Dual Degree Program in Social Work and Public Health
Welcome to the MSW/MPH Program Web Site!
Dear Prospective Student:
Welcome to the Boston University MSW/MPH Program and thank you for your interest our very special dual degree program in public health and social work. Public health social work is our passion at Boston University, and for more than 25 years, we have offered interested students the opportunity to obtain training in this important and powerful field of trans-disciplinary practice. We are proud to be one of the nation’s oldest MSW/MPH Programs and we believe there are many reasons why you should consider joining us.
Why should you spend additional time to obtain both an MSW and an MPH? Executive Director of NASW, Elizabeth Clark, herself an MSW/MPH, calls public health social work “leadership training for the 21st century.” Public health social work practice focuses on today’s contemporary social health issues, equipping graduates to take on the major challenges of our era.
- Public health social work is about prevention, not just intervention after problems have occurred;
- Public health social work uses multiple methods to address issues, including research, policy, advocacy, clinical interventions; and macro approaches;
- Public health social work works with individuals, groups, communities and whole populations;
- Public health social work is strengths-based, and emphasizes resilience and positive factors to promote health and reduce risk.
Beyond an excellent program, Boston University provides national leadership on public health social work. In the last five years we have hosted Public Health Social Work in the 21st Century, a national conference of over 250 public health and social work leaders; provided support to the Group for Public Health Social Work Initiatives, an ad hoc working group promoting scholarship, advocacy and leadership in public health social work; conducted several research projects on public health social work training and practice; and launched a Public Health Social Work Training Project in our Professional Education Programs department. We have three faculty members with public health and social work degrees, and have graduated 290 alumni from this program. We hope you will join the more than 50 students enrolled in the 2010-2011 academic year and we look forward to working with you. Please read on for more information on how you can get involved.
Sincerely,
Betty J Ruth, MSW/MPH Program Director
Clinical Associate Professor, Boston University School of Social Work
Leonard Glantz, JD, Professor
Boston University School of Public Health
Program Overview
The Boston University dual degree program in Social Work and Public Health is an interdisciplinary course of study leading to the award of both the Master of Social Work (MSW) and the Master of Public Health (MPH) degrees.
Established at Boston University in 1981, the MSW/MPH program is one of the oldest and largest programs of its type in the US. For almost thirty years, this unique program has trained hundreds of public health social workers for leadership positions in public health, social work, and related areas of transdisciplinary practice. Graduates from Boston University’s MSW/MPH program go on to work in a broad range of practice areas: prevention oriented clinical practice; health education and health promotion; health program planning, development and evaluation; health policy analysis; management at local, state, national and international levels; and public health advocacy. Public health and social work share a historic mission to promote social justice and to protect and enhance community well-being. Boston University MSW/MPH alumni draw from both fields’ research and skills to help prevent and solve contemporary social health problems such as HIV/AIDS, substance abuse, trauma, and violence. Graduates emerges with a rich knowledge base, extensive field experience, and the competencies to work in many areas of the public health, social work and health care.
