Mission and Philosophy
   The mission of the School of Social Work is to prepare competent and effective social workers by providing a research-based curriculum guided by professional knowledge, skills, values and ethics. The School of Social Work is committed to lifelong learning through its academic and continuing education programs valuing social and economic justice focused on service to diverse populations.

History and Overview
   The School of Social Work was established as the Graduate School of Social Work in 1967 by an act of the Texas Legislature. It became the School of Social Work in 1991 when the University's undergraduate social work program in the College of Liberal Arts merged with the school's graduate program.
   Currently, the school offers three programs of study: the Ph.D. in Social Work, the Master of Science in Social Work and the Bachelor of Social Work. The Ph.D. program offers two options: the Ph.D. in Social Work or an international dual-degree specialty in comparative social welfare policy with the Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon, in Monterrey, Mexico. The school provides training, counseling, consultation and research through four active adjunct centers: the Judith Granger Birmingham Center for Child Welfare, the Community Service Clinic, the Community Services Development Center and the Center for Research, Evaluation and Technology. The Professional Development Program conducts training and development seminars for professional social workers that provide the continuing education units necessary for license renewals.
   The school attracts and graduates more students than most of the other social work programs in the nation. More than 3,800 students have earned degrees at the school and many hold key management positions in public agencies and nonprofit organizations nationwide. Currently, SSW has a diverse student body of approximately 900 students. Many of these students also hold full- or part-time positions in public agencies and nonprofit organizations.
   One distinguishing feature of the school is its location in the heart of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, a rich urban laboratory of more than 150 cities with a total population of approximately 4.5 million. This complex social arena offers a wide array of opportunities for student projects, field placements and employment. Social work faculty, staff and students work on "real-life" social problems in cooperation with city governments, public agencies and nonprofit organizations.

Accreditation
   The Council on Social Work Education has fully accredited MSSW and BSW programs at the school. Accreditation is an important consideration for students because many professional social work positions require a degree from a CSWE-accredited program. Academic credit for life experience and previous work experience is not given.

Scholastic Activity and Research Interests of the Faculty
   School of Social Work faculty engage in research and community-service projects that enhance the effectiveness and justify the programs of public and nonprofit social-service organizations, that promote social justice and equality, and that extend the body of knowledge about social issues. Typical projects include evaluations of state and federal child-welfare and community-service programs, cross-cultural adaptations to mental-health treatments, studies of exceptional social behavior, such as gang violence, and reports on the extent and quality of specific social services in the local community.
   Faculty research takes either a direct practice or an administrative/community practice approach. Research benefits social-service organizations that lack the expertise and resources to conduct their own studies. Also, research includes applied research that is published in national journals, reference and text books. Research topics span the broad range of social-work issues, including feminist theory, minority rights, child abuse, mental illness, ethics, aging, sexual abuse, community development, lesbians and gay men, marital therapy, violence and social policy.
   Recently, among the most important faculty accomplishments were the development of an international doctoral program specialty in comparative social policy with La Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon, in Monterrey, Mexico; the completion of a four-year federal grant of $295,000 for a community-policing program evaluation; a federal grant of almost $1.9 million for an Americorps program; and a federal grant of more than $2.4 million for a child-welfare center.