Program Pathway Options

Students pursuing the Transforming Justice and Violence Prevention pathway are prepared to become effective clinicians, advocates, leaders, and change agents to transform models of justice, promote violence prevention, and improve social conditions. Coursework, combined with field education, equips students with the knowledge to understand the root causes of violence and the necessary tools to recognize, analyze, and prevent various forms of violence to address inequities in (and associated with) the criminal-legal system. The ultimate goal is to provide students with a deep understanding of the criminal legal system and the skills they need to intervene, whether that is at the individual, organizational, community, or policy level, to examine varied and alternative systems of justice and build better policies, programs, services, and practices for people and communities affected by the criminal legal system.

Students pursuing the Integrating Health, Mental Health, and Social Care pathway are equipped with the specialized knowledge and skills needed to work effectively at the intersection of healthcare, mental health, disabilities, and social services. Coursework, combined with field education, prepares students to provide comprehensive, person-centered care, which demands integration of the following systems: physical health, mental health, substance use disorders, disability services, and social needs. This pathway encourages interprofessional education (IPE) and provides opportunities for collaboration to prepare social workers to work as effective integrated health team members. Along with the appropriate level of practice courses, this pathway can prepare students to be practice-ready for interpersonal (clinical) social work with individuals, groups, and communities in a broad range of settings, including disabilities services, gerontology, hospitals, and other health settings, alcohol and other substance abuse settings, community mental health and private practice. The pathway can also prepare students at the macro-level to think strategically about reform and implementation across a range of integrated health systems policies and programs and to provide integrated health advocacy

Students pursuing this pathway are equipped with the knowledge, skills, and perspectives necessary to address and combat poverty, economic inequality, and social exclusion within society. The curriculum focuses on understanding the root causes of poverty, economic inequality, and social exclusion and their impacts on children, families, organizations, and communities across practice levels designed to elevate the economic well-being of individuals, families, and communities. Systems that receive particular attention in this pathway include those that address economic security, such as social safety net programs like conditional and unconditional cash transfers, food assistance and anti-hunger programs, and housing assistance for renters and the unhoused, as well as systems that address employment, work-family wellbeing, and children’s short- and long-term material wellbeing such as labor market policies, workforce development, employment programs, family leave and child care policies, and child tax credits. The ultimate goal is to equip students with the skills they need to engage across levels of practice—direct practice, grassroots organizing, program management, cross-sector collaboration, and/or policy analysis and advocacy—so that they can mitigate poverty, economic inequality, and exclusion and improve the life chances of the most marginalized among us. 

Students pursuing the Children and Families in Systems Context pathway have the knowledge, skills, and perspectives necessary to advocate for, support, and implement policies and practices that enhance the well-being and life prospects of children, adolescents, adults, and family systems.  Courses focus on understanding human development within and across diverse ethnic and cultural contexts to create holistic interventions for individuals and families across the lifespan. Systems of support that receive particular attention include infant and early childhood services, education and schools, community-based mental health systems, child welfare systems, and elder care systems. 

Students pursuing the Global Health and Social Development pathway are equipped with the knowledge, skills, and perspectives necessary to address social problems, social policy, and on-the-ground practice in a globalized world. The curriculum focuses on understanding the root causes of global inequality by providing foundational knowledge on global processes, historical trends, and comparative perspectives, and a set of skills that are particularly important for working in a global context or working with populations from other non-US cultural contexts including intercultural awareness, self-reflection, critical assessment, project implementation, and program evaluation in context. Systems that receive particular attention in this pathway include international aid organizations and globally-focused foundations. The ultimate goal of the pathway is to equip students with the skills and rooted in values of self-awareness, community centeredness, consultation, and accountability to self and others needed to engage effectively across varying cultural contexts and levels of practice—direct practice, grass roots organizing, program management, cross-sector collaboration, and/or policy analysis and advocacy. 

Students can expand their global learning opportunities by also applying to the following programs: 

2) Participate in Study Abroad experiences independent of the Global Health pathway 

3) Apply to the Kiphart Scholars Program