MSW Mission & Goals

Mission

The Master of Social Work Program at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania is guided by the core social work values and purpose of the profession to promote human and community well-being and commitment to enhancing the quality of life for families in all their diverse forms and backgrounds. By valuing human rights, social justice, competence, dignity and worth of the person, importance of human relationships, service, integrity, and respect for human diversity, our program prepares competent and autonomous professionals with social work knowledge and skills to contribute to policy development, service delivery, and advocacy. Our program acknowledges the pivotal role of family as a social institution and recognizes the significance of family in creating an equitable, inclusive, just, and sustainable social environment locally and globally where individuals can realize their fullest potential for accomplishing goals, for developing resources, for preventing and alleviating personal distress and eliminating poverty. Our focus is on promoting social, racial, economic, and environmental justice, upholding human rights, cultivating a global perspective, and ensuring the ethical treatment of all people and communities. The program values and emphasizes scientific inquiry and innovative evidence-based practices, rooted in a framework that addresses human behavior, person-in-environment dynamics, and anti-racist, anti-oppressive practices.

Program Goals

Goal 1 - Integrate Theory into Practice: To help graduates use critical thinking and integrate liberal arts and professional knowledge, values and skills into the development of a generalist perspective for social work practice with individuals, families, groups, communities and organizations.

Goal 2 - Engage Anti-Racist and Anti-Oppressive Practice: To help graduates recognize the intersectionality of human diversity, acquire knowledge related to diverse populations for professional practice, and acquire skills for change - including reflection and self-regulation - to achieve the goals of clients and constituencies.

Goal 3 - Conduct Policy Practice: To prepare graduates to understand social policy and its impact on the delivery of and access to social services and to participate in efforts to assure that policy advances social, economic, and environmental justice.

Goal 4 - Assume Professional Identity: To motivate graduates to assume responsibility for continuing professional growth and evidence-informed, life-long learning to inform practice, policy, and service delivery.

Goal 5 - Incorporate Family-in-Environment Practice Perspective: To produce advanced generalist practitioners with a knowledge concentration in family in environment who are able to respond with multi-level practice to the needs of the institution of the family so that its members realize their fullest potential for personal fulfillment and social contribution.

Goal 6 - Gain Specialized Knowledge: To promote an effective, efficient and humane social service delivery network in the program service area through community need-driven, specialized knowledge.

Goal 7 - Conduct Autonomous Practice: To graduate autonomous practitioners with a clear professional identity, including commitment to the NASW Code of Ethics and identified needs for future professional growth.