Fall 2025 Online Electives

This undergraduate course will provide a foundational understanding of human biology with an emphasis on the biological bases of behaviors and issues of concern to social workers. This course is designed to meet the human biology prerequisites for Masters in Social Work students and will cover the basics of human biology, including anatomical systems and structures, development from conception through aging and death, genetics, evolution and biological and environmental interactions. The course focuses not only on biology but also on the critical analysis of the interplay between human biology and social issues. Discussions will cover the biological bases of phenomena including but not limited to addictions, mental illness, sexuality and aggression. Emphasis throughout the course also will be placed on biological processes related to trauma and stress.

Course Introduction - In this video Elaine Hammond provides a summary of what the course covers.

This course provides a general introduction to the history, organizations, strategies and practice issues related to community organizing and development. Specifically, this course will examine different types of community organizing and development approaches including, but not limited to workforce development, neighborhood revitalization, and arts and culture. Current trends and strategies for organizing residents and collaborating with community-based organizations are explored. This course will also introduce empowerment, strengths-based, human rights and trauma-informed perspectives as frameworks for developing, exploring, and analyzing community organizing and development in urban and rural settings.

This course is organized primarily as a seminar that will highlight Motivational Interviewing approaches to help clients build commitment and reach a decision to change behavior. This course provides a forum for case presentation and discussion with an emphasis on discussing cases from student’s field placements and/or practice settings. Theories of behavioral change will be discussed, and the transtheoretical model (TTM) of intentional behavior change will be highlighted as an integrative framework for understanding the process of behavior change.

The theoretical basis of Motivational Interviewing lies in the construct of "ambivalence" and the conflict between indulgence and restraint that is so prevalent in addictive behaviors. Failure to change behaviors causing problems is a phenomenon that extends well beyond the addictions, however, and the immobilizing effects of ambivalence can be seen in many social work practice spheres. Applications of motivational interviewing have been extended to behavioral change in general, including social work, mental health, health promotion, general medical care, corrections, and community and organizational settings. In addition, the course will discuss MI's application to practice with "mandated" clients.

While the course will reflect topics related to students who are working with clients with alcohol and other drug problems in their field and/or practice settings, it is also open to students who would like to learn and practice the Motivational Interviewing approach. In direct contrast to lecture formats, seminars can be a good means of changing perceptions, developing problem-solving skills, and challenging opinions.

This course is approved for CEU's.

This course is aimed at developing the knowledge and skills necessary for working with individuals who have a diagnosis of serious mental illness using recovery-oriented, evidence-based practices. It is designed for MSW students and MSW mental health practitioners. Students will become familiar with evidence-based practice within a recovery-oriented paradigm as a general approach to practice as well as specific evidence-based interventions to use for individuals with a diagnosis of serious mental illness. It is assumed that students will have a basic knowledge of serious mental illness as a pre or co-requisite, however a review will be provided. Students will learn to examine research literature to determine the various levels of support for specific interventions and essential principles for translating research into practice. In addition, they will identify the appropriate treatment outcomes that reflect effective, quality mental health practice. Each evidence-based practice presented will also be examined for its utility with diverse groups. Providing assessment and treatment to a diverse group of individuals with a diagnosis of serious mental illness is the focus of this course and will be discussed in detail.

This course is approved for CEU's.

This course provides a general introduction to the fields of abnormal psychology and clinical psychiatry. Specifically, this course will acquaint students with the epidemiology, classification, and etiology of the major forms of mental illness. The primary aim of this course is to develop the students' diagnostic skills in clinical settings. To that end, didactic emphasis will be placed not only on the study of psychopathological symptoms and behaviors, per se, but also on their manifestations in everyday life. Specific attention is paid to the ethical and social work value-related problems associated with diagnosing and labeling clients with a psychiatric disorder, and issues of race, ethnicity, culture, class, gender, sexual orientation, religion, disabilities or illness, age and national origin as they influence the manifestations of behaviors that may be diagnosed as mental illness or affect the presentation of mental illness. Case studies and videos will be used to ensure that students have an effective working knowledge of: (a) the biological and psychosocial bases of the major mental disorders, (b) the behavioral symptomatology that characterizes them; and (c) their classification according to the American Psychiatric Association system of classification of mental illness and the World Health Organization (WHO) International Classification of Diseases (ICD). This course also addresses the role of social workers as advocates for people with mental disorders and as environmental change agents.

This course is approved for CEU's.

This course provides a general introduction to the assessment and treatment of behavior problems of childhood and adolescence. The course will review classification and etiology of major mental health disorders within the contexts of normal and abnormal mental and emotional development of children and adolescents, and family, peer group, school, and community. The ethical considerations related to the assessment and treatment of children and adolescents with behavior disorders will be examined. The impact of trauma, family factors, culture and oppression on the development, naming, and treatment of behavior disorders will be highlighted.  Strategies employed to treat children, adolescents and their families will also be addressed.

This course will focus on the central human experiences of loss, grief and bereavement that occur across the life course. Guided examination of current theories, research, and evidence-based practice(s) in grief counseling will be conducted. This course will focus on building knowledge about the nature of grief, mourning and bereavement as it is influenced by age, developmental stage, gender, race, culture, ethnicity and social context. Familiarity with the various types of losses that occur in all age groups is germane to effective social work practice in all agency settings. This course is designed to provide students with greater awareness, increased knowledge and basic skills for assessing and intervening with loss and grief in micro-, mezzo- and macrosocial domains. It will incorporate a trauma-informed and human rights perspective into social work practice with people who are adapting to loss.

This course will introduce students to the core concepts (general theory and foundational knowledge), which informs evidence-based assessment and intervention with traumatized children and adolescents.  Strength-based practice will be highlighted along with a focus on the identification of protective and promotive factors that foster resiliency and post-traumatic growth. Trauma is broadly defined, and includes children and adolescents exposed to traumatic events including, but not limited to natural disasters, war, abuse and neglect, medical trauma, and witnessing  interpersonal crime (e.g.  domestic violence) and other traumatic events. The course will highlight the role of development, culture and empirical evidence in trauma-specific interventions with children, adolescents and their families. It will address the level of functioning of primary care giving environments and assess the capacity of the community to facilitate restorative processes.

This course employs the reproductive justice framework, which is a framework developed by women of color infusing social justice and reproductive rights, to examine the history, cultural and societal attitudes, and associated politics of reproduction and reproductive health in the United States from a social work perspective. We will analyze the impact of social policy and the activities of various political stakeholders on reproductive health and rights. The course will also explore how various forces of oppression intersect to impact reproductive health and reproductive rights in the United States. *Course with a racial justice focus.*