Program Mission and Goals

mission

The BSW Program prepares students to become proficient generalist social work professionals in practice, research, service, and advocacy. It equips them to advocate for and enhance human and community well-being by promoting diversity, inclusion, access, and equity. The program addresses social, racial, economic, and environmental injustices to decrease poverty and expand human rights. It drives positive social change to improve the quality of life for all through a strengths-based, person-in-environment approach that honors the dignity and worth of every individual. The program incorporates perspectives that span local, regional, state, and global contexts, and is grounded in a curriculum driven by scientific inquiry and research. 

Students are trained to engage, assess, evaluate, intervene, and coordinate at all system levels (micro, mezzo, macro) with individuals, families, groups, communities, and organizations. The students uphold and demonstrate the core social work values of service, social justice, the dignity and worth of every person, the importance of human relationships, integrity, competence, human rights, and scientific inquiry, practicing through an anti-racist and anti-oppressive lens.

Goals

Graduates of the UNC Charlotte BSW Program will be able to:

  1. Use a wide range of prevention and intervention methods in their practice with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities;
  2. Apply ethical principles, critical thinking, and incorporate diversity, inclusion, and equity in their practice;
  3. Recognize, support, and build on the strengths and resiliency of all human beings; and
  4. Engage in culturally informed research practice, respond proactively to the impact of context on professional practice, and integrate all the BSW Program’s core competencies in practice.

Graduates of the UNC Charlotte BSW Program will practice generalist social work in a manner that values service, social justice, the dignity and worth of the person, the importance of human relationships, integrity, competence, human rights, safety and scientific inquiry.

ACCREDITATION

The BSW Program at UNC Charlotte is accredited by CSWE (Council on Social Work Education). In 2016, the Commission on Accreditation reaffirmed accreditation for the BSW program at UNC Charlotte for 8 years. For more information, see Accreditation or School Assessment Data.

* Offered in support of the School of Social Work’s mission statement, which is responsive to the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE)’s accreditation requirements.