Social Work, Master of Social Work

Program description

MSW

You want to make a difference. You’re the kind of person who lives to help. Here, you will understand the human experience at the intersection of diversity, human rights, culture, and ethics. At Saint Mary’s College, we firmly believe in an approach to social work that aligns with four core values: learning, community, faith/spirituality, and justice. You will be pushed to take what you learn in the classroom and apply it to your professional practice as you strive for social and economic justice in society. 

Learn to Make a Difference

As a student in our MSW program, open to both men and women, you will work toward creating a culture of human dignity, inclusivity, solidarity, and sustainability while preparing for a professional career. You will receive a generalist education as well as a chance to choose a speciality in Clinical/Mental Health (launching Fall 2023) with an option in Aging during your second year. Your education here will provide you with research opportunities regarding inclusivity, diversity, and equity, all while providing you with the full course and fieldwork necessary to obtain an MSW. 

Engage in the Field 

Your education in Social Work doesn’t stop in the classroom; while at Saint Mary’s, your faculty will help match you with a field placement in your community. In fact, you’ll be working in the field every semester alongside your online coursework. Your field placements will help ensure you are getting the most relevant and specific experience possible as you work toward graduation and your eventual career as a Social Worker. 

Be Part of a Team

At Saint Mary’s, you will work alongside graduate students in Nursing, Speech Language Pathology, and Autism Studies; in short, alongside other graduate students who want to make a difference. Inter-professionalism will be a part of your career after you leave Saint Mary’s and it will be part of your experience as a Saint Mary’s student. In our Social Work program, you will benefit from the wealth of inter-professional knowledge all of our faculty and students across different disciplines bring to the table.

Accreditation

candidacy national accreditation status under the new 2022 CSWE EPAS (Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards) by the Council on Social Work Education’s Board of Accreditation. The 2022 EPAS focuses on nine competencies, including a competency regarding antiracism, diversity, equity, and inclusion, and another focusing on advancing human rights and social, racial, economic, and environmental justice. With a focus on clinical social work practice skills and adding social policy advocacy and research/evaluation skills to support positive mental health, the Saint Mary's College MSW Program is poised and ready to help students meet the demands of a changing world. The MSW Program expects to be granted candidacy in the 2023-24 academic year under the new 2022 Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards.

Application Requirements

Whether you are a current undergraduate student in an unrelated field, a recent graduate with a BSW, or a working professional interested in a career change, our MSW program will help you achieve your goals of making a difference in your community, whether local or global (or somewhere in between!).

Working in field placements chosen to strengthen your classroom learning, you will work toward your goal of receiving your MSW and preparation to affect change in the world. With the help of passionate faculty, and alongside a cohort of amazing students, you’ll pursue research related to your interests, develop high-level skills while working in your community, and ultimately find a way to make your mark on the world.

Our programs will prepare you to go immediately into the workforce or further your study in a doctoral program.

Please contact the Office of Graduate Admissions at graduateadmission@saintmarys.edu for application information!

2 Year MSW

  • Free online application form
  • Three letters of reference. One letter from  a former faculty member preferred
  • Resume or CV 
  • Completion of application essays and personal statement
  • Transcripts from all previous collegiate work  
  • A minimum undergraduate  grade-point average (GPA) of 3.00 on a 4.00 scale for last 60 semester credits
  • A bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited U.S. institution or a  comparable degree from an international institution before commencing the MSW program
  • No GRE required
  • Prerequisites 
    • Introductory Psychology course (3 credits)
    • Human Biology course (3-5 credits; lab not required) 
    • Statistics course (3 credits) 

Up to fifteen credit hours from an accredited undergraduate program may be awarded toward the graduate program at the discretion of the Master of Social Work Program for students who do not have a BSW and are applying to the 2 year MSW.

1  Year MSW with Advanced Standing

  • Free online application
  • Earned Baccalaureate degree in Social Work
  • Transcripts from all previous collegiate work  
  • 3.0 GPA from undergraduate BSW program  
  • Three letters of reference. One of the three letters is required from the Saint Mary’s College Field Practicum Coordinator for applicants from Saint Mary’s College undergraduate program
  • Resume 
  • No GRE required
  • Completion of application essays/personal statement
  • Prerequisites:
    • Introductory Psychology course (3 credits)
    • Human Biology course (3-5 credits; lab  not required) 
    • Statistics course (3 credits) 

Personal Statement 2 year MSW

Your personal statement should be one double-spaced document that is in 12-point font and does not exceed 1500 words.  Your statement must address all of the first four of the following topics, and the fifth if applicable:

  • Describe a social problem of your choice. Explain your recommendations for intervention and social change to address the social problem. 
  • Describe how your personal and intellectual qualifications, previous human service experience, and/or future goals are relevant to assisting the most economically and socially disadvantaged groups in our society.  Please provide specific examples.
  • After carefully reviewing the program requirements, including field practicum education hours and other academic course load expectations, please describe your plan to fulfill these requirements while balancing field practicum education hours and other academic work with your other life commitments.
  • Discuss your professional and learning goals and describe how the Saint Mary’s College MSW Program will help you achieve these.
  • If your undergraduate GPA is less than 3.0, please explain the reason(s) why.

Note: Please use headings or numbers to separate each response in your statement.

Personal Statement 1 year MSW with Advanced Standing

  • Discuss your professional and learning goals and describe how the Saint Mary’s College MSW Program will help you achieve these. 
  • After carefully reviewing the program requirements, including field practicum education hours in your choice of specialization (500) and other academic course load expectations (only 30 credits total), please describe your plan to fulfill these requirements while balancing field practicum education hours and other academic work with your other life commitments.
  • If your undergraduate GPA is less than 3.0, please explain the reason(s) why. NOTE:  You MUST upload a personal statement to submit and have your application reviewed for admission to the program.

Advanced standing is awarded only to those with a(n): 1) CSWE-accredited baccalaureate social work degree; 2) CASWE-accredited baccalaureate social work degree (from the Canadian social work accreditor, recognized through an MOU with CSWE and CASWE); and 3) Internationally earned ISWDRES-evaluated degree comparable to a baccalaureate social work.

Clinical Social Work, Master of Social Work - Two Year Program (60 Credit Hours)

SW 500Justice-Based Social Work Practice3
SW 501The Social Work Profession: Agent of Change3
SW 5023
SW 503Generalist Practice: Individuals, Families, & Groups3
SW 5043
SW 505Human Behavior in the Environment3
SW 5063
SW 507Practicum & Integrative Seminar I3
SW 5083
SW 5093
SW 600Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion in Social Work3
SW 601Clinical Social Work I3
SW 6023
SW 603Practicum & Integrative Seminar III - Clinical Practice 3
SW 6043
SW 605Clinical Assessment & Diagnosis3
SW 6063
SW 6073
Elective Classes:
Select two from the following:6
SW 608
SW 610
SW 611
SW 612
SW 613
SW 614
SW 615
SW 616
SW 617
SW 618
Total Credits60

CLINICAL SOCIAL WORK, MASTER OF SOCIAL WORK - Advanced Standing PROGRAM (30 Credit Hours)

SW 600Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion in Social Work3
SW 601Clinical Social Work I3
SW 6023
SW 603Practicum & Integrative Seminar III - Clinical Practice 3
SW 6043
SW 605Clinical Assessment & Diagnosis3
SW 6063
SW 6073
Elective Courses:
Select two from the following:6
SW 608
SW 610
SW 611
SW 612
SW 613
SW 614
SW 615
SW 616
SW 617
SW 618
Total Credits30

Learning and Competencies

Competency 1: Demonstrate Ethical and Professional Behavior

Competency 2: Engage Diversity and Difference in Practice

Competency 3: Advance Human Rights and Social, Economic, and Environmental Justice

Competency 4: Engage in Practice-informed Research and Research-informed Practice

Competency 5: Engage in Policy Practice

Competency 6: Engage with Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities

Competency 7: Assess Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities

Competency 8: Intervene with Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities

Competency 9: Evaluate Practice with Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities

Program Director

Frances Kominkiewicz, Ph.d, MSW, MSA, BSW, LCSW
25 Spes Unica Hall, Room 256E
574 284 4515

Faculty

L. Brueseke, MSW, LCSW

Social work courses

SW 500  Justice-Based Social Work Practice  (3)  

This course is designed to increase understanding, knowledge, and skills regarding social, racial, economic, and environmental justice. Designated social work practice theoretical frameworks regarding diversity are applied to explain the interaction in the social systems of the intersectionality of multiple factors including race, color, ethnicity, age, gender, gender identity and expression, immigration status, culture, disability, political ideology, religion, sex, and sexual orientation. The course also focuses on the relationship between diversity issues in these larger social systems. The aspects of communities and organizations will also be explored through a variety of applications, including systems theory and the ecological approach, with emphasis on such aspects of the community as community power, human ecology, and conflict. Social systems will be compared and contrasted with the ecological, power, and conflict positions. Systems theory will also be applied to the aspects of society with emphasis on diversity, racism, feminism, and populations-at-risk. ADEI engagement in social work practice is discussed throughout the course.

SW 501  The Social Work Profession: Agent of Change  (3)  

This course teaches students about the types of social work careers, and the nature, purpose, function, and organizational content of the profession. The historical development of social work and social welfare institutions; the development of social welfare policies and their impact on social work practice, the values and ethics of the profession, and the role of the social work profession as a change agent from an ADEI perspective are addressed. Case examples of social work intervention are utilized. Prerequisites: SW 500; Co-requisites: SW 503, SW 505, and SW 507

SW 503  Generalist Practice: Individuals, Families, & Groups  (3)  

Provides the foundation for professional social work practice with individuals, families, and groups. Course content includes the functions, roles, skills, conceptual framework, values, and ethics involved in a generalist approach. Through practice lenses of engagement, assessment, intervention, and evaluation, the following areas are addressed: building rapport and developing professional relationships with diverse clients, defining problems, incorporating appropriate and best-known research evidence to date, using observation to monitor and evaluate progress, and assessing readiness for termination. A variety of practice approaches will be explored including ADEI and multi-systemic/socio-cultural understandings of individuals and social issues, inclusive strengths and empowerment strategies, human rights perspectives, behavioral and developmental approaches, and ethical and multicultural competencies. Prerequisites: SW 500. Co-requisites: SW 501; SW 505; SW 507

SW 505  Human Behavior in the Environment  (3)  

This course will explore the dynamics of human behavior in the environment to prepare a foundation of knowledge on which to build clinical social work skills from an ADEI perspective. Special attention is given to developing an evidenced-based research understanding of individual and family behavior and development over the course of the life span as a function of reciprocal interactions with groups, communities, organizations, and society from a bio-psychosocial, cultural, and spiritual perspective. A variety of theories are utilized to assist in understanding the complexity of human behavior, including psychodynamic, psychosocial, family systems, cognitive, and neurobiological theories, among others. Course content is sensitive to human diversity, including race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, physical challenges, spirituality, and socioeconomic factors as they affect human behavior and lifespan development. Students will assess ADEI systemic issues that can impact strengths, challenges, risk, resilience and protective factors that affect clients’ social functioning through the examination of human behavior in the environment with attention to structural factors (e.g., poverty, racism, gender issues, aging) that contribute to challenge and success in human development. The impact of trauma, loss, and environmental stressors on the individual and the family are also explored. Prerequisites:SW 500. Co-requisites:SW 501;SW503;SW507

SW 507  Practicum & Integrative Seminar I  (3)  

Practicum and Integrative Seminar I is the first of two required generalist practicum and seminar courses. The field practicum is an educationally directed experience under the supervision of an agency-based social work practicum instructor and a campus-based faculty practicum director. The integrative seminar component addresses the practicum experience and assists students in the integration and application of practice theory to their practicum placement learning activities. The second course of the two-semester sequence, Practicum and Integrative Seminar II (SW 508), is taught in the second semester of the generalist year. Students complete a minimum of 450 hours during SW 507 and SW 508. Prerequisites: SW 500. Co-requisites: SW 501, SW 503, and SW 505

SW 600  Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion in Social Work  (3)  

This course introduces students to human rights and social justice perspectives in order to examine the shifting landscape of diversity, oppression, power, and privilege, and how this affects social work ADEI practice from a human behavior in the environment perspective. The fundamental goal of the course is for students to develop critical consciousness in order to gain competencies to address diversity, privilege, racism, and oppression in social work practice. The importance of power and the dynamics of domination and subordination in multiple manifestations of oppression, particularly among historically oppressed groups, will be explored. An understanding of these concepts integrated with an understanding of one’s self within these systems is essential for social work practice.

SW 601  Clinical Social Work I  (3)  

This course is a clinical theory and practice course taught in the first semester of a two-semester sequence designed to prepare students to provide social work clinical practice services and to supervise delivery of those services to couples, families, and groups. It builds on the generalist practice year and advances knowledge by focusing upon the therapeutic relationship as the framework for developing interviewing, assessment, and intervention skills appropriate with diverse client situations and supported by empirical research. Assessment and treatment principles from various interpersonal, psychodynamic, group, and cognitive-behavioral theories and approaches are explored. The course focuses on advanced clinical social work, clinical and client advocacy skills, and techniques at each stage of the helping process, and with clinical practice situations as these apply to individuals, client groups, couples, and family systems with an emphasis on the assessment and diagnosis of clients across the lifespan, the development of a treatment plan, the therapeutic relationship, the treatment process, and clinical practice with clients from diverse backgrounds, including ethnic, racial, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds. An ADEI perspective is applied. Prerequisites: SW 600. Co-requisites: SW 603 and SW 605

SW 603  Practicum & Integrative Seminar III - Clinical Practice  (3)  

This clinical social work specialization course provides an integrative seminar and supervised advanced learning and practice of clinical social work services. Students are placed in practice-settings conducive to clinical social work practice under the supervision of an agency-based social work supervisor and a campus-based faculty practicum director. Special emphasis is placed on providing students with the basis for continued development of culturally competent ADEI clinical social work practice. The integrative seminar component addresses the practicum experience and assists students in the integration and application of practice theory and further refinement of social work skills, including assessment, interventions, and group practice, to their practicum placement learning activities. The second course of the two-semester sequence, Practicum and Integrative Seminar IV- Clinical Practice (SW 604), is taught in the second semester of the clinical social work specialization year. Students complete a minimum of 450 hours during the two-semester sequence, SW 603 and SW 604. Prerequisites: SW 600. Co-requisites: SW 601 and SW 605

SW 605  Clinical Assessment & Diagnosis  (3)  

This course explores major forms of clinical mental health issues and psychopathology in adults, children, and adolescents, including classification trends, issues, and models. The course provides an introduction to clinical syndromes in terms of diagnostic methodology, research and social concerns and their implications for at-risk groups and familiarizes social work students with the major mental disorders and psychopathologies acquainted with the language, taxonomy, conceptualizations, and dynamics and developments in the study of clinical mental health assessment and differential diagnoses. Discussed are the bio-psychosocial, cultural, and spiritual variables influencing behavior in the environment so that students will gain a theoretical foundation for understanding and assessing mental health and mental health diagnoses. The impact of diversity, social justice, racism, and social determinants of health on behavioral and mental health will be explored. Particular emphasis will be given to the complexity of mental health, and to the use and practical limitations of diagnostic systems, including the DSM-5-TR. Prerequisites: SW 600. Co-requisites: SW 601 and SW 603

SW 609  Clinical Practice with Adults  (3)  

This course explores evidence-based cognitive and behavioral interventions used by social workers in the treatment of adults experiencing mental health issues. Practice from an ADEI perspective is emphasized.

CLINICAL SOCIAL WORK, MASTER OF SOCIAL WORK - TWO YEAR PROGRAM (60 CREDIT HOURS)

Plan of Study Grid
First Year
First SemesterCredits
Generalist Practice Year - Year One
Summer Prior to Year One Fall Semester
SW 500 Justice-Based Social Work Practice 3
Fall Semester
SW 501 The Social Work Profession: Agent of Change 3
SW 503 Generalist Practice: Individuals, Families, & Groups 3
SW 505 Human Behavior in the Environment 3
SW 507 Practicum & Integrative Seminar I 3
 Credits15
Second Semester
Spring Semester
SW 504 3
SW 506 3
SW 508 3
SW 509 3
 Credits12
Third Semester
Summer II
SW 502 3
SW 600 Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion in Social Work 3
 Credits6
Second Year
First Semester
Specialization: Clinical Social Work - Year Two
Fall Semester
SW 601 Clinical Social Work I 3
SW 603 Practicum & Integrative Seminar III - Clinical Practice 3
SW 605 Clinical Assessment & Diagnosis 3
Elective Class 3
 Credits12
Second Semester
Spring Semester
SW 602 3
SW 604 3
SW 606 3
SW 607 3
Elective Class 3
 Credits15
 Total Credits60

CLINICAL SOCIAL WORK, MASTER OF SOCIAL WORK - Advanced Standing PROGRAM (30 CREDIT HOURS)

Plan of Study Grid
First Year
First SemesterCredits
Summer Prior to Year One Fall Semester
SW 600 Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion in Social Work 3
Fall Semester
SW 601 Clinical Social Work I 3
SW 603 Practicum & Integrative Seminar III - Clinical Practice 3
SW 605 Clinical Assessment & Diagnosis 3
Elective Class 3
 Credits15
Second Semester
Spring Semester
SW 602 3
SW 604 3
SW 606 3
SW 607 3
Elective Class 3
 Credits15
 Total Credits30