About

Social work is the professional activity of helping individuals, groups, or communities enhance or restore their capacity for social functioning and creating societal conditions favorable to that goal. In general, social work is planned, purposeful intervention, based on professional knowledge, values, and skills which are aimed at both individual and social change. Social workers seek to strengthen and improve the capability of people and systems to cope with the tasks and problems they face in life and to promote improvements in the social environment which will enable human needs to be more adequately met.

Social work is an active "doing" profession with a long history of caring for persons and social change. Social workers are involved in wide-ranging tasks in many different public and private auspices. Some of the kinds of places social workers can be found include: child and adult protective services, counseling and mental health centers, probation and parole, neighborhood & community organizations, schools, employee assistance programs, labor unions, hospital and long term care facilities. Social workers can be found almost any place where people and organizations come together.

UW-River Falls offers students a Bachelor of Social Work degree ("BSW"- a major in social work). At the undergraduate level, this liberal arts course of study prepares a student for beginning, generalist and professional practice. The program is accredited by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE), a nationally recognized accrediting organization. The program is competitive, and students holding an accredited BSW may receive recognition by graduate programs in social work, leading to advanced standing toward a Master's of Social Work degree (MSW), the terminal practice degree in the profession. State licensing boards in social work recognize the UWRF BSW as meeting requirements to sit for licensure examinations.

The UWRF social work faculty is committed to providing students with the values, skills, and knowledge to be caring and effective professionals. 

Social Work Program Mission, Goals and Objectives

CSWE Assessment Report 2023