MSW Curriculum Statement

The MSW Program’s curriculum statement, adopted by the UBSSW Faculty Council, highlights the school’s commitment to the promotion of social justice, the protection of human rights, and the necessity of addressing structural oppression and inequities in power and resources.

  • As a school, we are committed to the promotion of social justice and the protection of human rights.
  • Our central objective is to educate advanced social workers to practice as professionals skilled in identifying, evaluating and ameliorating human and social conditions that result in individual, family, group, and community trauma.
  • We view trauma as both a cause and effect of structural oppression, power differentials, and the disproportionate distribution of material and social capital.
  • Our curriculum provides theory and research-based content on the events and experiences that threaten to degrade human integrity and violate human rights.
  • Following from this perspective, which is guided by our vision, mission, and values, we have developed a curriculum through which we educate students to recognize the diversity, depth, and breadth of the causes and consequences of oppression, as well as the capacities within individuals and systems of all sizes for developing new strengths, competencies, and resilience.
  • We educate social workers to intervene with individuals, families, groups, communities, and in systems of care and institutions using trauma-informed and evidence-based practice.