SW-200 Intro to Social Work (3 credits)
This course is the gateway into the social work major. It is meant to provide students with an overview of the field of social work, including its history, values and ethics, theoretical frameworks, various practice areas, and philosophy of social work. Students will gain exposure to social work's role with cultural competency, social justice, social welfare, and social policy. The roles, practices, contributions, and perspectives that social work has with social welfare policy will be explored.
SW-220 Social Movements & Social Change (4 credits)
The student investigates formal and informal structures and processes in complex organizations. They develop skills in analyzing bureaucracies and in proposing and evaluating solutions to problems related to organizational environments. They also acquire communication, interaction, and decision-making skills that allow them to function effectively in organizational settings.
Prerequisite(s): Communication Level 2 Writing completed. BSC-215 or MGT 120/PCM 120 completed.
SW-250 Human Behavior in Social Environment (3 credits)
In this course, students will acquire knowledge and skills about the biological, sociological, psychological, cultural, and spiritual development throughout the lifespan, conception through elder years. Human development with the social environment emphasis from individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities perspectives and various theoretical frameworks. Students will apply core social work competencies.
SW-300 Social Work Practice Methods: Individuals (3 credits)
In this course, students will acquire knowledge and skills of the intervention level of individuals (micro) social work practice. These include client interviewing, evidence-based assessments, interpersonal skills, and documentation practices. Linkages will be made to families, groups, organizations, and communities. Students will apply core social work competencies within the context of practice with individuals.
Prerequisite(s): SW-200
SW-320 Families and Society (3 credits)
Offered Fall Term only. This course will examine the family, its structures, and functions. It will look at what families are, why they exist, and how they differ and change. In one respect this course is about your life as a family member: the experiences we all personally have had with family, good and bad, tend to affect what we bring to the study of this topic. In another respect, though, the course is about society's perspective of a family, and how we can understand them holistically. So, we will approach the family from the perspective of behavioral science: in particular, from the disciplines of social work, sociology, and related fields.
SW-336 Youth Mentoring Intervention (3 credits)
This service-learning, undergraduate research, and domestic travel course applies cultural competence, child development practices, applied theories, historical milestones, research techniques, global perspective, and engagement methods to a field-based service experience. The students of this course implement a mutually-beneficial, educationally-based mentorship intervention with youth and their community partner (example: youth detention center).
Prerequisite(s): Communication-Level 3 ICM completed. Analysis-Level 3 completed. Social Interaction-Level 3 completed. Developing a Global Perspective-Level 2 completed. Effective Citizenship-Level 2 completed.
SW-338 Program Evaluation (3 credits)
In this course, the student acquires an understanding of the systematic approach to program evaluation in nonprofit organizations, for-profit businesses, and governmental agencies. The course is designed to familiarize the student with key concepts and theories, practices, and uses of program evaluation in applied settings. Topics include reasons for and uses of program evaluation; types of evaluation, including needs assessment, process evaluation, and output evaluation; context of evaluation, planning, and design; ethical issues and evaluation standards; and reporting of evaluation results.
Prerequisite(s): CLD 220 or SOC-220 or POL-225 completed. HED Majors: BSC-255 & HED-210 completed.
SW-350 Special Topics in Social Work (1 credit)
This course allows students to explore in depth a topic featured in professional research and training in the field of social work and social services, such as those emphasized in the surrounding area of Milwaukee and the state of Wisconsin. Topics for the course will rotate according to assessments of need and based on feedback from the community, including the Social Work Advisory Council. Sample topics may include Trauma Informed Care, Child and Family Welfare, Violence against Women, Racial Social Justice, Death and Dying, and Health Care Services Access.
SW-350A Mental Health Aid (1 credit)
This course allows students to explore in depth a topic featured in professional research and training in the field of social work and social services, such as those emphasized in the surrounding area of Milwaukee and the state of Wisconsin. Topics for the course will rotate according to assessments of need and based on feedback from the community, including the Social Work Advisory Council. Sample topics may include Trauma Informed Care, Child and Family Welfare, Violence against Women, Racial Social Justice, Death and Dying, and Health Care Services Access.
SW-350B Topics Course (1 credit)
This course allows students to explore the topic of mental health. This one credit course teaches students a beginning understanding of how to identify, understand, and respond regarding mental health issues. This course also allows students to attend the Mental Health Summit at Alverno College. Students will experience various learning styles: PowerPoints, Videos, Class Discussion, Role Plays, Readings, Small Group Discussion, and Self-Reflections. Assignments: A review of a website prior to the first class, attendance at both in person classes, and active participation. Class sessions will have a professional workshop/conference feel. Two dates of the class: 2/17/24 and 2/24/24. All majors are welcome.
SW-350C Special Topics in Social Work (1 credit)
This course allows students to explore in depth a topic featured in professional research and training in the field of social work and social services, such as those emphasized in the surrounding area of Milwaukee and the state of Wisconsin. Topics for the course will rotate according to assessments of need and based on feedback from the community, including the Social Work Advisory Council. Sample topics may include Trauma Informed Care, Child and Family Welfare, Violence against Women, Racial Social Justice, Death and Dying, and Health Care Services Access.
Prerequisite(s): Course is offered workshop style.
SW-383 Social Work Field Education (2 credits)
This field education course is designed to provide the student with an opportunity to apply social work knowledge, skills, and values learned in the classroom to an approved community agency/organization. With this initial field education experience, students are to observe, interact, and assess cultural awareness and diversity of the individual clients, social work professionals, the organization/agency, and the surrounding community. Students are often supervised by an experienced social worker and by an academic social work faculty member. At placements were an experienced social worker is not present, a similar professional will be as well as the academic social work field coordinator will provide more direct supervision. Through this 2-credit course, students are expected to complete 150 hours at this agency/organization as well as attend regular campus meetings and complete academic assignments/assessments.
Prerequisite(s): PPS-229 . Consent by instructor needed., SW-300
SW-388 Systems of Oppression (3 credits)
SW-397 Independent Study (2.00 credits)
Under the approval and direction of a faculty member, independent study is available to students.
Prerequisite(s): 2020SP: Section 01: Preparation for and participation in the AHEC Interprofessional Case Competition. Registration only with instructor approval.
SW-399 Formal Introduction to Advanced Work (0 credits)
The Advanced-Level Event marks a significant accomplishment for each student as they proceed into the work of their major department. When a department determines that a student is ready for advanced work within a discipline, the student is invited to participate in a ceremony that is both a celebration and an explanation of future requirements of the major and support areas. They register for this experience at a point determined by their major department: for most majors the registration is connected to the taking of a particular course. Students and faculty gather for an afternoon during Mid-semester Assessment Days. Following a general program,students meet in departmental sessions with their faculty to discuss advanced outcomes, departmentcourses, advising procedures, and so on. Concurrent enrollment with first 300-level course in major.
Prerequisite(s): Concurrent enrollment with first 300-level course in major.
SW-400 Social Work Practice Methods: Groups & Family (3 credits)
Students will acquire knowledge and skills of the intervention level of groups/families (mezzo) social work practice. These include group stages and processes, group development, and family functioning with intervention strategies. Linkages will be made to individuals and communities/organizations. Students will apply core social work competencies.
SW-430 Systems of Oppression Groups & Family (3 credits)
Who benefits from social policy and systems of oppression? The premise of this class is that oppression persists not merely because of ideologies of prejudice, but because some people materially benefit from the oppression of others. Students will review works by thought leaders of various marginalized identities and then make connections between individual experiences of prejudice and systemic power imbalances in social policy that create oppression. We will examine issues of oppression through the lens of historical material and economic forces, distinguishing between personal prejudice and systems of power. Topics will include the economic function of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and how concepts of race and Blackness were created to justify an economy built on slave labor. Students will explore how oppressed communities are divided amongst themselves by disproportionately benefitting or suffering under such systems of power and social policy.
SW-450 Social Work Practice Methods: Communities & Organizations (3 credits)
In this course, students will acquire knowledge and skills of the intervention level of organizations and communities (macro) social work practice. These include advocacy, community needs assessments, coalitions, board of directors, leadership, supervision, fundraising, grant writing, and policy analysis. Linkages will be made to individuals and groups with families. Students will apply core social work competencies.
SW-483 Social Work Field Education (9 credits)
This Social Work Field Education course is designed to provide the student with an opportunity to apply social work knowledge, skills, and values learned in the classroom to an approved community agency/organization. This includes gained knowledge and values, practice and professional skills, exposure to evidence-based practice, and appreciation of the NASW Code of Ethics. Field Education is defined as a high impact practice and the pedagogical course for social work education. As students apply their academic course work to field based opportunities, they demonstrate and achieve the CSWE EPAS nine (9) competencies and associated behaviors and dimensions known as fundamental to baccalaureate social work. Students are supervised by both an experienced social worker and by an academic social work faculty member. The student is expected to learn a holistic and broad knowledge base of the agency/organization while practicing as a social worker in the agency/organization setting. Via this 9-credit course, students are expected to complete at the minimum 420 hours at their assigned agency/organization as well as attend regular campus meetings and complete academic assignments/assessments. Consent by instructor needed.
SW-500 MSW Orientation Msw Orientation (0 credits)
MSW student orientation course.
SW-600 Clients Are People: Thoughtful Socl Wrkr (3 credits)
In this introductory course, students will develop foundational skills related to individual social work practice. These skills are contextualized within ongoing learning about the field of social work, including the global impact of mental health, theories of how people change, and a deep dive into the identities and motivations of social workers themselves - why people go into "helping" professions, and how that impacts their practice. Beyond practitioner motivation and self-examination, this class will invite students to consider the complexity of a client, understand the critical concept of person-in-environment, the ways that client behavior is an expression of an unmet need, a basic introduction to trauma, and the impact of power, privilege, and systems of oppression on client outcomes. Specific skills include conducting assessments, determining interventions, assessing systemic and environmental factors, and the ability to engage clients with self-awareness, respect, empathy, and compassion.
SW-610 Behavior and Unmet Needs (3 credits)
All human behavior is an attempt to meet or express an unmet need, including behaviors that cause harm to self, others, and communities. As social workers, we must work with individuals, groups, institutions, and communities to heal harm and meet needs in ways that promote the well-being of all. In order to do this, we must understand the motivation, context, and logic behind the behaviors upon which we seek to intervene. Students encounter traditional and cutting-edge theories of human development, behavior, motivation, and change. The class will also consider environmental factors, including power, privilege, and oppression, with a comprehensive analysis of the impact of incarceration across the lifespan. To round out the Bio-Psycho-Social analysis of behavior, students will acquire foundational learning of the impact of attachment, trauma, and the nervous system on behavior and well-being necessary for transformative and abolitionist practice. Students will also examine their own behaviors, motivations, and choices, and how their social environment impacts them as people and practitioners.
SW-630 Systems of Opression (3 credits)
Who benefits from systems of oppression? The premise of this class is that oppression persists not merely because of ideologies of prejudice, but because some people materially benefit from the oppression of others. Students will review works by thought leaders of various marginalized identities and then make connections between individual experiences of prejudice and systemic power imbalances that create oppression. We will examine issues of oppression through the lens of historical material and economic forces, distinguishing between personal prejudice and systems of power. Topics will include the economic function of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and how concepts of race and Blackness were created to justify an economy built on slave labor. Students will explore how oppressed communities are divided amongst themselves by disproportionately benefitting or suffering under such systems of power.
SW-640 Restorative Prctc Family/Grp (3 credits)
In this course, students establish a basic understanding of restorative justice circles as a method of healing within families and groups. Students will learn the theories and basic skills of family and group assessment, intervention, and facilitation. This class will examine and critique how the carceral logic of punishment, isolation, and compliance has permeated the normative approaches to family and group interventions, particularly with regard to case management, program management, and group facilitation. As an abolitionist alternative approach to family and group intervention, students learn about and practice the foundational restorative justice skill of "circling.
SW-650 Grassroots Organizing (3 credits)
Change at a macro community level is something many social workers get into the field to accomplish, but seems to allude to even the most dedicated practitioners because macro systems are self-reinforcing and resistant to change. This class will review the most conventional top-down approaches to macro-level change including electoral politics, social programs, and policy advocacy. Then we'll contrast those conventions with grassroots approaches including labor organizing, community organizing, and social movements. The class will include designing a mock grassroots community organizing campaign for change and student-developed grassroots approaches to modern social problems.
SW-683 Practicum Ed I (3 credits)
This Practicum Education placement course is designed to provide the Student with an opportunity to apply social work knowledge, skills, and values learned in the classroom to an approved community agency/organization. Students are supervised by both an experienced social worker and an academic social work faculty member. A Practicum placement should foster the integration of evidence-based knowledge, practice and professional skills, and values highlighted in the NASW Code of Ethics for Social Workers. The Student is expected to learn a holistic and broad knowledge base of the agency/organization while practicing as a social worker in the agency/organization setting. Students will demonstrate and achieve the CSWE EPAS nine (9) competencies and associated behaviors known as fundamental to generalist social work. Via this 3-credit course, Students are expected to complete 420 hours (combined with SW-684) at their assigned agency/organization as well as attend regular campus meetings and complete academic assignments/assessments. Please see the Social Work Student Handbook and the Practicum Education Manual for additional pertinent information.
SW-684 Practicum Ed II (3 credits)
This Practicum Education placement course is designed to provide the Student with an opportunity to apply social work knowledge, skills, and values learned in the classroom to an approved community agency/organization. Students are supervised by both an experienced social worker and an academic social work faculty member. A Practicum placement should foster the integration of evidence-based knowledge, practice and professional skills, and values highlighted in the NASW Code of Ethics for Social Workers. The Student is expected to learn a holistic and broad knowledge base of the agency/organization while practicing as a social worker in the agency/organization setting. Students will demonstrate and achieve the CSWE EPAS nine (9) competencies and associated behaviors known as fundamental to generalist social work. Via this 3-credit course, Students are expected to complete 420 hours (combined with SW-684) at their assigned agency/organization as well as attend regular campus meetings and complete academic assignments/assessments. Please see the Social Work Student Handbook and the Practicum Education Manual for additional pertinent information.
SW-690 Crit Resrch Methds in Soc Wrk (3 credits)
High-quality research informed by scientific inquiry has been critical to the field of social work, contributing to evidence-based practice, tools for program evaluation, and even understanding the nature of the problems that social work intends to intervene to change. However, research in social work also has a history of bias, and like all things, is subject to the systems of power and oppression that uphold the status quo. In this course, students will familiarize themselves with the importance and history of research for social work practice, its potential and limitations, how to use research to inform practice, basic methods and components of research, and how to engage research in a manner consistent with social work ethics.
SW-700 Psychopathology in Social Work (3 credits)
The history of mental health and substance abuse treatment has shown the need for scientific inquiry and change but also the need for critical analysis of harm. In this course students will become familiar with both traditional psychopathology skills and innovative practices around trauma and somatic healing. The course will provide understanding essential tools like the DSM while maintaining a critical lens on the impact and abuses of such tools on marginalized communities. Similarly, students will begin to apply assessment and diagnosis skills along with exploring both the positive and negative outcomes those diagnoses may have on clients.
SW-710 Treating Problem Substance Use (3 credits)
In this foundational clinical treatment course, students will acquire a broad overview of addiction and substance abuse counseling knowledge and skills. Models of addiction and substance abuse, frameworks for intervention, patterns of change, and ethical considerations will provide the theoretical foundations for clinical practice with clients experiencing addiction and issues with substance abuse. Students will learn to approach substance abuse and addiction from not only an individual but also a family systems perspective. Common interventions such as twelve-step programs and medication-assisted treatment will be introduced and evaluated against the best evidence. Introduction and practice of clinical skills include Motivational Interviewing, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy skills, and assessment of clients.
SW-711 War on Drugs: Crim of Addct & Sub Abuse (3 credits)
This course provides an overview of the impact of drugs and addiction from the individual to the societal levels, including the array of policies and political perspectives collectively known as Americas' "War on Drugs." Individuals experiencing addiction or problem substance use are contextualized within family systems, communities, and social structures and policies. An in-depth analysis of the effects of both street drugs and treatment drugs on the body and brain provides context for subsequent analysis of current and historical US drug policies. The US policy and macro interventions will be compared with alternative systemic approaches, including innovative and experimental treatment models as well as more comprehensive systemic approaches currently in place in other cultures and countries.
Prerequisite(s): SW-710
SW-712 Trauma Healing Interventions (3 credits)
Building on previous coursework's foundational learning regarding the impact of trauma on substance use and addiction, students will engage with established and emerging trauma theory and therapeutic interventions for individuals, families, and groups. Client behaviors and experiences will be understood from the perspective of trauma's impact on the brain, body, and social interactions. Many approaches to mental health and addiction are methods of managing and coping with symptoms; this course will interrogate trauma approaches that attempt to heal the wounds that source these symptoms. Students will develop introductory clinical trauma intervention skills and a familiarity with the breadth of trauma specializations they can choose from for future education.
SW-720 Prisons, Policing, Surveillance (3 credits)
This advanced abolition course builds on the previous abolitionist critiques of the PIC. In this course, students will examine the mechanisms of policing, prisons, and surveillance, understanding their ubiquity, their costs, and the carceral logic that justifies their existence. Students will critically analyze carceral logic and the costs of these systems, as well as attempts at reform.
SW-721 Abolition Feminism Now (3 credits)
In this course, students will examine the ways in which feminism can either function in service of the state (carceral feminism) or to undermine state violence and transform communities' intersectionality (abolition feminism). Students will apply abolition feminist theory to analyze and intervene on gender-based violence, the policing of bodies, ableism, and more. The course will explore abolition feminism alternatives to accountability, safety, and justice.
SW-722 Dreamng New World - Abolition Collctv La (3 credits)
The general practice coursework for abolitionist social work culminates in the Future Building Lab, a class designed to facilitate students' collective work of engaging with, assessing, and developing new abolitionist social work interventions at all levels. Students will continue to explore their own identities as abolitionist social workers by exploring potential interventions for social and interpersonal issues. They will present proposed interventions to the rest of the class, who will be tasked with workshopping, critiquing, and refining the proposals from an abolitionist framework, as well as highlighting the possibilities and potentials of each. In addition to developing their own interventions and proposals, students will learn to cultivate collective future-building process environments and hone their skills for feedback, iterating on the ideas of others, and dreaming a new world.
SW-730 Social Work Towards Abolition (3 credits)
The social work profession has contributed to the prison industrial complex, policing, surveillance, and other systems of oppression that prevent abolition. Enabling these issues goes against our social work values and many have begun to take back the profession. It is time for us to realign ourselves with our radical roots, return to affirming the dignity and worth of a person, support true self-determination, and reclaim the integrity we owe ourselves and those who we serve. To align with the course philosophy, Social Work Towards Abolition will engage social work students to think critically and analytically about the social work profession, its values, and its future in an abolitionist world. This course is an invitation for social workers to think beyond our professions and work towards a world where social work is no longer necessary and therefore does not exist.
SW-740 Trnsfrmtve Healng Family/Grp (3 credits)
In this course, students establish an advanced understanding of restorative justice circles as a method of healing within families and groups. Students will learn the theories and advanced skills of family and group assessment, intervention, and facilitation. This class will examine and critique how the carceral logic of punishment, isolation, and compliance has permeated the normative approaches to family and group interventions, particularly with regard to case management, program management, group facilitation, and clinical therapeutic interventions. As an abolitionist alternative approach to family and group intervention, students learn about and practice the foundational restorative justice skill of "circling" and be introduced to the difference between restorative and transformational practices. Students will finally be introduced to the innovative ideas of collective healing, beyond the idea of individualism.
SW-750 Soc Mvm, Mut Aid & Org for Chg (3 credits)
Macro systems of harm and oppression are self-reinforcing and resistant to change, therefore interventions must be fundamentally disruptive to the status quo. This class will interrogate the most common and emerging theories of macro level change, with particular attention paid to long term, multi-generational impact of various approaches. Students will engage in critical analysis of the role of the social worker in gatekeeping social programing or enforcing hierarchies of power. The course will also compare and contrast change from above and below for sustainability and potential for meaningful change.
SW-785 Adv Practicum Ed III (2 credits)
This Practicum Education placement course is designed to provide the Student with an opportunity to apply social work knowledge, skills, and values learned in the classroom to an approved community agency/organization. Students are supervised by both an experienced social worker and by an academic social work faculty member. A Practicum placement should foster the integration of evidence-based knowledge, practice and professional skills, and values highlighted in the NASW Code of Ethics for Social Workers. The Student is expected to learn a holistic and broad knowledge base of the agency/organization while practicing as a social worker in the agency/organization setting. Students will demonstrate and achieve the CSWE EPAS nine (9) competencies and associated behaviors known as fundamental to advanced social work. Via this 2-credit course, Students are expected to complete 500 hours (combined with SW-786,787,788) at their assigned agency/organization as well as attend regular campus meetings and complete academic assignments/assessments. Please see the Social Work Student Handbook and the Practicum Education Manual for additional pertinent information.
SW-786 Adv Practicum Ed IV (2 credits)
This Practicum Education placement course is designed to provide the Student with an opportunity to apply social work knowledge, skills, and values learned in the classroom to an approved community agency/organization. Students are supervised by both an experienced social worker and by an academic social work faculty member. A Practicum placement should foster the integration of evidence-based knowledge, practice and professional skills, and values highlighted in the NASW Code of Ethics for Social Workers. The Student is expected to learn a holistic and broad knowledge base of the agency/organization while practicing as a social worker in the agency/organization setting. Students will demonstrate and achieve the CSWE EPAS nine (9) competencies and associated behaviors known as fundamental to advanced social work. Via this 2-credit course, Students are expected to complete 500 hours (combined with SW-785,787,788) at their assigned agency/organization as well as attend regular campus meetings and complete academic assignments/assessments. Please see the Social Work Student Handbook and the Practicum Education Manual for additional pertinent information.
SW-787 Adv Practicum Edu Capstone (4 credits)
This Advanced Practicum Education placement course and Capstone is designed to provide the Student with an opportunity to apply social work knowledge, skills, and values learned in the classroom to an approved community agency/organization. Students are supervised by both an experienced social worker and by an academic social work faculty member. A practicum placement should foster the integration of evidence-based knowledge, practice and professional skills, and values highlighted in the NASW Code of Ethics for Social Workers. The Student is expected to learn a holistic and broad knowledge base of the agency/organization while practicing as a social worker in the agency/organization setting. Students will demonstrate and achieve the CSWE EPAS nine (9) competencies and associated behaviors known as fundamental to baccalaureate social work. Via this 4-credit course, Students are expected to complete 500 hours (combined with SW-785/786) at their assigned agency/organization as well as attend regular campus meetings and complete academic assignments/assessments. Please see the Social Work Student Handbook and the Practicum Education Manual for additional pertinent information.
SW-790 Adv Critcl Resrch and Implmntn (3 credits)
In this course, students will develop advanced research and implementation skills. Review of research components and concepts will lay the groundwork for becoming competent researchers. Skills learned in this course are critical for pathways to using research to inform practice, conducting social work research, and even becoming published in academic journals. Students will learn to analyze research using a critical lens to identify bias and relevance to the field of social work. Students will ultimately research and evaluate an intervention that they will implement or present to their practicum in their final year (SW-787: Advanced Practicum Education Capstone).
SW-797 Independent Study (4 credits)
Independent Study Course