Department of Social Work Mission Statement
The Department of Social Work is committed to excellence in preparing ethical and competent professional social workers who foster the well-being of individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities. Through teaching, service, and scholarship, the department promotes civic engagement in diverse societies.
Undergraduate Program Mission
Firmly grounded in the liberal arts tradition and informed by the person-in-environment and global perspectives, the Undergraduate Social Work Program at SUNY Brockport, State University of New York, is committed to the promotion of human rights, social, economic, and environmental justice, and the elimination of poverty and oppression. Through teaching, service, and scholarship, we strive to prepare competent, self-aware, ethical generalist social workers for evidence-based practice with diverse populations, advocating for the well-being of all people in our shared global community.
Undergraduate Program Goals
In order to operationalize its mission, the faculty assigned to the Undergraduate Social Work will:
- Create a challenging educational environment that engages students in active learning and facilitates the acquisition of professional social work knowledge, values, and skills.
- Provide a rich array of community engagement opportunities that allow students to connect with their community in the promotion of justice.
- Encourage students to engage in ongoing critical self-reflection resulting in an understanding of both their place in the global community and their responsibility to the well-being of that global community.
- Educate competent generalist level social workers prepared for employment and graduate study.
The faculty members define generalist social work as follows:
Generalist social work practice refers to the knowledge base, professional values, and practice skills needed for the social work practitioner to intervene, using a multi-level approach to assessment and intervention. It involves working in partnership with the client system to frame problems in a manner that assists the client system to meet goals. It seeks to identify and strengthen the maximum potential in individuals, groups, organizations, and communities and is committed to understanding and respecting the unique context of the client system and responding to issues of human diversity. The generalist social worker is able to use the framework and ethical guidelines of the NASW and IFSW codes of ethics with client systems and to promote social and economic justice. The generalist practitioner is able to use critical thinking and research informed practice to identify and intervene in a manner that strengthens the client system.
Accreditation Information
The Undergraduate Social Work Program has been continually accredited by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) since our inception in 1971.
The Master of Social Work Program is committed to the promotion of human rights, social, economic, and environmental justice, and the elimination of poverty and oppression. Through teaching, service, and scholarship, we strive to prepare competent, self-aware, ethical, and culturally humble integrated practice social workers, with diverse populations, advocating for the well-being of all people in our shared global community. As a reflection of its mission, the overall goals of the Master of Social Work Program are to:
- Provide advanced social work education incorporating theoretical knowledge and critical thinking within an advanced integrated practice framework; emphasizing an ecological strength-based community collaborative, empowerment model of practice to promote social, economic and environmental justice.
- Educate social work practitioners who are ethical, critical thinkers engaged in ongoing inquiry and life-long learning.
- Develop practitioners who provide autonomous social work practice and leadership in health, human service, and other community organizations, as well as in diverse communities to assist high need or at-risk populations.
- Infuse a critical understanding and practice of cultural humility in working with diverse groups, and to adapt social work knowledge and skills to meet the needs of disenfranchised and historically oppressed groups.
- Educate social work practitioners to use evidence and knowledge to improve the effectiveness of social work practice, policies, and programs.
- Promote the health and well-being of individuals, families, groups, and communities by advancing understanding of social determinants of health to ensure justice in a changing environment and in a global society.