At the University at Buffalo School of Social Work, we are committed to promoting social justice, protecting human rights and addressing structural oppression. Our Master of Social Work (MSW) program focuses on trauma-informed and human rights (TI-HR) principles that emphasize racial trauma and reflect the school’s mission and values.
At the University at Buffalo School of Social Work MSW Program, our mission is to prepare social work practitioners to advance social justice, promote accessibility and inclusion, protect human rights, and address structural oppression. We strive to foster critical thinking, skill building and scientific inquiry in our students. We graduate professionals who have the knowledge, skills, and integrity to make a positive impact for individuals, families, groups, organizations and communities. Utilizing a person-in-environment framework and global perspective, we seek to help students contextualize, address and intervene in social problems both locally and globally.
Anchored in trauma-informed and human rights principles integrated with a focus on racial trauma, our program aims to model social work values as we educate students to practice as social workers skilled in advocating for human rights, confronting injustice, analyzing and addressing trauma and promoting strength and resilience within systems of care.
Developed and approved by the Faculty Council, Fall 2025.
Grounded in research and our TI-HR framework, our curriculum teaches students to identify, evaluate and address the conditions that contribute to trauma for individuals, families, groups and communities. We know trauma is both a cause and effect of oppression, an imbalance of power and the unequal distribution of resources.
Through theory, research and evidence-based practice, our curriculum prepares social workers to:
MSW students will graduate from the UB School of Social Work with the knowledge and skills to promote healing, uphold human dignity and turn empathy into action as lifelong social workers.