The first half of the Department's mission statement speaks to its strong commitment to preparing competent social work practitioners who will provide quality social services to individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities.  The BSW program prepares students for beginning social work practice using a generalist approach.  The Department defines generalist practice as follows:

Generalist social work practice is a planned process aimed at improving the well-being of individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities and larger social systems, by creating social change both within and between these social systems within a global context.

Grounded in the liberal arts, generalist social work practice is based upon scientifically informed knowledge, professional social work values and ethics, and a core set of micro, mezzo, and macro skills transferable across a variety of human and social service practice settings.  Generalist practitioners assume a variety of roles and are trained to think critically as they engage, assess, intervene, and evaluate practice outcomes when working with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities.  Anchored in systems theory, generalist practice involves viewing client systems from an ecological perspective focusing on strengths and the quality of system interactions. Generalist practitioners strive to promote social and economic justice, and seek to support diversity by providing culturally sensitive services to a range of client populations including marginalized populations at risk of discrimination and oppression.