Courses

• SSW MP 783: Planning and Program Development
  This course introduces students to planning theory, planned social change, organizational development, program development, proposal writing, and leadership. Specific emphasis is placed on basic concepts, principles, skills, and knowledge necessary to effect change at the organizational and community levels.
• SSW MP 785: Program Evaluation
  The aim of this course is to provide advanced MSW students with the theory and basic skills necessary to develop sound program evaluation models. It presents techniques for creating evaluation designs that respond both to a program's organizational reality and to funding requirements. The course also includes a discussion of the political-policy context of program evaluation. Finally, students are provided with the opportunity to either participate in an ongoing evaluation effort or implement their own evaluation model in the field.
• SSW MP 794: Macro Field Seminar
  A required monthly seminar in support of field placements for non-MSW-supervised, second-year macro students. There are no readings or assignments.
• SSW MP 900: Directed Study
  Directed Study. Approval of instructor needed.
• SSW MP 901: Directed Study
  Directed Study. Approval of instructor needed.
• SSW SP 742: Directed Study
  Directed Study. Approval of instructor needed.
• SSW SR 743: Introduction to Social Work Research I
  The goal of this introductory course is to develop the student's ability to use and engage in both quantitative and qualitative research in order to inform and evaluate their own social work practice. The course addresses key research concepts and procedures such as hypothesis formulation, measurement, sampling, research design, and data collection. The course also examines ethical issues in the conduct of social research, including informed consent, anonymity and confidentiality, culturally sensitive research methods, and the NASW Code of Ethics.
• SSW SR 744: Social Work Research II
  Students are introduced to the concepts and procedures that are fundamental to both descriptive and inferential statistics. Empirical research examining the effectiveness of social work practice, particularly in the urban environment, is explored. Utilizing existing national data sets, students generate their own research hypotheses and then formulate and carry out an analytic strategy to answer these questions effectively. Emphasis is also placed on gaining skills in presenting and communicating key findings to relevant audiences and stakeholders
• SSW SR 747: Independent Research Project
  This is an elective course in which students either undertake an independent research project under faculty supervision or carve out a specific research focus in a broader faculty-led research project. The student completes a research report in which they typically describe the research objective, study?s significance, research methodology, and key findings.
• SSW SR 904: Clinical Research Methods in Social Work Practice
  This course familiarizes graduate students with design, implementation and analytic strategies for quantitative research with clinical populations. A particular emphasis is on the conduct of intervention studies. Topics include conceptualization and design, sampling of participants, assessment, data organization and management, analysis plans, evaluation and outcomes, and ethical concerns.
• SSW SR 905: Directed Study
  Directed Study. Approval of instructor needed.
• SSW SR 906: Qualitative Research Methods
  This course provides graduate students with foundational knowledge of some of the major theories and practices of qualitative research. The history of qualitative methods is reviewed to situate this long-standing approach within current practices in the social sciences. A variety of approaches to data collection (ethnography, observation, focus groups and individual interviewing) and analysis (narrative, grounded theory, Listening Guide) are introduced along with ethical issues in the practice of qualitative research. Strategies for enhancing rigor are discussed as are writing qualitative research proposals and publications. A series of exercises and a mini research project provide opportunities for direct application of the course material.
• SSW SR 907: Advanced Qualitative Research Methods
  This course is the second in a two-semester sequence (SR906 and SR907) designed to introduce students to qualitative approaches in social science research and foster development of foundational skills in qualitative research design, data collection, data analysis, and presentation of qualitative research findings. The course builds on students' developing understanding of the diversity and philosophical underpinnings of qualitative approaches and provides an opportunity to deepen one's skills in data collection and analysis through the completion of a small-scale qualitative research project. Students are expected to have obtained IRB approval for their projects prior to the start of the semester so that work on these can begin immediately.
• SSW SR 908: Directed Study
  Directed Study. Approval of instructor needed.
• SSW SR 909: Directed Study
  Directed Study. Approval of instructor needed.
• SSW SR 910: Doctoral Dissertation Seminar
  Designed as a seminar format, this course guides students in the transformation of their latent ideas into novel researchable dissertation projects. The course focuses on enhancing student knowledge and skills necessary to develop the many components of the dissertation in a coherent manner: introduction, literature review, theoretical or conceptual framework, research questions, method, results and discussion sections. The seminar also addresses a number of dissertation research-related tasks such as creation of the dissertation committee, understanding research ethics and the institutional review board process, exploring dissertation funding and identifying needed resources, creation of realistic timelines for dissertation phases, and strategies for dissemination of work through conference presentations and publications. Each student will develop a complete draft of his/her dissertation prospectus and evaluate the proposed research in terms of its relevance for the field of social welfare, including relevance to the profession's mission to pursue social justice, the rigor of the proposed study, the originality of the research, and the feasibility of the overall proposal.
• SSW SW 905: Contemporary Social Problems: A Social Work Perspective
  Students will take this integrative seminar in their final semester of coursework. The class is intended as a "capstone" experience and offers students the opportunity to understand how social work academics, researchers, and practitioners approach contemporary social problems. Course sessions will be organized around a number of topics, representing domains of current importance to the field. For each, students will be exposed to an in-depth exploration of the theoretical and methodological approaches that define modern social work research, emphasizing qualitative and quantitative methods, current and historical theory, and implications for social work research and practice.
• SSW SW 908: Teaching Seminar
  This required, 4-credit course will orient students to teaching methods and skills specific to course instruction in substantive areas required in accredited social work programs at the master's level. Students will explore diverse pedagogical frameworks for teaching social work clinical and community practice, policy, human behavior, and research. The course will emphasize effective teaching grounded in core social work values of social justice and respect for human diversity.
• SSW SW 909: Teaching Practicum
  Students will complete a teaching practicum with an instructor of record for a traditional in person MSW classroom course. Course assignments will be made according to the needs and interests of the student in collaboration with faculty advisors and course instructors with approval from the doctoral committee and relevant departments.
• SSW SW 981: Certified Ft
  

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