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Mission

School of Social Work Mission Statement

The Mission of the Simmons University School of Social Work is to provide exceptional training, build knowledge and further social and economic justice. We provide transformative learning experiences to students at the bachelors, masters and doctoral levels. Our graduates are prepared to practice social work in a complex, multicultural world and engage in leadership, scholarship, and teaching, drawing from evidence-based and community informed research, and interprofessional education. Our teaching, scholarship and community engagement purposively includes community stakeholders and works to empower marginalized, oppressed and excluded populations. We promote social change through advancing understanding of the connection between individual circumstances and social policy structures, case to cause.

BSW Program Mission Statement

The mission of the BSW program is to prepare baccalaureate-level students for professional generalist social work practice and lifelong professional and personal learning. Consistent with the mission and vision of Simmons College, the School of Social Work, and professional social work tradition, the Program seeks to develop competent, ethical practitioners who are attuned to the values of the social work profession, embrace a professional social work identity, value diversity, and seek social justice through effective advocacy and social change efforts.

MSW Program Mission Statement

The mission of the MSW program is to prepare masters level professional practitioners with skills for clinical social work practice in a complex, multicultural world using knowledge based on evidence-informed and field-informed practice, in which clinical practice is defined, in part, as a disciplined process for collaboration, in service of social, emotional and behavioral change for individuals, groups, families, organizations and communities. This educational experience, consistent with the history and philosophy of the social work profession, is grounded in a values perspective that emphasizes client strengths, actively opposes all forms of oppression and supports social, economic and environmental justice. The curriculum is designed to help students develop competence, critical thinking and the ability to attend to clients’ presenting concerns and build on their strengths, as well as cultural responsiveness and self-awareness.

PhD Program Mission Statement

The School of Social Work at Simmons College has offered a Ph.D. degree in Social Work since 1983. The Doctoral Program prepares students to assume a variety of leadership roles within the profession as advanced clinical practitioners, educators, scholars and researchers. The curriculum is designed to help expert clinicians become research-trained scholar practitioners. Doctoral students graduate with extensive research training and experience and the ability to translate research into practice.

DSW Program Mission Statement

As part of the nation’s first school of social work, our program enjoys a rich history of training clinical social workers. The mission of the DSW program is to prepare competent, scholar-practitioners with doctoral-level knowledge across the domains of advanced clinical practice, inclusive leadership, and teaching through a social justice lens. Our students are better able to serve populations harmed by oppression and inequality with integrity and targeted interventions that facilitate social, racial, economic, and environmental justice. They learn a multifaceted approach to social justice with attention to the principles of diversity, equity, inclusion, intersectionality, power analysis, and anti-racism (DEIPAR). Our students apply their social justice learning to both the person and the environment, to assess decision-making considerations, and to implement novel approaches at the micro, mezzo, and macro levels. This enables our students’ development as systemic and global thinkers whose enhanced respect for human diversity equips them to promote individual, community, and organizational well-being, the advancement of human rights, and the elimination of poverty. The DSW program is designed by expert faculty-practitioners who train students to engage in systematic inquiry to effectively evaluate and critique scholarly conventions, to disseminate advanced-level evidence-based knowledge, and to influence all practice levels by partnering with and amplifying the strengths of the communities served.