Undergraduate Studies
Our BSW helps prepares confident students as they enter into generalist social work practice.
The School of Social Work is Celebrating its 50th year anniversary! Please join us in celebrating 50 years of excellence in teaching, mentoring, and graduating future social work leaders, practitioners, and scholars. We look forward to a year of celebration and reflection on how far we have come, and where we are heading next. Join us in kicking off our 50th year celebration at our second annual alumni awards celebration on October 30!
We envision a world that affirms and sustains the inherent dignity and worth of all humans, that distributes resources and power equitably, and where all life flourishes.
The need for social workers and social work educators is growing. The School of Social Work at St. Thomas provides students with individual attention, a focused learning environment and real-world application opportunities they need to make a necessary difference in the world with their degree.
Social workers are on the front lines addressing some of society's most critical issues, such as income inequality, unemployment, housing resources, health access, education disparities and more. The field needs people like you, committed to social justice and advancing the common good.
Employment in this field is expected to grow by more than 20% in the next decade—faster than average for all occupations. Health reform and demographic trends such as the aging population, increasing numbers of military and veterans, and growth of immigrant and refugee populations are driving above-average growth in the practice.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there is an expected 15% employment increase in the areas of child, family and school social workers.
St. Thomas provides several paths for students and professionals interested in studying social work.
Our BSW helps prepares confident students as they enter into generalist social work practice.
With a focus on clinical social work, this program prepares graduates to practice at the post-master’s level.
Designed to prepare seasoned social work faculty and experienced practitioners for university-level teaching and leadership in higher education.
Help meet both the social and legal challenges in a variety of areas of professional practice. Earn an MSW and a JD in less time than it would take to earn these degrees separately.
If you have an MSW degree and want to complete clock hours in specific clinical knowledge areas for LICSW licensure, you may be eligible to register for courses beyond those listed above.
Keep your license up to date, engage in current events and connect with other social workers through classes, events, conferences, forums and more.
For the common good
Field Education is community-based, experiential, transformational learning for practice as a social worker. The School of Social Work places over 300 students into 200+ agencies and social work practice settings.
Our Master of Social Work students are trained as clinical social workers. Clinical social workers are employed in a wide variety of settings—public, private, nonprofit as well as in private practice—to provide assessment, diagnosis, treatment in support of better emotional, behavioral and mental health. Clinical social work practice can include individual, couples, family and group therapies. Clinical social workers work to enhance self-determination, individual and community health, and help meet both basic and complex needs of individuals and communities.
Our Doctor of Social Work prepares social work faculty and experienced practitioners for university-level teaching and leadership. Our graduates teach, develop identities as scholar practitioners, write for publications and pursue social justice through service and leadership in academia and in their communities.
Our Master of Social Work program focuses exclusively on clinical social work practice. Clinical social work is the professional application of advanced social work theory and methods to help restore, maintain, and enhance bio-psycho-social-spiritual functioning in individuals, groups, families, and communities. It is built upon the foundation of generalist social work including respect for diversity, empowerment of client systems, and advocacy of social and economic justice for vulnerable populations. It utilizes the application of clinical knowledge and skills in multidimensional assessment, diagnosis and treatment of emotional, mental and behavioral disorders, conditions, and addictions with special attention devoted to a strengths and person-in-environment perspective.
The University of St. Thomas BSW program is accredited by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE). Our program has been accredited since March 2024, and the next review will take place in 2032. St. Thomas was previously part of a joint program with St. Catherine University that was accredited by CSWE from 1974-2019.
The St. Thomas MSW program is fully accredited by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE). Our program has been accredited since March 2024, and the next review will take place in 2032. St. Thomas was previously part of a joint program with St. Catherine University that was accredited by CSWE from 1990-2019.
The St. Thomas Doctorate in Social Work program has been approved by our institutional accrediting organization, the Higher Learning Commission. At this time, doctoral programs both DSW and PhD programs are not accredited by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE). However, in June of 2020 CSWE approved accreditation standards for practice doctorates. For further information about the piloting of the accreditation process, please review the CSWE website.
Career Resource for Students, Alumni and Employers
"I have seen how useful social work practice is in all areas of my professional life and how a social work degree gives me the ability to leave my career path open and changeable."
"I chose to come to the program based on word-of-mouth that this was a great program, but the word-of-mouth didn't do it justice! This has been an incredible experience and I wouldn't want to go anywhere else."
"Through the Social Work classes and program, I have started to learn the skills I need to interact one-on-one, in a group, and in social policy change. I feel as though I am doing a lot of good through social work and hope to make a difference in the world."
"It's a great place with a very supportive atmosphere. The program staff members always had an open door and were willing to answer any questions that I had. I really felt like I was part of the community here."
"I think all the professors are so engaging and willing to help. They bring in so much real-world experience from the outside jobs they have."
During the summer of 2021, the School of Social Work received its largest federal grant ever: $1.9 million from the U.S. Health and Resources Administration (HRSA).