Mission

School of Social Work Mission Statement

The Mission of the Simmons University School of Social Work is to provide exceptional training, build knowledge and further social and economic justice. We provide transformative learning experiences to students at the bachelors, masters and doctoral levels. Our graduates are prepared to practice social work in a complex, multicultural world and engage in leadership, scholarship, and teaching, drawing from evidence-based and community informed research, and interprofessional education. Our teaching, scholarship and community engagement purposively includes community stakeholders and works to empower marginalized, oppressed and excluded populations. We promote social change through advancing understanding of the connection between individual circumstances and social policy structures, case to cause.

BSW Program Mission Statement

The mission of the BSW program is to prepare baccalaureate-level students for professional generalist social work practice and lifelong professional and personal learning. Consistent with the mission and vision of Simmons College, the School of Social Work, and professional social work tradition, the Program seeks to develop competent, ethical practitioners who are attuned to the values of the social work profession, embrace a professional social work identity, value diversity, and seek social justice through effective advocacy and social change efforts.

MSW Program Mission Statement

The mission of the MSW program is to prepare masters level professional practitioners with skills for clinical social work practice in a complex, multicultural world using knowledge based on evidence-informed and field-informed practice, in which clinical practice is defined, in part, as a disciplined process for collaboration, in service of social, emotional and behavioral change for individuals, groups, families, organizations and communities. This educational experience, consistent with the history and philosophy of the social work profession, is grounded in a values perspective that emphasizes client strengths, actively opposes all forms of oppression and supports social, economic and environmental justice. The curriculum is designed to help students develop competence, critical thinking and the ability to attend to clients’ presenting concerns and build on their strengths, as well as cultural responsiveness and self-awareness.

PhD Program Mission Statement

The School of Social Work at Simmons College has offered a Ph.D. degree in Social Work since 1983. The Doctoral Program prepares students to assume a variety of leadership roles within the profession as advanced clinical practitioners, educators, scholars and researchers. The curriculum is designed to help expert clinicians become research-trained scholar practitioners. Doctoral students graduate with extensive research training and experience and the ability to translate research into practice.

DSW Program Mission Statement

The mission of the DSW program is to develop scholar-practitioners with expertise in the pillars of advanced practice, teaching and leadership. DSW graduates are holistic scholar-practitioners who seamlessly apply doctoral-level knowledge and practices to their work in the field. The DSW program is designed by expert faculty-practitioners who train students to become holistic scholar-practitioners as defined by: ability to apply evidence-based frameworks grounded in the principles of social justice, including diversity, equity, inclusion, intersectionality, power analysis and anti-racism (DEIPAR), using interdisciplinary approaches, to transform their clinical, pedagogical and leadership practices. Through this experience, DSW graduates are prepared to make a meaningful difference with their work.