Social Work

Introduction

Accredited by the Council on Social Work Education, 2011-2032.

The mission of the Master of Social Work program is to advance human rights and social, economic, racial, and environmental justice by preparing students for competent, empowering clinical practice with vulnerable children, adults, and families of diverse backgrounds. In its efforts to enhance the dignity and rights of all people, particularly of historically oppressed populations, the MSW Program seeks to partner with diverse individuals, groups, and organizations at university, local, state, national and international levels.

Our fully online MSW program is designed to prepare students for responsible, professional social work practice with children and families across the lifespan. Coursework prepares students to assume practice and leadership roles and responsibilities in clinical social work practice, public child and family welfare programs, the protection of abused and neglected children, home-based services, foster care, adoption, school-based services, group and residential care settings, child guidance, parent education, family courts, family violence programs, military social work, adult protective services, hospitals, hospices, nursing homes, child and family advocacy, as well as in major social service systems that include mental health, physical health, and corrections. Upon graduation, the MSW student will be able to demonstrate the following generalist practice behaviors:

Upon graduation, the MSW student will be able to demonstrate the following generalist practice behaviors:

1. Make ethical decisions by applying the standards of the National Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics, relevant laws and regulations, models for ethical decision making, ethical conduct of research, and additional codes of ethics within the profession as appropriate to the context.
2. Demonstrate professional behavior; appearance; and oral, written, and electronic communication.
3. Use technology ethically and appropriately to facilitate practice outcomes.
4. Use supervision and consultation to guide professional judgment and behavior.
5. Advocate for human rights at the individual, family, group, organizational, and community system levels.
6. Engage in practices that advance human rights to promote social, racial, economic, and environmental justice.
7. Demonstrate anti-racist and anti-oppressive social work practice at the individual, family, group, organizational, community, research, and policy levels.
8. Demonstrate cultural humility by applying critical reflection, self-awareness, and self-regulation to manage the influence of bias, power, privilege, and values in working with clients and constituencies, acknowledging them as experts of their own lived experiences.
9. Apply research findings to inform and improve practice, policy, and programs.
10. Identify ethical, culturally informed, anti-racist, and anti-oppressive strategies that address inherent biases for use in quantitative and qualitative research methods to advance the purposes of social work.
11. Use social justice, anti-racist, and anti-oppressive lenses to assess how social welfare policies affect the delivery of and access to social services.
12. Apply critical thinking to analyze, formulate, and advocate for policies that advance human rights and social, racial, economic, and environmental justice.
13. Apply knowledge of human behavior and person-in-environment, as well as interprofessional conceptual frameworks, to engage with clients and constituencies.
14. Use empathy, reflection, and interpersonal skills to engage in culturally responsive practice with clients and constituencies.
15. Apply theories of human behavior and person-in-environment, as well as other culturally responsive and interprofessional conceptual frameworks, when assessing clients and constituencies.
16. Demonstrate respect for client self-determination during the assessment process by collaborating with clients and constituencies in developing a mutually agreed-upon plan.
17. Engage with clients and constituencies to critically choose and implement culturally responsive, evidence-informed interventions to achieve client and constituency goals.
18. Incorporate culturally responsive methods to negotiate, mediate, and advocate with and on behalf of clients and constituencies.
19. Select and use culturally responsive methods for evaluation of outcomes.
20. Critically analyze outcomes and apply evaluation findings to improve practice effectiveness with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities.

Upon graduation, the MSW student will be able to demonstrate the following specialized clinical social work practice behaviors:

1. Demonstrate the ability to make ethical decisions in clinical social work practice by applying relevant policies, laws and regulations, models to practice with children, families, and vulnerable adults.
2. Demonstrate an understanding of how personal experiences, biases, and affective reactions may impact professional clinical judgment and behavior, along with strategies to effectively manage them.
3. Demonstrate the ability to effectively advance human rights, and social, racial, economic, and environmental justice in practice with children, families and vulnerable adults.
4. Demonstrate the ability to engage in anti-racist practice with diverse child, family, and vulnerable adult populations in a manner that advances equity and inclusion.
5. Demonstrate the ability to effectively translate culturally informed research findings into effective anti-racist and anti-oppressive strategies with children, families, and vulnerable adults.
6. Demonstrate the ability to advocate with, and on behalf of, clients and constituencies to inform and influence agency, local, state, federal or global policies in order to advance human rights and social, racial, economic and environmental justice for children, families, and vulnerable adults.
7. Demonstrate the ability to develop a culturally responsive professional relationship with diverse children, families and vulnerable adult clients.
8. Demonstrate the ability to effectively use culturally responsive assessment frameworks and tools to collaboratively assess and develop mutually agreed upon plans with children, families, and vulnerable adults.
9. Demonstrate the ability to critically evaluate, select, and apply culturally responsive, evidence-informed interventions with children, families, and vulnerable adult clients.
10. Demonstrate the ability to use culturally responsive evaluation methods to evaluate the outcomes of clinical practice with children, families and vulnerable adult clients.

Admissions  Requirements

The MSW Application Packet contains several forms that must be completed before the file may be evaluated by the MSW Admissions Committee including:

1. An official transcript from each regionally accredited college or university attended. The applicant's undergraduate education must reflect a sound liberal arts foundation, including at least 21 credits in the humanities, the social sciences, the behavioral sciences, and the biological sciences. The transcript must show a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or better (on a 4.0 scale).
2. Three professional letters of recommendation from persons who can address the applicant's ability and potential for successful graduate education and professional social work practice (e.g., former professors, employer, etc.), using the forms provided in the MSW Admissions Packet.
3. Completion of the Personal Narrative Statement, following the Personal Narrative Statement Outline form included in the MSW Admissions Packet
4. A professional resume. The applicant will submit a current resume that includes their complete work history. The applicant is asked to include a notation to explain any gaps in the work history.
5. Personal Interview. An online personal interview with the MSW Admissions Committee is required to better evaluate the applicant's potential for successful advanced social work practice.

Regular Admission

For regular admission, the applicant must meet all the admission requirements of the Graduate Admission Office and the MSW program and have an overall undergraduate Grade Point Average of 3.0 or above.

Provisional Admission

Applicants who do not fully meet the requirements for Regular Admission (3.00 or above GPA) may be considered for Provisional Admission. The MSW Admissions Committee will evaluate each applicant on an individual basis. In some instances, the applicant may be required to fulfill prerequisites prior to provisional admission. An applicant under Provisional Admission is limited to nine semester hours and must achieve a grade of "B" or better in each course attempted. An applicant who attains less than a 3.0 GPA in each course will be withdrawn from the MSW Program. Provisional Admission status will be converted to Regular Admission status when the applicant achieves a "B" or better in each course taken under Provisional Admission status.

Program of Study

Curriculum

The MSW Program consists of 64 credit hours taken in the following order:

¹

Denotes courses that have prerequisites/corequisites that must be completed before registering.

Comprehensive Examination Policy

As required by the Georgia Board of Regents, a comprehensive examination is required of all MSW students. The examination is designed to test the ability of the student to demonstrate competencies in social work theory, practice, policy, and research. The examination is given in the Spring semester of the Specialized Practice year.

Degree Requirements

In order to graduate from the MSW Program, the graduate student must:

1. Earn a grade of ''B" or better on all graduate work attempted, including transfer credits approved in advance of enrollment.
2. Have no incomplete grades.
3. Successfully pass the written MSW Comprehensive Examination.
4. Complete all requirements for the MSW degree within four years from the date of first enrollment.