Mission and Governance

Mission

social work is essential art
Art provided by Carolyn Leonard.

Our mission is to advance holistic human health and well-being through our work with diverse populations across systems and throughout the life course. Our mission is rooted in principles of equity, inclusion, antiracism, anti-oppression, and trauma-informed practice. Using a critical lens of evidence-based practices, we emphasize social and environmental justice, as well as human and global rights. To do this, we:

  • Prepare social work practitioners, scholars, and leaders to serve individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities that come from diverse intersecting identities. We deliver an academically rigorous education that develops social workers who engage in critical thinking, challenge injustice, and implement interventions grounded in theory and science.
     
  • Engage in public service that cultivates community partnerships, enhances capacity and resources, and provides technical and subject matter expertise to human service organizations serving diverse local, national, and global communities.
     
  • Solve social problems and enhance human health and well-being by employing multi-systemic evidence-based interventions and social science research to address the systemic inequities that lead to disparate biopsychosocial outcomes.

We build upon a foundation of social work values, ethics, knowledge, and skills that emphasizes agency, inclusion, antiracism, and system transformation. By embodying these principles, we strive to create a more just and equitable world for all.

Anti-Racism Statement

The Department of Social Work Anti-Racism Statement is available in a PDF format. View the Anti-Racism Statement (pdf).

Bylaws

Department of Social Work Bylaws are available in a PDF format. View the Bylaws (pdf).