Department of Social Work

Robin Ringstad, LCSW, Ph.D., Director / Chair

Office: Demergasso-Bava Hall - DBH 122
Phone: (209) 667-3091

Professors: Garcia, Tibrewal, Ringstad
Associate Professors: Leyva, Breshears, Brodie
Assistant Professors: Galvin, Rousseau
Lecturers: Johnson, J., Berenguer, Sivak

Graduate Programs in the Department of Social Work:

Master of Social Work (MSW)   

Program Goals

1. Prepare professional social workers to engage with diverse populations in a process of critical reflection and action to address oppression and promote social justice.
2. Prepare professional social workers to engage in the struggle to understand and transform their biases.
3. Prepare social workers to use an integrative practice framework for multi-system interventions guided by ethics and informed by research.
4. Prepare professional social workers to assume leadership roles in meeting the social service needs of the region.
5. Create a learning environment based on priciples of social justice where faculty and students participate in the development of knowledge that contributes to improving the social conditions of the region.
6. Creat partnerships with community constituents based on principles of social justice that allow faculty and students to participate, both as leaders and learners, in the development of social work knowledge and service delivery systems.

Student Learning Outcomes/Competencies

The MSW Program intends to graduate social workers who possess and demonstrate core competencies of professional social work practice based on Educational Policies and Accreditation Standards (EPAS).

Competency-based education is an outcome performance approach to curriculum design. Competencies are measureable practice behaviors that are comprised of knowledge, values, and skills. The goal of the outcome approach is to demonstrate the integration and application of the competencies in practice with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities.

1. Identify as a professional social worker and conduct oneself accordingly.
2. Apply social work ethical principles to guide professional practice.
3. Apply critical thinking to inform and communicate professional judgments.
4. Engage diversity and difference in practice.
5. Advance human rights and social economic justice.
6. Engage in research-informed practice and practice-informed research.
7. Apply knowledge of human behavior and the social environment.
8. Engage in policy practice to advance social and economic well-being and to deliver effective social work services.
9. Respond to contexts that shape practice.
10. Engage, assess, intervene, and evaluate with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities.