Social work is a profession devoted to responding to the needs of people who experience serious social problems and to addressing the stress that these problems can create. With a special interest in diversity and its expression through gender, sexual orientation, age, ethnicity, race, and class, social workers stand on the cutting edge of helping individuals, groups, and communities identify their needs and make full use of their strengths and assets to fulfill them. Social work professionals are conscious of the dynamics that create negative and stressful circumstances and seek to change them so that people have opportunities to meet their own needs and to advance the quality of their lives.

Thinking about a career in social work

Prospective students should reflect on what social work means to them and why they seek to become social work professionals. The school seeks students who value human diversity and who want to become competent practitioners ready to serve people in a variety of situations and communities and through a diversity of helping strategies. Students will learn to appreciate the differences and similarities they possess in relation to the people they seek to serve and the people with whom they work. The school's curriculum infuses considerable content on human diversity and seeks to prepare practitioners who understand how diversity and strengths complement one another.