPEAKERS

Christen Argueta, Curtis Isozaki

Curtis Isozaki  00:00

Hello, Professor Cristen Argueta! Thank you so much for joining us here on The Garland School of Social Work podcast. So excited to get to know you! Thanks for being here!

Christen Argueta  00:12

No, thank you so much for having me. I'm always happy to get on and talk about something I love so much, which is this school and this program. 

Curtis Isozaki  00:19

Well, I so appreciate just our partnership and our work together, and I'm excited for our community to be able to get to know you a little bit more, but also really explore the relationship between students and the faculty, that is really at the core and heart of who we are at The Diana R. Garland School of Social Work.   So we hope that during our time, we can highlight what graduate assistantship looks like, what mentorship specifically looks like in our program, what the support systems and collaborative learning experience are here in our unique community. So before we get started, Professor Argueta, would you be able to introduce yourself?

Christen Argueta  01:02

Yeah! So, I'm Dr Cristen Argueta. I serve as the MSW online program director here for the school, but I'm also an associate clinical faculty member, and/or clinical associate faculty members, probably the right thing to say. I have also had the honor of being a student here, a long time ago, and it has impacted my life dearly. One of the reasons I care about being here so much is that I want to make sure that I give back everything that I believe is given to me that changed and shaped my life, so The Garland School means a lot to me, - Oh, I'm distant! That's something that's helpful, too. So I, much like our online students, I don't live in the Waco area. I actually live in St Louis, Missouri, so I get to experience some of that, some of the distance joys and how neat it is to really push for high-quality distance programming, but also some of the struggles that it feels like when you're distance and you're a distant student sometimes and a faculty member.

Curtis Isozaki  02:04

Fantastic! So we're gonna dive into a rapid fire question. So what is one word to describe whereyou're living? 

Christen Argueta  02:13

So I live in St Louis. The word would be "Confluence." 

Curtis Isozaki  02:18

Okay. Do you want to unpack that at all? 

Christen Argueta  02:20

Yeah, so, St Louis is amazing. Well, you asked one word, Curtis, and unpacking means I get to use

Curtis Isozaki  02:24

Haha I know, I know but that was a good one. Some of these, I'm like, okay, cool, moving on!

Christen Argueta  02:30

[Laughs]

Curtis Isozaki  02:31

But that was a good one! [Laughs]

Christen Argueta  02:34

So, St Louis is beautiful, but one of the things that makes it so beautiful is emerging of so many different things. We are several different municipalities outside of St Louis proper that brings different perspectives, cultures, [and] geographical influence, including architecture and people. So there's really just a merging of everything in this city, and that's the thing I love about it most. So that's how I would describe St Louis.

Curtis Isozaki  02:56

Well, can't wait to visit! With that being said, what is your go-to order at your favorite coffee shop, tea house, whatever that may be, 

Christen Argueta  03:07

Yeah, so this one would probably be like a "got it moving on," but it's a lavender honey. 

Curtis Isozaki  03:11

Yeah?

Christen Argueta  03:11

Yeah, Lavender honey, Chai tea latte. 

Curtis Isozaki  03:15

Incredible. Got it. Moving on! Describe your ideal day off in three words. 

Christen Argueta  03:24

Gosh, that's a good one. Connection.  Comfort. Family.

Curtis Isozaki  03:30

Incredible! Absolutely love that! So shifting gears a little bit to kind of our podcast questions about The Garland School of Social Work. We've been asking this question to all of our colleagues, which has been so great. So Dr, Argueta, how have you seen The Garland School of Social Work prepare social workers for worldwide service and leadership?

Christen Argueta  03:53

Yeah. So, you know, I love this question, because I think it can come from so many angles, but the way I see it happening is through intentionality. I really look at especially getting to sit from the unique position of somewhat administration and program director, I get to see the intentionality behind the curriculum, where we really, really focus on our students getting the highest and best experiences so that they are more than competent when they go out into the field. They're ready. They're ready, and that comes with so much responsibility, right? Saying we are graduating students out in the field. This isn't, you know, I think all professions come with a certain sense of responsibility, but this profession comes with the responsibility of service to others, and that means that we owe a great deal to the people we're seeking to serve.  I think our intention, or our intentionality around our curriculum, really helps us assist and push our students to be the best that they can be. Not the best, not the best ever. I think that's always an over inflation, right, "It'll be the best ever!" Be the best you! Be the best you! Bringing your unique gifts and space and everything that makes you who you are. We want to support that. We want to flourish that. We want to build space for that to root and grow. I think there's very we're very intentional about our curriculum, helping in those things.  You match that intentionality over curriculum with high-touch support. So when you come into our program, you're not alone, no matter if you are in Missouri or if you are in Alaska, or you are all over the 50 states, or if you're sitting in Waco, Texas, you're going to be met with people who want to support you through this journey, who are there to answer questions, who are there to ensure that you are not a number, but you are a human, and that we're able to look at you and ensure that you are getting the space, the attention, the needs that we hope you one day give your clients. So it really is a mix of intentionality and high-touch support.

Curtis Isozaki  05:52

That's absolutely incredible. So with students bringing the fullness of who they are into spaces, how does the collaborative learning environment at GSSW contribute to their student success?

Christen Argueta  06:06

Yeah, so I love this. So I think it starts from the ground, right? What that means is that we're creating an environment. This environment creates an ability for them to and you hear places where they say, "dare to fail, dare to fail." For a long time, that was one of my favorite things to say as a professor, "dare to fail like dare" - But I would say now that I've grown that shifted it a bit to say, "dare to learn." We are really bringing you in here to say, Okay, this collaborative environment is pushing you to learn, pushing you to grow, pushing you to excel, to succeed in the areas that you find best for you.  I really want to see my students opening themselves up to being vulnerable and learning, opening themselves up to learning. What do they have to gain from this program? This isn't just a program you come in and you say, "here, I'm going to slap you with a diploma," but instead, this is a program where it says, "Hey, how are we going to change? Are we going to change? How are we going to grow? How are we going to root? How are we going to do all the things that it takes to become a realized Self and then to give that space to someone else?" So I think that's what this collaborative learning environment does, is it says, Okay, we're providing an opportunity to dare to learn. We want to work with you in that we want to support you in that we want to be the pillars that kind of hold you up when you're shaky in that but learn. Let's learn together. Let's do this. We have to do that in order to help the people who we want to help.

Curtis Isozaki  07:29

Yeah, love that. Dr. Argueta, just the opportunity to spend time with you, and the fact that students get to be in the classroom with, I mean, just a remarkable faculty, not just dedicated to Carnegie one research. You know, the top tier research in higher education, but also this, what we love to say are the high touch relationships that faculty and students get to have with not just their their faculty, but also those who support them their student success theme. The privilege of working with the best of the best, social work, faculty, practitioners, social workers and therapists issuch a gift. So, we have a variety of different ways that that relationship is cultivated between students and faculty.  Would you be able to share what role do graduate assistantships and mentorship play in fostering such strong student faculty relationships? 

Christen Argueta  08:33

Yeah, so it starts, it starts with an interest. So when you say, "what role does it play?" It can play a big role, but part of that starts with the student. Starts with you guys that are listening, what do you want to do with your life, and where do you want to go? Then what we ask, and what's really unique about those processes, you talked about, Curtis, about GA (Graduate Assistant), and mentorship. It's not something where it's like, oh, you're just going to be assigned to a random faculty member. Yeah. I think one of the things you said is true all of our faculty, they're great. I feel lucky to walk the halls with all of these humans, but all of us have such unique points of interest, such unique points of research, things that we are passionate about, in places that we're making impact.  So where our GA and mentorship play a big role for our students is that they get to connect to one of these faculty members. They get to go online or through their courses or through interactions at the school, they get to see somebody that is aligning with what they want to do. They get to say, you know, "hey, I have an interest here," and in their application process, they get to say, "I'd like to apply with XYZ faculty, or I'd like to have mentorship with XYZ faculty that," again, ensures everything that we were saying before about this being really about this student's particular journey, because now they're not just having a GA relationship with someone who is doing something they are not interested in. Instead, when people choose, for instance, they say, "I want to, I want to work with Argueta as her graduate assistant." Then I actually meet them and say, "okay, hey, what drew you to work with me?" and they'll say, "I like this type of research, or I want to work in, you know, program I want to work in program development and strategic planning," and I'll be like, "Okay!"  I also do mentorship opportunities where I meet with mentees that are just interested in higher education, but I also have a group of mentees who are interested in trauma-informed practice, and we meet all about trauma-informed practice. So it really is taking a great combination of student interest with faculty, with faculty leadership, and saying, "Okay, how do we create this perfect, unique opportunity for each individual student"  When I see that interest, just like our other faculty members do when we see that interest, we assign them to those tasks, things that are going to help them grow professionally, right? Like, Oh, okay, now I get to, I get to work on - For instance, I have my GA is working on a virtual lounge for students that actually gives them access. but this is a starting from the ground up. She gets to create this virtual lounge for students, something she's very interested in community development. So we get to make it very tailored to our students, and that's what make it so wonderful. But it starts with them, because they get to say, this is what I'm interested in. 

Curtis Isozaki  11:30

That was that was pretty, very good, like actually - [Pause] Reflecting in all of that, how do these relationships help students navigate the challenges and prepare them for their careers?

Christen Argueta  11:48

Yeah, so I think there's a balance here, Curtis. I think that, you know, sometimes our challenges are known to us, and sometimes we're walking into the challenges, right? So there is not a lot we can do in a mentorship opportunity where we say we can see the future, but we can say, "what is it that is causing attention when you're thinking about your future Social Work, practice? What are the things you're learning in your classroom environment that are giving you pause, or what are the things they're giving you passion?" And let's talk more about those things and learn how we can either flourish that or work through and process the things that are giving you pause.  So I can't always say that we are navigating the challenges you're going to have, but what I can say is, when a student really leans into these relationships, the beauty is, it is that it's not finite, right? Like I think sometimes students say, "Oh, I had Argueta. She was my mentor, and I graduate in 2023 Well, or I graduate in 2024 I graduate in 2027," who knows, but the really neat thing about it is some of the mentorship relationships that I've made and the GA relationships I've made, I still love to assist and help in their ongoing life. So I have students who will call me after they've graduated and say, "Hey, I get I have a question for you. This is what's going on." I'll say, "Okay, let's talk about it. Let's talk through it." So I think these relationships get to be as fervent and as important and put to the forefront as you want them to be.  As Garland School faculty, we really, really, really enjoy getting to know our students on a human level, getting to talk with them, getting to understand what's going on in their lives. We have such immense pride over everything they've accomplished after graduation and continue to accomplish that we would we love to be as much of a part of your continued life as you want us to be. So for me as a student, I got to hold on to people like Dennis Myers, Dr. Dennis Myers, or Dr. Helen Harris after I graduated, and called them when I was in the field and said, "Hey, talk to me about these things you have some time," and they'd be like, "Yes!" I hope to continue that as a faculty member for students who might have that connection with me. So I think it's all we can navigate some maybe perceived potential challenges. but the great thing is, is that we're here and we still get to help people navigate when those challenges do arise,

Curtis Isozaki  14:07

That's incredible! Thinking about future students, graduate assistants and mentees in The Garland School of Social Work who are exploring their career in social work. What advice would you give to prospective students exploring their career in Social Work here at The Garland School?

Christen Argueta  14:28

Yeah, this is my favorite question, because I could give just a million, right, but the one that sticks out to me more than anything else, to know your why. Know your Why. Why are you here? Why do you want to serve others? I think so quickly, what I tell my students, is that so quickly, sometimes we go to I'm here because I want to help. I'm here because I want to do X, Y, Z, and I would push you and challenge you. If I were your faculty member, I would push you and challenge you to say, go deeper. What's your. Internal why? What is your internal motivations and drivers that have you waking up every morning to seek to serve? Because that is the thing that will keep you going. That is the thing that will get you through your time here in The Garland School. It will get you through the papers and the reading and the things that you have in front of you, but it's also really holding on to that that gets you through the challenges postgraduation and in the field. So know your why. Know what it is that has made this so important. There's something in you that is justified in making you feel like, I need to do this.  This isn't a profession that you're like, "Oh, I'll hop into social work," right? Most people have a need for social work. They want to give back for some reason. So helping is valiant and wonderful, but what's the root of the helping? What is it inside each and every one of you that tells you I have to do this? And when you figure that out, hold it dear and let it be something that walks you through this process and through your profession.

Curtis Isozaki  15:58

Incredible! Thank you so much, Dr Christen Argueta, for taking the time to share such, such inspiring, exciting, and motivating words for both our current students. Speaking to [the students] - Hey! Lean in more to those relationships with their faculty, but then also casting a vision of what this could look like for prospective future Students in the future. So thank you so much! Looking forward to future conversation!  Yeah, thank you for joining us.

Christen Argueta  16:29

Thanks for having me, Curtis, and thank you everyone! I look forward to getting to meet you in person or getting to see you in classes. So thank you! 

Curtis Isozaki  16:37

Fantastic!