Curriculum
M.S.W. Portland Campus Program
The Master of Social Work degree program is designed to prepare graduates for entry into advanced practice in direct human services, community-based practice, or social service administration and leadership. Students may take elective courses in selected fields of service: mental health; children, youth, and families; older adults; health care; and school social work among others. The curriculum combines concurrent on-campus coursework and field education in a range of human service organizations.
The M.S.W. Program at Portland State University is the only graduate-level social work program in the state of Oregon that is accredited by the national Council on Social Work Education. The M.S.W. Program is a 78 credit program with classes offered in a three-quarter system, in Fall, Winter, and Spring terms. A 10-month Advanced Standing option is available to students with a Bachelor of Social Work from a CSWE-accredited school of social work. On the Portland campus, program requirements may be met in a 2-, 3-, or 4-year course of study. A Distance Education option is offered on a three-year cycle in regional centers of the state.
M.S.W. Program Requirements
The Masters curriculum is taken in two levels, foundation and advanced. The first, or foundation level is made up of required core courses are in the following areas: (1) generalist social work practice, (2) diversity and social justice, (3) social welfare policy and services, (4) human behavior in the social environment, and (5) social work research. Core courses also address the following areas: economic and social justice, populations at risk, social work ethics and values, and diversity. Most courses are for three credits and three foundation courses are for four credits.
The second program level is advanced coursework that includes an
advanced social work practice concentration of the student’s
choice: Direct Human Services, Community-Based Practice, or Social
Services Administration and Leadership and five elective courses in
the student’s areas of interest and to meet program requirements
for advanced elective content in each key curriculum area: social
policy, human behavior in the social environment, social work practice,
and social work research.
Additionally, students participate in field education at a field placement
during each of the two years of full-time study. Students are placed
in each field placement for 16 hours a week throughout the three terms
of their foundation and advanced practice sequences. Typical practice
settings are mental health programs, public welfare and human service
agencies, schools, hospitals and health care centers, courts, family
service agencies, correctional services, community planning agencies,
legislative offices, child and youth service agencies, neighborhood
centers, multicultural service centers, and programs for older adults.
Course Requirements
The satisfactory completion of 78 quarter credits of required foundation and elective courses is required. The courses are distributed as follows:
| Social welfare policy and services (SW 520) | 4 |
| Human behavior in the social environment (SW 539, 540, 541) | 9 |
| Social work research (SW 550, 551) | 6 |
| Generalist social work practice I-III (SW 530, 531, 532) | 11 |
| Advanced social work practice (SW 533, 534, 535 for DHS students; SW 536, 537, 538 for CBP students; or SW 580, 581, 582 for SSAL students) | 9 |
| Advanced elective courses* in social policy, human behavior in the social environment, social work research, and social work practice and free electives | 15 |
| Field instruction (SW 500 I-VI) | 24 |
| Total | 78 |
* Advanced electives in human behavior in the social environment
and social work practice must be endorsed by the student’s advanced
practice concentration as part of their recommended program of study.
Advanced electives in social policy and social work research are open
to all students who have completed the foundation pre-requisite courses.
