Social work practice, ethics, and values, in the context of social welfare policy in the United States are discussed. Topics in social welfare are examined including social policy, service delivery, research, theory, and practice. Basic social work values and concepts are interpreted. Offered every semester. Note: SW 150 is a prerequisite for all social work courses.
Winter 2025 - Online Spring/Summer 2025 - Online
This course explores multiple dimensions of diversity. It examines issues of identity, culture, privilege, stigma, prejudice, and discrimination. Students are expected to use course material to explore their personal values, biases, family backgrounds, culture, and formative experiences to deepen their self-awareness and develop interpersonal skills in bridging differences. Offered fall and winter semesters.
Investigates chronic illness through a biological, social, and psychological lens. Chronic illness affects individuals, groups, and communities resulting in a need for a variety of ways to assess how health professionals can best respond to the challenges of living a good quality of life. Part of the Health Issue. Offered fall and winter semesters. Prerequisite: Junior standing.
This course aims to prepare students for community work with lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people by providing a deeper understanding of LGBT history identities, families, health and mental health challenges, and issues of political advocacy. The course will examine a variety of issues that affect LGBT people. Part of the Identity Issue. Offered fall and winter semesters. Prerequisite: Junior standing.
Explores death and loss in U.S. society from diverse theoretical, cultural, and social perspectives. Grief as a human response to death and other significant loss is examined emphasizing the diversity of grief reactions among individuals, groups, and communities and exploring helpful and meaningful interventions. Part of the Health Issue. Offered fall and spring/summer semesters. Prerequisite: Junior standing.
Analyzes the impact of historical, economic, and societal responses to population aging in the United States on pervasive ageism against older adults, based on the human rights framework. Special attention given to professional ageism in health and human services systems and its impact on minority older adults' health and well being. Fulfills Cultures - U.S. Diversity. Part of the Health Issue. Prerequisite: Junior standing.
The study of issues and concerns important to the social work community not ordinarily covered in other courses. Offered in response to the special interests of faculty and student majors. Topics to be announced. Offered every other fall semester. Prerequisite: Permission of instructor.
Winter 2025 - Online
The foundational course in social work research presents ethical considerations and basic principles and techniques of social science research in relation to generalist practice in social work settings. The organizing principle for the course is the research cycle, including problem identification design, research methods, analysis, and implications for practice. Offered fall semester. Prerequisite: STA 215.
Spring/Summer 2025 - Hybrid
This course is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate and reflect on their mastery of the core competencies and their cumulative learning throughout the B.S.W. program, while considering their identities as professional social workers. Offered winter semester. Prerequisite: SW 490. Corequisites: SW 491 and SW 493.
This course examines cross-cultural practices and values, with emphasis on the commonalities and differences among individuals, groups, organizations, and communities. Emphasis is given to critical analyses of people based on age, ethnicity, race, gender, religion, spirituality, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, veteran, and/or disability status. Offered every semester.
Examines social welfare as an institution, and social work as a profession in American society. Included are basic knowledge, values, and skills required for advanced generalist practice. Emphasis is on values and ethics, populations-at-risk, social and economic justice, and engagement with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities. Offered fall and winter semester.
Winter 2025 - Hybrid
This foundation course for advanced generalist social work practice includes training in engagement, assessment and intervention with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities. Using a strengths-based perspective with respect to diversity, this course focuses on micro, mezzo, and macro theories relevant to practice. Offered fall and winter semesters. Prerequisite: SW 601.
Winter 2025 - Online Spring/Summer 2025 - Hybrid
This course examines social services delivery systems in the United States, including the profession of social work and an analysis of the historical development in economic, political, and social contexts. Offered fall and winter semesters.
The course is structured to provide students with a basis for literacy about modern human rights, including core principles, key documents, institutions, and practices. A framework for the analysis of social work/human rights interactions is utilized and systematically applied, including but not limited to the effect of social, political, and economic policies and programs on human rights; health and social consequences of human rights violations; and the inextricable linkage between promoting and protecting mental and physical health, community well being and family functioning, and promoting and protecting human rights. Prerequisite: SW 610.
The course synthesizes and applies theories of human behavior and the social environment into social work practice with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities, based on the person-environment construct and biopsychosocial-spiritual assessment models. Special attention will be on the effects of diversity and difference, and lifespan development. Offered fall and winter semesters.
Winter 2025 - Hybrid Spring/Summer 2025 - Online
Provides a comprehensive body of knowledge, organized and integrated in both theoretical and practical terms. Includes an awareness of the dimensions of mental health and mental disorders in adulthood. Provides a bio-psychosocial spiritual strength-based perspective on engagement with, assessment of, and intervention in normal and abnormal behavior. Offered winter and spring/summer semesters. Prerequisites: SW 600 and SW 620.
This course provides an orientation to macro social work as a core method for advanced generalist practice. Students learn foundational theories and practice skills for engaging, planning, implementing, and evaluating change in communities and organizations. This course emphasizes principles of inclusion, social and economic justice, human rights, and empowerment. Offered every semester. Prerequisite: SW 603.
A broadening of studentbreak knowledge of the professional foundation for practice across populations-at-risk. Students will identify and develop individual topics. May be taken only once. Offered winter semester. Co-requisites: SW 654 and SW 655.
Instruction in how to find grant resources, develop grant proposals and associated budgets, and evaluate outside proposals. Students will learn to diversify agency financial resources through planned giving, corporate requests, endowment campaigns, and special events. Offered winter semester.
This course will include emphasis on governmental statutes and regulations that govern school systems and directly impact teachers, administrators, and other members of the professional team, community agencies, and groups. Offered spring/summer semester. Prerequisites: SW 600, SW 603, SW 610, SW 620, and permission of instructor.
Examines the impact of the social work profession on substance abuse problems. Considers etiology, epidemiology, prevention, methods of treatment and policy issues, as well as the relationship between race, gender, age, social class, and substance abuse. Offered winter semester. Prerequisites: SW 600 and SW 620.
Required for social work practitioners in Michigan public schools. This course provides an overview of social work practice in a host setting as it relates to general and special education. Offered winter and spring/summer semesters. Prerequisites: SW 600, SW 603, SW 610, and SW 620.
This course explores intervention with traumatized children and adolescents. Assessment foci include the role of development, culture, and evidence-based, trauma-specific practice with children, adolescents, and their families. Other topics include trauma-focused CBT, identification of risk and protective factors that foster resiliency, caregiver interventions, and strengths-based practice. Offered winter and spring/summer semesters. Prerequisite: SW 670.
Winter 2025 - Hybrid Spring/Summer 2025 - Hybrid
This course examines death, grief, and loss in America, including theories, cultural rituals, social traditions, and taboos before and after death. Psychological and spiritual foundations of death, grief, and loss are explored from multiple perspectives and cultures including the experience of grief and bereavement for individuals, groups, and communities. Offered winter semester. Prerequisite: Postbaccalaureate status or permission of instructor.
Focuses on selected knowledge and skills from a person-in-environment perspective and approaches working with individual clients, along with the cognitive/behavioral and psychosocial models and their application to social work practice. Emphases on approaches that enhance social function, strengthen problem-solving capacities, and support the coping capacities of individual adults. Offered fall and winter semesters. Prerequisites: SW 603 and SW 622.
Examines an integrated model of family practice focusing on family development and dysfunction at various stages in the family life cycle. Using a family system and ecological systems perspective, students are taught specific assessment and intervention knowledge and skills. Concepts from several current models of family practice are studied and drawn upon. Offered fall and winter semesters. Prerequisite: SW 603.
A review of professional practice in social planning and community organization. Exploration of a range of theories, concepts, and applications. Includes focus on power, influence, interorganizational relationships and action strategies, as well as development and use of structure and leadership. Offered fall semester. Prerequisite: SW 603.
Examines the various tasks and techniques related to supervision in social service agencies. Supervision is introduced as an educational process, an administrative function, and a development tool. Dimensions of the supervisor/worker relationship will be discussed, with particular attention to the impact of gender and race on the process. Offered winter and spring/summer semesters. Prerequisite: SW 603.
Provides a conceptual, theoretical, and methodological foundation in the organization and administration of human services. Inter- and intra-organizational variables and characteristics that undergird and impinge upon the effective delivery of human services are examined. Issues and forces affecting the social welfare enterprise will be analyzed along with those factors. Offered fall semester. Prerequisite: SW 603.
Spring/Summer 2025 - Online
Students study issues and concerns important to the social work profession not ordinarily covered in other courses. Offered in response to the special interests of faculty and students. Topic(s) to be announced in advance of registration. Offered fall semester. Prerequisites: SW 600, SW 601, SW 603, SW 610 and SW 620.
This course is the first of two in social work research. The foundational concepts and methodology used for scientific practice, including the investigation and evaluation of social work practice problems, an understanding of techniques and issues in measurements, options in research designs, data collection and analysis, and the development of new knowledge in agencies and programs with particular reference to the advanced generalist perspective. Offered winter, and spring/summer semesters.
Examines qualitative research methods in a small-scale project, including interviewing and observational data collection methods, with attention to research ethics and the protection of human subjects. Qualitative data analysis techniques, the generation of conclusions, and writing in-depth implications for social work will be addressed. Offered spring/summer and fall semesters. Prerequisite: SW 690.
