Field Placement Manual (2008-2009)

PART II: THE MISSION

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The Mission of the MSW program:

The MSW program promotes the profession of social work by educating students to become leaders for social change.  We prepare them to be highly competent professionals who are skilled at providing effective service, integrating interdisciplinary knowledge, theory, and social work values with practice to address social needs.  The MSW program generates knowledge for application in the field and inspires students to academic and practice excellence.  The philosophy of the program embraces diversity and promotes social change in order to achieve a more just society.

The goals of the MSW program are to:

Prepare students for professional practice:

  • Prepare students for professional social work practice in a variety of systems and settings with diverse client populations.
  • Educate students for advanced practice in an identified area of concentration in either clinical or macro practice.
  • Foster the use of social work knowledge, skills, values, and ethics in all aspects of their professional activities.
  • Cultivate leadership for social change and in the development social service delivery systems.
  • Cultivate a climate of critical inquiry

Advance knowledge relevant to social work practice and social welfare

  • Infuse and develop interdisciplinary knowledge into social work and social welfare.
  • Develop and evaluate innovative models of social work practice and service delivery to respond to extant and emerging needs of client systems
  • Identify and analyze existing and emerging social problems
  • Disseminate knowledge on social problems

Critically examine the historical and contemporary manifestations of institutional oppression and promote distributive and social justice

  • Develop a critical framework for understanding racism and other forms of oppression
  • Learn and apply change strategies in social agencies to promote social justice, including race and gender equity

Provide leadership in the development of social systems, including service delivery, that are responsive to human needs.

  • Create and utilize innovative approaches for addressing social problems
  • Provide policy makers with knowledge to inform their decision-making.
  • Organize and mobilize resources to address unmet human needs