This course provides the opportunity for experimentation with innovative course content and unique learning strategies in accordance with guidelines established by faculty. Subjects offered as topics include Training for Diversity, Organizing in Underserved Communities, etc.

This course serves as an introduction to the profession of social work and the institution within which it operates: the social welfare system. This course is not a skills-based course; rather, its purpose is to make clear the influences and constraints that shape the profession--historical, social, cultural, political, and legal--and give it its uniqueness. Specifically, the course introduces students to how social workers apply generalist knowledge, values, and skills in a variety of settings and with a variety of client populations. Emphasis will be placed on a social worker's use of the strengths perspective, commitment to the empowerment, respect for individual difference across a range of intersecting social identities; and, relatedly, our obligation to work for a more socially, economically, and environmentally just, humane society.

This introductory course approaches human sexuality from a social work perspective to provide students with an in-depth understanding of their own and others sexuality and gender through a social justice-informed lens. Students will explore topics such as sexuality and sexual development across the life course; privilege and oppression and it relates to sexuality and gender; attitudes, beliefs, and values pertaining to human sexuality; gender-based violence; sexual health practices; and LGBTQIA+ identities. The course utilizes a range of learning methods including lecture, discussion, group discussion, audio-visual materials, and critical self-reflection.

This course is designed to assist students with developing skills for managing the transition to a university setting, and its associated social and emotional challenges. Students will learn techniques designed to enhance mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness skills. This course is designed to empower students by providing a range of experiences and techniques that will give students new insights and choices about their own behaviors, as well as skills that will help them in their interactions with others. Skills will be practiced through hands-on experience in the classroom, as well as weekly goal-setting to investigate the impact of developing these skills on our personal wellbeing. Prerequisite: Corequisite: MATH 2, MATH 101 or LA&S 108.

Students learn the principles of organizing, developing, writing and revising documentation for different professional social work settings. Student will master basic writing skills and become proficient in several types of social work writing styles.

Students gain knowledge about the historical and current relationships between the definition of social problems, the development of social welfare policies, and the delivery of social services in urban settings. Students will learn to access current policies and practices as they impact local communities in the Kansas City area.

This course covers a variety of topics on a rotating basis and provides the opportunity for experimentation with innovated course content in accordance with guidelines established by faculty. These topics may include, but are not limited to, globalization and poverty, special topics in child welfare, mental health, juvenile justice, etc.

Individual and supervised readings in selected areas of social welfare. Prerequisite: Consent of instructor and approval by dean's office.

This skills-focused course is designed to assist students with developing and practicing concrete interviewing strategies in preparation for field placements. These strategies will be revisited in the context of engagement and assessment during senior year fall semester courses. Students will learn interviewing strategies used in common social work practice approaches, such as motivational interviewing, solution-focused interviewing, and non-directive listening skills. This course is designed to provide students with baseline interviewing skills and provide them with practice before working with clients in their practicums. We will practice cultivating these skills through hands-on experience in the classroom. Prerequisite: MATH 101 or LA&S 108; Grade of B or better in SW 220; SW 530; SW 540; SW 555.

In this course, students learn policy-informed practice skills for effective advocacy in policy change strategies, grounded in core social work topics. These policy-informed practice skills include grassroots policy advocacy, such as developing policy agendas, social media campaigns, community organizing with constituents, and direct policy advocacy including giving testimony in legislative contexts, using policy briefs and other communication aids, and drafting new legislation. Emphasis on using social work values and ethics to work collaboratively with individuals and organizations will be central to the course. The course underscores social welfare policy as the foundation for social work practice and prepares students for policy advocacy as part of their effective and ethical social work practice. Prerequisite: MATH 101 or LA&S 108; Grade of B or better in SW 220; SW 530; SW 540; SW 555.

A study of human behavior theories and their application to social work practice. Theories discussed include, but are not limited to empowerment, systems, psychodynamic, critical, life span and life course, cognitive and moral development, and psychodynamic theories, which are applied to individuals, families, groups, communities, societies, and in international contexts. Prerequisite: MATH 101 or LA&S 108, Grade of B or better in SW 220.

This generalist policy analysis and advocacy course provides students with essential policy knowledge and policy practice skills. The course examines existing social policies through the lens of social work values-particularly our profession's commitment to social, economic, racial, and environmental justice-and equips students to engage in policy change in pursuit of societal equity and human well-being. In this course, students learn policy analysis knowledge and skills, with an emphasis on understanding how social welfare policy design, funding, and implementation affect people's lives and influence the delivery of social work services. Policies designed to reduce poverty, address racial inequities, improve health, and increase social justice serve as exemplars for developing conceptual abilities in this course. Through critical examination of policies in the major domains of social work practice (physical and mental health, children and families, aging, housing, economic security), students prepare for policy-informed practice and for effective engagement in policy change strategies. Continuing students' preparation for professional practice, the course emphasizes social welfare policy as the foundation for social work practice and positions policy analysis and intervention as integral to effective and ethical social work. Prerequisite: MATH 101 or LA&S 108; Grade of B or better in SW 220; SW 530; SW 540; SW 555.

This course provides students with the basic concepts of research processes and methods utilized in addressing social work problems. It will cover quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods research but emphasize quantitative methods. Students will learn various aspects of research including reviewing the literature, formulating a research problem and research question, conceptualizing the research, constructing measurement instruments, understanding measurement reliability and validity, sampling, and various research designs such as survey and experimental (pre-, pure-, and quasi-) designs. Students will become familiar with social work research ethics and will recognize the importance of sensitivity to diversity, oppression, and marginalization through each of the research processes. After understanding the basic concepts and processes of research, students will be able to read and critically analyze empirical research articles with an eye towards evidence-based social work practice. Prerequisite: MATH 101 or LA&S 108; Grade of B or better in SW 220.

This course provides students with a foundational knowledge of diversity, equity, and inclusion within multi-level social work practice. Students will examine theoretical, conceptual, and policy-based knowledge of systems of oppression, both historical and contemporary, and the ways in which power and privilege are manifested within them. Through ongoing and critical self-reflection, students will examine their own social identities (e.g. race/ethnicity, gender, sexual identity, age, social class, ability status, religion, national origin, etc.), as well as their beliefs, values, and ethics through a justice and equity framework. Critical self-reflection is an essential skill to develop toward ethical and effective social work practice. This course will help prepare social work students to understand and resist systematic and interpersonal dynamics related to oppression and advocate for justice within a myriad contexts and across a range of policies and practices that inform social work practice. As a social work diversity course, this course takes an explicitly anti-racist, anti-sexist, anti-colonialist, and anti-oppressive stance. Prerequisite: MATH 101 or LA&S 108; Grade of B or better in SW 220.

This course provides the opportunity for Study Abroad in developed and developing countries such as Costa Rica and Italy.

This course introduces theories and concepts of colonization and decolonization, centering on Indigenous people in America. Emphasis will be on students' examination of the frameworks, policies, and concept-based knowledge in which colonization and decolonization develops, expands, and impacts these populations. Social work values and ethics will be used to unpack colonialization historically and contemporarily particularly with social work practice. In addition, students will analyze efforts to examine decolonization in the field of social work and apply that to their development of multi-level practice skills. Prerequisite: Math 101 or LA&S 108; Grade of B or better in SW 220; SW 530; SW 540; SW 555.

This course is designed to assist students with developing assessment and intervention skills for responding to suicide and self-harm across the life course. We will examine the etiology, function, and presentation of self-injurious thoughts and behaviors, with particular emphasis on the development of these behaviors in childhood and adolescence and their progression into adulthood. Students will learn techniques for responding to suicide and self-harm, including the use of generalist social work practice skills (e.g., crisis intervention, advocacy, brokering, behavior management), developing effective treatment plans, and providing psychoeducation to individuals impacted by suicide and self-harm. Prerequisite: Math 101 or LA&S 108; Grade of B or better in SW 220; SW 530; SW 540; SW 555.

This course introduces students to the issues and challenges that face people affected by psychoactive substances in addition to the range of services developed to address these challenges. Substance-related harms are commonly observed across all social work settings, and substance misuse often directly or indirectly affect clients and their communities served by generalist practitioners. BSW students will gain essential knowledge that will assist them in working with these clients, such as substance-specific effects on individual functioning; why we think people misuse psychoactive substances; relationship to other existing health and mental health conditions; impact of substance misuse on an individual's family and community; and the system of care developed to prevent, address, and sustain recovery from addictive behaviors. Prerequisite: Math 101 or LA&S 108; Grade of B or better in SW 220; SW 530; SW 540; SW 555.

This course introduces students to the impact of historic and intergenerational trauma. The foundational context for the course is the impact of historic and intergenerational trauma on Native American and Black Americans, within the context of colonization and slavery dating to the 1600s at the founding of the United States. The course will examine the literature related to the history of multiple traumas endured by communities, which can result in cumulative emotional and mental health wounds that carry across generations. Students will understand and be aware of the many factors surrounding intergenerational trauma and a look in to inherited behaviors and epigenetics. Prerequisite: Math 101 and LA&S 108; Grade of B or better in SW 220; SW 530; SW 540; SW 555.

Field Education Seminar is a bi-weekly, two-semester course designed to bridge social work scholarship and the field education experience by engaging in discussion and critical examination of theory, practice, and practicum. Students explore the role of field practicum in their learning and how to maximize the experience through group processing facilitated by the Seminar Instructor/Field Liaison. Concurrent enrollment is required in SW 601. Prerequisite: Successful completion of SW 500 level coursework.

Students complete 416 clock hours of field practicum during the fall and spring semesters. They are in one continuous field placement for 16 hours per week for 26 weeks. The practicum is a generalist experience covering direct practice and community practice as well as research and policy practice. Typical agency settings for BSW students include community mental health centers, child welfare offices, long term care facilities, and juvenile justice and/or corrections settings. This course is taken for two semesters (fall-spring), with credit given only after completion of the second semester. Concurrent enrollment in SW 600 and SW 610 (fall), SW 612 (spring). Prerequisite: Successful completion of SW 500 level coursework.

This course prepares students for generalist social work practice with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities. Focusing on the beginning phases of the helping process, students will develop knowledge and skills to build rapport with individuals and families, connect with and leverage group dynamics, navigate and influence organizational cultures, and assess the strengths and needs of communities. In addition, students will learn how generalist skills can help to address population needs across levels of practice. This course will ask students to apply evidence- and theory-driven approaches for engagement and assessment, and students will critically consider how to support goal development, intervention planning, and collaborative assessment in diverse contexts. Concurrent enrollment in SW 601. Prerequisite: Successful completion of SW 500 level coursework.

In the second course of the multilevel generalist practice sequence, students will gain competencies for the middle and ending phases of the helping process. They will build skills to intervene and critically evaluate interventions to improve outcomes with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities. Students will also examine cross-system and cross-level intervention strategies and the knowledge and skills needed to work effectively across practice domains. In addition to exposure to a range of generalist practice intervention approaches, students will develop competencies for client-centered evaluation and termination, empowering group interventions, organizational transformation, and base building for community change. Concurrent enrollment in SW 601. Prerequisite: SW 610.

This course lays a human rights-centered foundation for students' social work education, elevating the pursuit of social, economic, and environmental justice as a core dimension of social work practice. The course familiarizes students with the global human rights framework, exposes them to key human rights challenges in the current landscape, and engages them in countering these challenges and promoting opportunities for human rights. Students critically examine the state of human rights in the United States and also expand their lens to consider social work as a global enterprise, where lessons are to be learned and contributions made in diverse transnational contexts. While emphasizing human well-being as a core aim of the profession, the course emphasizes the importance of restoring and protecting the natural world, as an end in itself and an essential precondition for human thriving. Students develop human rights literacy, learning the history of human rights governance, the mechanisms for protecting individual and group rights--and the limitations of these tools. They demonstrate empathy with those experiencing threats to their human rights, drawing on their commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. They take responsibility to act as global community members committed to the dignity and worth of every person. Equipped with this complement of knowledge, skills, and values, students are prepared for generalist practice from a human rights-based perspective. Prerequisite: Successful completion of SW 500 level coursework.

This course focuses on the values and ethical dimensions of contemporary professional social welfare policy and practice while integrating insights from theory and research. Students fully digest and relevantly apply the professional social work Code of Ethics. In addition, they clarify and solidify their professional identities as beginning social workers. SW 623 represents the culmination of the School's professional socialization process. Because this class focuses on the process of developing and clarifying a strong sense of the social work profession and the professional self, it relies heavily on student participation, interaction, reflection, and discussion. This course is offered in the final semester of the BSW program culminating the field of social work study. Concurrent enrollment in SW 600/601 and SW 612. Prerequisite: SW 610.

This course will introduce undergraduate students to the child welfare service system that aims to promote safety, permanency and well-being of children and their families. Students will learn about the history of the U.S. child welfare system, seminal policies that have shaped this system during the 20th and 21st centuries, and historical and current day tensions that influence child welfare services. The course examines the full continuum of services within the child welfare system, including prevention, in-home family supports and family preservation, foster care, kinship care, independent living, adoption, and post-adoption. Students will also learn about personal, familial, and environmental factors that place families at risk for involvement with the child welfare system, including critical analysis of racial inequities that characterize child welfare services and outcomes. The course emphasizes the need for multi-level and multi-system perspectives as necessary for working collaboratively and confidently with the many different individuals, organizations, and systems that intersect with child welfare. Prerequisite: Successful completion of SW 500 level coursework.

This course is designed to meet the needs of undergraduate-level social work students. The focus is on generalist social work practice pertaining to sexuality and gender with a primary focus on working with people with marginalized sexualities and genders (e.g., lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex, asexual, pansexual, etc.). Utilizing a social justice and equity framework, students examine their own identities, experiences, and larger systems of oppression to engage in effective and ethical generalist practice with people who have marginalized sexualities and genders. As a mini-course, this class integrates history, policy, and practice and is centered within social work tenets, ethics, and values. Prerequisite: Successful completion of SW 500 level coursework.

Social work encompasses practice across and among geographic/nation-state borders. This course's purpose is twofold. First, it will provide students with a review of social work from a global context, including the topics of social and economic development, the capability approach based on the writing of Sen and Nussbaum, and the values of the International Federation of Social Work. Second, it will seek to understand the trends of immigration along with the unique experiences of people who migrate across borders to the US. Students will learn about social workers' past and present opportunities to engage in social work globally and with immigrant populations, including examining the pitfall of "saviorism" and acting as agents of social control, as well as the possibility of supporting community and individual directed change, advocacy, and support. Prerequisite: Successful completion of SW 500 level coursework.

The course will seek to understand historical and contemporary abolition movements. A major focus being on prison industrial complex abolition drawing on the writing of Mariame Kaba, Ruth Wilson Gilmore, and Angela Davis. Topics will include the history of policing, surveillance, and prisons in the United States, transformational justice, and restorative practices. Students will be invited to interrogate the framing of the criminal justice system, ask questions about future of abolition, and investigate what abolition offers as a political organizing strategy. Prerequisite: Successful completion of SW 500 level coursework.

This course will introduce undergraduate students to grant writing and program development for human service programs in private not-for-profit agencies. The course focuses on community-engaged techniques for developing programs and grant proposals that are responsive to the needs and strengths of communities. Students will learn the basics of identifying funding opportunities that are well-matched to their program and not-for-profit agency. The course also covers strategies for developing and writing funding proposals. Students will learn the key components of a proposal, including letter of inquiry, project abstracts, problem statements, program descriptions, evaluation, project timeline, dissemination plans, budget, and budget narrative. Beyond program development and grant writing techniques, students will examine how the social work values of social, economic, racial, and environmental justice can be integrated into programs and proposals. Prerequisite: Successful completion of SW 500 level coursework.

This course examines the work of dismantling white supremacy, predicated on the professional social work value of social justice with the accompanying ethical principle "social workers will challenge injustice" to which all social workers should aspire. White supremacy, defined here as an ideology of white superiority and entitlement that is embedded in political, economic, and cultural systems across a broad array of institutions and social settings. The study of the systemic and institutional forms of white supremacy will be the major focus of the course. Topics will include the history of the concept of white supremacy, what it is and isn't, manifestations such as disproportionality and disparities in child welfare, incarceration, poverty, and other social work focused social problems. Additionally, students will examine the conceptualization of white supremacy at the organizational level and seek to identify the role social workers have in dismantling it within their multi-system practice. Prerequisite: Successful completion of SW 500 level coursework.

This course introduces BSW students to the field of financial capability in social work practice. Utilizing a social justice framework, it includes content about poverty, personal household finance, and financial access within the context of social work practice. Discussion focusses on economic and financial concepts as related to individuals and families across the life cycle, and communities, particularly vulnerable and oppressed populations and communities experiencing poverty and near-poverty. Research, practice, social policy, and policy change efforts related to these areas are also examined. Prerequisite: Successful completion of SW 500 level coursework.

Gender-based violence (GBV), which includes domestic and sexual violence, human trafficking, and child marriage, is recognized by the United Nations and the World Health Organization as a global social and health problem with pervasive costs. Using an intersectional approach, this mini-course will provide an overview of the significance and impact of GBV as relevant to social work professional code to address social injustice. Additional topics will include the socioecological framework applied to GBV prevention, the relationship between GBV and gender and social norms, protective and risk factors based on the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, efforts to engage men in prevention, trauma informed responses to survivors, and the role of policy. Students will also gain clarity about the conceptual and practical implications of the difference between prevention of and response to GBV, and the different ways social workers can engage in change work. Prerequisite: Successful completion of SW 500 level coursework.

Current topics supplementing general social work knowledge of professionals in the field. Subjects offered as topics include: Addictions and Professional Enabling, Dynamics of Change, Computer Skills for Social Services Budgeting, Short Term Social Work Interaction.

Field Education Seminar is a bi-weekly, two-semester course designed to bridge social work scholarship and the field education experience by engaging in discussion and critical examination of theory, practice, and practicum. Students explore the role of field practicum in their learning and how to maximize the experience through group processing facilitated by the Seminar Instructor/Field Liaison. Concurrent enrollment with SW 701 is required.

Students complete 416 clock hours of practicum during the fall and spring semesters. Practicum placements require 16 hours of field education per week for 26 continuous weeks in one setting. The practicum is a generalist experience covering direct practice and community practice as well as research and policy practice. Typical agency settings for generalist students include community mental health centers, child welfare offices, long-term care facilities, and juvenile justice and/or corrections. Students take this course for two semesters (fall-spring), with credit given only after completion of the second semester. Open only to generalist level MSW students. Concurrent enrollment is required in SW 700 and encouraged in SW 710 and SW 711.

This generalist course lays a human rights foundation for graduate social work education, elevating the pursuit of social, racial, economic, environmental, and ecological justice as core dimensions of social work practice. The course familiarizes students with a global human rights framework and related critical, systems, empowerment, and strengths perspectives, exposes them to current human rights challenges, and engages them in countering these challenges. This course helps students critically examine the state of human rights across a range of diverse and intersectional populations and issues in the United States and expands their lens to consider social work as a global enterprise where lessons are to be learned and contributions made in transnational contexts. This course is offered to students in their first semester of the generalist MSW curriculum.

This course is the first in a two-course sequence that prepares students for generalist social work with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities. Focusing on the beginning phases of the helping process, students will develop knowledge and skills to build rapport with individuals and families, understand group dynamics, build basic group facilitation skills, navigate and influence organizational cultures, and assess the strengths and needs of communities. In addition, students will learn how generalist skills can help to address population needs across levels of practice. This course will ask students to apply evidence- and theory-driven approaches for engagement and assessment, and students will critically consider how to support goal development, intervention planning, and collaborative assessment in diverse contexts. Students are required to take both courses in this sequence (SW 710 and SW 711) with the same instructor. When not possible, students must contact their academic advisor for guidance. Concurrent enrollment in SW 701 (Field Practicum) is encouraged.

In the second course of the generalist social work sequence, students will gain competencies for the middle and ending phases of the helping process. They will build skills to intervene and critically evaluate interventions to improve outcomes with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities. Students will also examine cross-system and cross-level intervention strategies and the knowledge and skills needed to work effectively across practice domains. In addition to exposure to a range of generalist social work intervention approaches, students develop competencies for client- and community-centered evaluation and termination, empowering group interventions, organizational transformation, and facilitation of community change. Students are required to take SW 710 before SW 711 with the same instructor. If this is not possible, students must contact their academic advisor for guidance. Concurrent enrollment in SW 701 (Field Practicum) is encouraged.

This course is designed to prepare advanced standing students for successful entry into the specialization year of the MSW program. The seminar provides the link between students' undergraduate degree from an accredited BSW program and the MSW specialization curricula in clinical or macro social work. Based on the School's mission, vision, and guiding principles, the Advanced Standing Seminar takes a practice-centered approach to preparing students for advanced graduate study in social work. The primary emphasis during this summer seminar is to advance and deepen students' understanding of the School's approach to generalist social work and to review the most salient concepts covered in the generalist curricula of the MSW program. This allows students to learn a common language and understanding of generalist social work thereby supporting their transition into the advanced level specializations. Students are provided with intensive classroom experiences (readings, discussions, exercises, assignments, and other learning activities) to help them adjust to the rigors of graduate education. They also have opportunities to develop working relationships with a cadre of student colleagues who will support their academic growth as they transition into their advanced level studies. Open only to students admitted to the MSW Advanced Standing Plan of Study.

This generalist course in policy analysis and advocacy provides students with essential social policy knowledge and helps them develop policy practice skills. The course examines existing social policies through the lens of social work values, particularly the profession's commitment to social, racial, economic, and environmental justice. The course focuses on understanding how social welfare policy design, funding, and implementation affect people's lives and influence the delivery of social work services. Through critical examination of policies in the major domains of social work practice (physical and mental health, children and families, aging, housing, economic security) students prepare for policy-informed practice and for effective engagement in policy change strategies. Social welfare policy and program analysis skills are central in our work to value diversity, engage in multi-systemic change, end oppression and discrimination, and promote social, racial, economic, and environmental justice. This course also provides a knowledge foundation for understanding how the different identities held by clients and community members interact to shape experiences with social policies and the outcomes they produce. The advocacy dimensions of the course will help students develop competencies that prepare them for advanced specialization courses and practice in clinical and/or macro social work.

This generalist research course introduces MSW students to fundamental concepts in social work research to support empirically-informed practice. In keeping with the mission of the School, this course emphasizes research knowledge and skills necessary for effective social work practice that advances personal and collective strengths and resources, honors human diversity, promotes empowerment and justice, and reflects critical and creative thinking. By translating and applying evidence, we continually transform practice and policy across multiple systems. This course contributes to the overall generalist preparation of the student for advanced professional practice by providing skills necessary for critical thinking and continual improvement of practice and policy approaches. This course also focuses on strengthening students' capacity for evaluating practice-informed-research and research-informed-practice. Understanding how knowledge is generated, what standards apply, and how translation occurs is critical to professional practice. Thus, students come to appreciate not only the accumulation of and integration of knowledge for use in practice, but also the need to critically examine what they are being taught and the gaps that exist in the current knowledge base and demand future knowledge development.

This course provides students with a foundational knowledge of diversity, equity, and inclusion within multi-level social work. Students will examine theoretical, conceptual, and policy-based knowledge of systems of oppression, both historical and contemporary, and the ways in which power and privilege are embedded in them. Through ongoing and critical self-reflection, students will examine their own social identities (e.g. race/ethnicity, gender, sexual identity, age, social class, ability status, religion, national origin, etc.), as well as their beliefs, values, and ethics through a justice and equity framework. Critical self-reflection is an essential skill to develop for ethical and effective social work. This course will help prepare social work students to: (1) understand and resist systematic and interpersonal dynamics leading to oppression and (2) advocate for justice within myriad contexts and across a range of institutions and policies that contextualize social work in the contemporary US. In keeping with social work values, this course takes an explicitly anti-racist, anti-sexist, anti-colonialist, and anti-oppressive stance. Prerequisite: Student must be admitted to MSW Program.

This course provides the opportunity for experimentation with innovative course content in accordance with guidelines established by faculty.

Students are assigned to social service agencies that provide opportunities for advanced level clinical social work practice. All students work under the supervision of a qualified field instructor where they have the opportunity to integrate theory and practice and develop beginning competence in clinical social work practice. This course is generally taken for two semesters, with credit being given only after completion of the second semester. Open only to Advanced-level M.S.W. students. Enrollment must be concurrent with SW 810 and SW 811. Prerequisite: Completion of all foundation requirements.

Students are assigned to social service agencies that provide opportunities for advanced level clinical social work practice. All students work under the supervision of a qualified field instructor where they have the opportunity to integrate theory and practice and develop beginning competence in clinical social work practice. This course is generally taken for three semesters, with credit being given only after completion of the third semester. Open only to Advanced-level M.S.W. students with an approved modified practicum plan. Enrollment must be concurrent with SW 810 or SW 811. Prerequisite: Completion of all foundation requirements.

Students are assigned to social service agencies that provide practice opportunities in community practice, advocacy and/or social work administration. All students work under the supervision of a qualified field instructor where they have the opportunity to develop beginning competence in macro social work practice. This course is generally taken for two semesters, with credit being given only after completion of the second semester. Open only to Advanced-level M.S.W. students. Prerequisite: Completion of all foundation requirements.

Students are assigned to social service agencies that provide practice opportunities in community practice, advocacy and/or social work administration. All students work under the supervision of a qualified field instructor where they have the opportunity to develop beginning competence in macro social work practice. This course is generally taken for three semesters, with credit being given only after completion of the third semester. Open only to Advanced- level M.S.W. students with an approved modified practicum plan. Prerequisite: Completion of all foundation requirements.

This course is the first of a two-part advanced clinical reasoning and application sequence focusing on the use of effective helping methods in clinical social work. SW 810 provides students with in-depth, integrative training in conducting and applying comprehensive biopsychosocial assessments to inform intervention selection while incorporating understanding of client readiness and the multi-dimensional impacts of social, systemic, and cultural diversity influences on client experiences. Students will learn how overarching frameworks and theoretical perspectives and principles inform and influence engagement, assessment, and practice approaches, thus strengthening their foundation for clinical reasoning. This advanced methods course will assist in the preparation of students for advanced practice by offering in-depth training in the selection and application of three (3) specific interventions for use in treatment settings: motivational interviewing, contingency management, and trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy. Students will be expected to engage in self-reflection and peer interaction to develop awareness of clinical processes and decision making at various points in the clinical relationship. Prerequisite: Admission to MSW Advanced Standing plan of study or completion of social welfare generalist courses.

This course is the second of a two-part advanced clinical reasoning and application sequence focusing on the use of effective helping methods in clinical social work. SW 811 extends the curricula by providing students with in-depth, integrative training in specific, emerging clinical strategies, including transdiagnostic approaches to clinical interventions. Students will learn how overarching frameworks and theoretical perspectives and principles to inform and influence engagement, assessment, and practice approaches, thus strengthening their foundation for clinical reasoning. Students will be expected to engage in self-reflection and peer interaction to develop awareness of clinical processes and decision making at various points in the clinical relationship. Students are required to take SW 810 before SW 811. If this is not possible, students should contact their academic advisors for guidance. Prerequisite: Admission to MSW Advanced Standing plan of study or completion of social welfare generalist courses.

Interdisciplinary Aging Practice is designed to meet the needs of social work students and those from related disciplines such as psychology, sociology, speech and hearing, nursing, medicine, and public health who have an interest in practice and research with older adults. The course is informed by a social justice-oriented perspective and seeks to foster integrated critical thinking across aging- and life course-related theory, practice, policy, and research with an emphasis on issues of diversity and equity. As interdisciplinary collaboration is necessary to gerontological practice and scholarship, this course applies a cross-discipline learning model to foster in students a critical awareness of their own disciplinary identities and contributions. Prerequisite: Admission to MSW Advanced Standing plan of study or completion of social welfare generalist courses.

An in-depth examination of social work in school settings. Students demonstrate the capacity to integrate research, policy, direct practice, and human behavior in considering the issues central to this area of practice. Students will also be able to explain how diversity issues manifest themselves at both the policy and direct practice levels. Prerequisite: Admission to MSW Advanced Standing plan of study or completion of social welfare generalist courses.

In this macro specialization course, advanced social work students learn to design social justice, human service and community development programs and write grant proposals to fund those programs. Topics include program design, grant writing, fundraising, and public/private sector resource development for programs to advance social, racial, economic, and environmental justice; meet basic human and social service needs and enhance community well-being. Students will learn how to design programs from a multi-system perspective for individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities. In addition, advanced social work students will develop skills in engaging communities to guide program design. Prerequisite: Completion of social welfare generalist level requirements.

This advanced course in the macro specialist curriculum builds on students' generalist social policy knowledge, as well as their understanding of policy practice as a key dimension of social workers' professional responsibility. Designed to meet the specific needs and goals of students whose career aspirations center macro approaches to catalyzing social change, this course equips students for leadership in policy intervention-as administrators, substantive policy experts, and/or advocates. Through advanced readings, applied policy analyses, class discussions, and critical reflections, this course provides policy analysis frameworks and sophisticated examination of policymaking and policy evaluation in different institutional domains: legislative, agency, regulatory, budgetary, and judicial. Students apply their knowledge and analytical skills to policies and policy debates and complete written and oral assignments to demonstrate their critical thinking, effective communication skills, and advanced policy knowledge. Students will complete this course prepared to examine the policy levers through which to address identified problems, compare alternative proposals for policy reform, and reframe issues from a lens that elevates social work values of social, economic, racial, and environmental justice. Prerequisite: Completion of all social welfare generalist requirements.

How do social work administrators know if their agencies and organizations are making a positive difference in the lives of clients and communities? This course focuses student learning on how to gather and use information to improve social service agencies, social justice organizations and, by extension, client and community outcomes. Using an agency-based perspective, students learn how to do holistic evaluations to improve well-being at all levels of social work. Prerequisite: Completion of all social welfare generalist requirements.

Social workers who help direct human service, social justice, and community practice agencies and organizations must be able to stay abreast of new knowledge and build new skills in supervising and managing people. This course focuses on the tasks, roles, and functions of managers including effective employee supervision and human resource management, as well as the development and retention of a diverse workforce. Evidence-based mentoring practices will be covered in this course, and the mentoring content woven throughout the semester through readings, class discussions, exercises, and assignments. Prerequisite: Completion of all social welfare generalist requirements.

This course is designed to build on the content of generalist practice courses and on students' advanced policy analysis and critical thinking. Through examination and application of theories of community and policy change, design of macro interventions, and ethical demonstration of advanced advocacy and community transformation skills, students will equip themselves for advanced macro practice in the domains of policy advocacy, community organizing, coalition-building, and strategic social administration. The course helps students build the advanced analytical, empirical, and relational competencies needed to effectively advocate with different human service constituencies and to envision and pursue community transformation for social, racial, economic, and environmental justice. Specific competencies assessed include power analyses, effective multi-channel communication, grassroots engagement, collaboration with diverse constituencies, multi-level system reform, and harnessing organizational resources for social transformation. Prerequisite: Completion of all social welfare generalist requirements.

Social workers who help direct human service, social justice, and community practice agencies and organizations must be able to stay abreast of new knowledge and build new skills in managing programs. This course focuses on necessary functions, roles, and tasks for effective program management. The use of data to guide decision-making in programs, agencies, and organizations is emphasized. The course builds student skills in tracking timely resource development, budgeting, overseeing up-to-date measures of financial health as well as over-time financial trends, and analyzing budget variances by program area. These areas of program management are contextualized for specific programs and communities, and students learn how local, state, and federal policies provide either enabling or constraining resources. Prerequisite: Completion of all social welfare generalist requirements.

This course provides the opportunity for Study Abroad in developed and developing countries such as Costa Rica, India, Ireland, Italy and South Korea.

This course examines the wide scope of loss and grief processes that occur over the life span and includes impactful but infrequently discussed losses such as trauma losses, abuse and neglect, as well as losses of social roles, identities, and relationships. We cover major life transitions and more commonly identified losses such as those that occur with divorce or death. The course frames grief and loss in terms of various theoretical, definitional, and process-oriented understandings. We will identify unique experiences of loss and grief at specific life stages. Students will learn varied cultural interpretations of loss, issues of differential diagnosis, and interventions relevant to each stage of life. This course addresses the importance of resiliency and "meaning making" for clients and community members, as well as the role of self-care among service providers attending to grief processes. Prerequisite: Admission to MSW Advanced Standing plan of study or completion of social welfare generalist courses.

This interdisciplinary course examines efforts to stop gender violence around the world, with an emphasis on comparing African and US contexts. It will address topics such as domestic violence, human trafficking, sex workers' rights, rape and consent, war-time violence, and sexual health. We explore how culture shapes gendered patterns of violence and resistance against violence. Students will learn how to use postcolonial theory to interrogate traditions of Western feminism that blames cultural practices for forms of violence found around the world. We will examine alternative transnational movements grounded in legal, medical, and social movements, including human rights, public health, and anti-carceral feminist activism. Readings will combine critical on-the-ground accounts with current social work best-practices for prevention and intervention, including clinical approaches. Assignments will include projects integrating these perspectives into concrete, cultural-sensitive, and intersectional solutions for some of the most pressing problems facing women and girls throughout the world today. Prerequisite: Admission to MSW Advanced Standing plan of study or completion of social welfare generalist courses.

This course emphasizes mental health diagnoses commonly encountered in social work practice. The relationship between social work assessment and the diagnostic process will be covered in detail. Information will be presented from the perspective of social work as a professional discipline, emphasizing the continuing and complex interactions between the person and environment (biological, psychological, social, spiritual, and ecological) and multiple influences on mental health, including the incorporation of social justice and critical perspectives. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition (DSM-5) is used as an organizing framework for this course; however, alternative taxonomies, as well the adequacy and appropriateness of the DSM-5 in social work practice will be addressed throughout the course. Influential considerations such as social work's ethical directives, the impact of poverty, race, class, heteronormativity, stress, social support, and forms of bias will be highlighted in the course. Full time clinical specialization students should take this course no later than fall of their specialized year. Part-time clinical specialization students are encouraged to consult with their academic advisors for enrollment guidance. Prerequisite: Admission to MSW Advanced Standing plan of study or completion of social welfare generalist courses.

This course focuses on enhancing clinical knowledge and skills for social work related to children's mental health. The course will provide an overview of prevalence, definitions, and policies that frame the issue of children's mental health and will explore how child development, trauma, and other social and environmental contexts can impact mental health concerns and treatment for children and adolescents. The course will also cover assessment, common mental health diagnoses for children, and evidence informed services and treatment. Recognizing the role of family and multiple systems in children's lives, the course will emphasize the continuing and complex interactions between the person and environment and the resulting multiple influences on mental health, including the incorporation of social justice and critical perspectives. Prerequisite: Admission to MSW Advanced Standing plan of study or completion of social welfare generalist courses.

This course helps students develop engagement, assessment, intervention, and evaluation skills for responding to suicide and self-harm across the life course. We will examine the etiology, function, and presentation of self-injurious thoughts and behaviors, with particular emphasis on the development of these behaviors in childhood and adolescence and their progression into adulthood. Students will learn techniques for assessing and treating suicide and self-harm, including employing functional and transdiagnostic assessment methods, and utilizing empirically supported transdiagnostic treatment approaches with an emphasis on cognitive-behavioral interventions. Prerequisite: Admission to MSW Advanced Standing plan of study or completion of social welfare generalist courses.

Alcohol and other drug (AOD) related problems are endemic throughout the global population, and social workers encounter them in a wide variety of contexts and human service settings. Substance use disorders (SUDs) are a clinical and service system challenge requiring knowledge, skill, creativity, and coordination with multi-disciplinary professionals across the treatment continuum. This course enhances professional social work readiness by providing targeted information regarding a wide range of substances, as well as their differential impact on individuals (behavioral, psychological, physical, social, and spiritual) and communities (social, racial, economic, political, and cultural). Based on a fundamental understanding of addiction theories and etiology as well as personalized approaches to recovery, this course explores specific treatment strategies. SUDs most commonly co-occur with health and mental health problems, so knowledge of such problems is vital and covered in this course. This holistic approach informs many other core content areas in the course allowing an analysis of a broad range of er biopsychosocial issues. Prerequisite: Admission to MSW Advanced Standing plan of study or completion of social welfare generalist courses.

This course is designed to prepare graduate students with clinical social work skills within the context of diverse views and experiences of Indigenous people in the United States. Students completing this course will be able to apply a variety of social work frameworks of knowledge, policies, and practice methodologies needed to serve Indigenous individuals, families, and communities. Topics will address Indigenous lifeways prior to contact, historical and cultural forces, such as policies that have impacted the everyday living of Indigenous people. Students will learn evidence-based forms of helping as well as Indigenous ways of helping. Prerequisite: Admission to MSW Advanced Standing plan of study or completion of social welfare generalist courses.

This course is designed to meet the needs of graduate social work students, as well as those from related disciplines such as psychology; applied behavioral science; women, gender, public health, and sexuality studies. The focus is on enhancing clinical skills (e.g., diagnostic assessment; individual, group, and family therapy approaches) for practice pertaining to sexuality and gender with a primary focus on working with people with marginalized sexualities and genders (e.g., lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex, asexual, pansexual, etc.). Utilizing a social justice and equity framework, students examine their own identities, experiences, and larger systems of oppression to engage in effective and ethical practice with people who have marginalized sexualities and genders. The course integrates history, theory, research, policy, and practice and is centered within social work tenets, ethics, and values while also creating space for students to engage across multiple disciplines and enhance transdisciplinary practice skills. Prerequisite: Admission to MSW Advanced Standing plan of study or completion of social welfare generalist courses.

This course expands knowledge and skills in working with womxn and femmes across multi-level social work practice settings. This course is delivered through an intentional intersectional lens, which will provide historical and conceptual critiques of dominant and mainstream feminist approaches, while informing students of other possible frameworks toward practice with womxn and femmes, including critical, liberatory, and womxn and femme of Color lenses. Will include examination of practice approaches to problems that womxn and femmes frequently experience. Prerequisite: Admission to MSW Advanced Standing plan of study or completion of social welfare generalist courses.

Opportunity for scholarly investigation in an area of special interest. Students pursue independent study in an area of social work practice through the guidance of a selected faculty member.

The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the basic knowledge, values, and skills needed to work effectively with African American clients and their families. Critical examination of issues such as racism, oppression, and the historical context and their impact on African American families. Prerequisite: Completion of all foundation requirements.

This capstone course provides a transitional space to help both clinical and macro specialization students reflect upon their learning throughout their MSW experience and build professional skills that prepare them to begin their post-graduate social work careers. Students will clarify and solidify their professional identities as MSW-level social workers, helping them practice and commit to life-long learning strategies that support intentional professional growth and development. Students will incorporate diverse skills and perspectives with attention to navigating complex multi-level systems, engaging ethical ambiguity, and critically analyzing implications for theory, research, policy, and practice. This course makes an explicit ethical commitment to support the pursuit of socially just, anti-oppressive, and empowering multi-level practice through professional development. Students take this course in their final semester of the MSW program. Prerequisite: Admission to MSW Advanced Standing plan of study or completion of social welfare generalist courses.

Course provides opportunity for innovative course content designed for the social work professional. Subjects offered include: Psychopathology: A Biopsychosocial Approach, Ethics and the Social Worker, Mediation, Solution Focused Practice, Strengths-based Management, Outcome-based Measurement of Practice.

Students will discuss critical issues related to both substantive and professional issues related to doctoral education, the education of social workers, research and methodological procedures and practices, transitioning from student to academic scholar, and social work ethics in all realms of scholarship. Graded on a satisfactory/unsatisfactory basis. Prerequisite: Student must be admitted to the School of Social Welfare PhD program.

Building on the first year of the doctoral program and SW 911 - PhD Seminar I, students will continue to discuss critical issues related to both substantive and professional issues related to doctoral education, the education of social workers, research and methodological procedures and practices, transitioning from student to academic scholar, and social work ethics in all realms of scholarship. Graded on a satisfactory/unsatisfactory basis. Prerequisite: Student must be admitted to the School of Social Welfare PhD program. Successful completion of SW 911.

This course provides the opportunity for Study Abroad in developed and developing countries such as Costa Rica, India, Ireland, Italy, and South Korea.

This course explores the use of community-based participatory research (CBPR), and similar approaches such as youth participatory action research, within social justice-oriented research. Students will examine key theories, principles, and strategies of CBPR; explore advantages and limitations to CBPR and related approaches; and develop skills necessary for implementing and effectively carrying out CBPR projects. Additionally, students will incorporate the knowledge and skills pertaining to CBPR within a social justice-oriented research area of their choosing. The course format reflects the principles and values inherent in CBPR by engaging in an iterative process of co-teaching and co-learning, critical self-reflection and group discussion, and anti-racist and anti-oppressive pedagogy.

This course explores racial equity and social, economic, and environmental justice as it relates to research and implementation science. These two major components are explored and integrated throughout the semester. First, through a historical equity lens, students identify the ways in which research has contributed toward oppression and marginalization. They situate their own research in an anti-oppressive framework and critical lens to understand and identify research methods that promote equity and justice both in the research process and potential impacts. Second, students develop an understanding and application of implementation science principles and frameworks. Students gain knowledge and skills for identifying and using implementation science strategies that support the translation of research into real world practice. Implementation is examined from an equity lens to consider how implementation processes can promote racial equity and social, economic, and environmental justice.

This course is designed for students who are in the second year of the full-time PhD program and who are preparing to write the Qualifying Paper and begin developing the dissertation proposal in the following academic year. Students will explore key aspects of developing one's own writing practice, develop and refine strategies and organizational tools for conducting literature reviews, and generate ideas for research proposals, including the dissertation proposal. Students will discuss and critically examine the politics of writing within and beyond the academy. Conversations will focus on the tension between learning how to write for success in academia while interrogating the privileging of scientific writing and peer-reviewed publications. Towards advancing the goals of racial equity and social justice, students will explore anti-oppressive and community-based dissemination strategies and gain knowledge and skills for dissemination in multiple settings, a variety of formats, and creative approaches. Each student will explore the course content around their own area of scholarly interest and develop a writing product that fits their current writing objectives. The course will provide a supportive space for writing and receiving feedback on writing, emphasizing the development of collegial relationships as sources of writing support while developing peer review skills. Prerequisite: Student must be in the second year of the full-time PhD program.

This class is an in-depth introduction to the process of conducting research. This introduction provides the essential context for the qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods research courses.

This course is the first in a sequence of two courses on qualitative inquiry required for students in the social work Ph.D. program. It provides a detailed overview of knowledge and skills for designing qualitative inquiry. It examines issues in the philosophy of science, paradigms for qualitative inquiry in social work, and a diverse range of methods that flow from these paradigms. It emphasizes principles and procedures for qualitative inquiry design, including an introduction to data collection, analysis, and criteria for establishing methodological rigor (i.e. trustworthiness).

This course is designed to provide students with opportunities to examine the underlying conceptual frameworks of social work practice-their history and present manifestations. This course rests on the definition of social work practice that includes the interaction of knowledge, value, and skill around professional purpose and in the context of professional sanction.

This course, which includes a lab, focuses on quantitative research methodology and related inferential statistics, emphasizing mastery of specific methodological and statistical knowledge and skills. The course will address the following topics: the framing of research questions; the selection of appropriate research methods and designs; the selection of appropriate statistics for data analysis; the principles of analysis; interpretation of findings; and the presentation of results.

This seminar helps doctoral students learn to analyze social welfare policies and programs. After comparing and contrasting various policy analysis frameworks, students learn to analyze the ways in which social conditions, values, and ideologies shape the definitions of social problems as well as the development, implementation, and evaluation of social welfare policies that impact those problems.

The purpose of this advanced research methods course is to help equip professionals to design and carry out research with direct implications for social work practice and social welfare policy. Building on the experience in SW 978 and SW 981, this course will focus on more advanced topics in research design and both experimental and correlational statistical analyses.

The main focus of this seminar is on developing skills for conduction multi-dimensional, value critical inquiry about "best practices" relevant to social work practice, and applying the results of that inquiry toward extending and improving current "best practices".

This course provides an introduction to interdisciplinary theory for applied social research, focusing on: (1) the roles and uses of theory in social inquiry (2) theory building and theory testing (3) induction and deduction (4) the articulation of common or related theoretical traditions in various social science disciplines.

The purpose of the course is to prepare doctoral students for effective teaching of Social Work courses at all levels of higher education. Doctoral students need practical skills, a theoretical base, experience, and confidence in order to improve their teaching performance.

The purpose of this course is to provide an overview of mixed methods research, consisting of the history and philosophy of mixed methods research, the emerging literature on it, purposes and characteristics of mixed methods research, types of research problems addressed, the specification of mixed methods purpose statements and research questions, types of major mixed methods designs, data collection and analysis strategies, and reporting and evaluating results.

This course is the second in a sequence of two courses on qualitative inquiry required for students in the social work Ph.D. program. It provides in-depth methodological knowledge and skills for implementing qualitative inquiry and writing research reports. It examines implementation issues related to a diverse range of methods that flow from the paradigms addressed in SW 979. It provides guidance for implementation of research designs for projects developed in SW 979, including application of methods for data collection, analysis, supporting criteria for methodological rigor (i.e. trustworthiness), and writing up findings and implications. Prerequisite: SW 979.

Individual research preparatory to defense of dissertation prospectus. (By arrangement with doctoral chair.) Graded on a satisfactory progress/limited progress/no progress basis.

This course provides the opportunity for doctoral students to learn about research or teaching through direct application of research or teaching skills under the mentorship of faculty.

Graded on a satisfactory progress/limited progress/no progress basis.

This course provides the foundational knowledge for Family Support professionals on home visiting and developing relationships with families that are informed by the multiple, intersectional issues that families face. Topics will include: Prenatal Basics, Child Development, and Child Abuse and Neglect. Prerequisite: Must be admitted as undergraduate Social Welfare non-degree seeking (SOCWN) students.

Building on foundational skills, this course will provide extended knowledge in the areas of Breastfeeding, risks of substance use, and confidentiality. Family Support Professionals will gain the knowledge necessary to support families beyond basic needs to essential life skills. Prerequisite: Must be admitted as undergraduate Social Welfare non-degree seeking (SOCWN) students.

This course focuses on skills for supporting Family Support Professionals in the practice of early intervention services. Supervisors will gain knowledge in the areas of cultural diversity, ethics, and professional development. Prerequisite: Must be admitted as undergraduate Social Welfare non-degree seeking (SOCWN) students.