The undergraduate Social Work Program at UW-Superior is structured as a competency based program. The program implements this structure through its mission, six goals and thirteen objectives and through its specific course goals and competency objectives.

Mission Statement

We serve as a student and community resource, providing holistic undergraduate social work education.

Program Goals

GOAL 1: Generalist Preparation
To prepare students for entry-level ecologically-based generalist practice at all levels of intervention (individuals, groups, families, organizations, and communities), utilizing a liberal arts foundation.

GOAL 2: Diversity
To prepare students for inclusive practice with diverse & vulnerable groups in society throughout a variety of local, regional & international human service settings, particularly practice with American Indian people, elderly persons, & persons with disabilities.

GOAL 3: Ethics
To prepare students for ethical decision-making guided by the values, principles & standards of the social work profession, particularly the values of self-determination, empowerment, & regard for diversity.

GOAL 4: Social Justice
To prepare students to recognize & apply social justice principles in practice situations calling for social change and advocacy.

GOAL 5: Professional Development
To prepare students for continuing professional development, including future graduate study.

GOAL 6: Service
To support on-campus, local, regional & international constituencies with research, continuing education, consultation and assistance, which promote social justice and social development.

Objectives

Upon completion of the UW-S Social Work Program, students will be able to:

1. Make use of effective communication to employ a planned change approach which supports client interventions across systems levels (individuals, families, small groups, agencies, and community);
2. With diverse, misunderstood and/or oppressed populations, use both ethnic- sensitive (including a specific focus on First Nations people) and socially-sensitive (including a specific focus on persons with developmental disabilities, persons with mental health issues, and aging people) generalist practice approaches;
3. Demonstrate how ecological and empowerment frameworks, as well as other theoretical frameworks, can be employed to inform practice decisions across system levels;
4. Appraise the structure of organizations, service delivery systems, and communities and, under supervision, advocate for organizational and community change based on the principles of social and economic justice;
5. Integrate knowledge of the history of the social work profession and current social welfare structures, fiscal imperatives, policies, and issues with the ability to analyze their impacts upon client systems, human service agencies and systems, and social work practitioners;
6. Apply critical thinking skills in problem solving with social work values and ethics, human diversity issues, the dynamics of discrimination and oppression, social and economic justice, and interactions among systems;
7. Distinguish their personal values in relation to professional social work ethics, especially the values of self-determination, empowerment, and regard for diversity;
8. Understand and apply the values base and ethics of the profession to practice situations across systems levels;
9. Evaluate the impact of professional use of self in practice situations across systems levels;
10. Identify and make appropriate use of supervision and consultation;
11. Conduct research to evaluate their own social work interventions and those of others, as well as to evaluate agency and community practice.

On an on-going basis, the UW-Superior Social Work Program will:

1. Actively recruit and retain American Indian students and faculty;
2. Maintain active partnerships with regional community and tribal community colleges;
3. Offer local and regional populations social work course work and /or other learning activities through continuing education and distance education options;

Support its faculty in their pursuit of local, regional, national, and international development opportunities and in facilitating community-based activities like original research, program evaluation, strategic planning, and/or professional supervision of social work practitioners.