Our commitment to the education of the best and the brightest social work students, to excellence in the classroom, and to innovative social research has one goal: the realization of a positive, lasting impact on individuals, families, and communities.

The School of Social Work asks you to consider lending
your support to the education of tomorrow’s social workers.

An Investment in the Future

The University of Washington School of Social Work is ranked among the
best in the nation — and for good reason.

Year after year our students leave here ready to take on the tough and rewarding work essential to the well-being of our families and communities. Sixty-five percent of our graduates stay right here in the Pacific Northwest and make their contributions close to home.

Our outstanding faculty leads the way in the dissemination of research results, publishing more articles than any other social work teaching staff in the country. The quality of their research garners nearly $20 million in research and training awards annually. Five of our professors have been honored with the UW Distinguished Teaching Award and the S. Sterling Munro Public Service Award in the last five years. Five have been named Hartford Faculty Scholars, a significant national award.

Each year 1,000 human service professionals turn to the School of Social Work for workshops and courses that keep them abreast of current research and innovative policies and enable them to better serve our communities.

U.S. News and World Report ranked the UW School of Social Work third in the United States out of 168 schools.

What Do Social Workers Do?

Social workers are there to help families greet their newborns, face life’s struggles, and attend the dying. They serve in emergency rooms and adoption agencies, hospices and homeless shelters. They imagine better social policies and organize communities to realize them. They run small nonprofits and administer state programs. They counsel the troubled and the bereaved, and are always among the first to offer help in a disaster.

You’ll find social workers in an array of settings and roles doing an impressive range of jobs:

The accolades and awards are important, but wouldn’t mean much if they didn’t reflect a deep commitment to ease human suffering.

Our students, graduates, and faculty serve every day, doing all they can to help people do better for themselves and their families. Our students contribute more than 175,000 hours of volunteer service to 200 local nonprofit and public organizations each year.

The UW School of Social Work is training undergraduate and graduate students to meet the complex social challenges of the 21st century. Our Institutes of Excellence highlight research and education in health, social policy, and justice. We’re not going to solve all the problems in the world. But we are determined to leave it in better shape than we found it.

Today

Today the need for well-trained social work practitioners is urgent. Demand is expected to grow 30 percent by 2010, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, making it one of the fastest growing categories in the job market. The UW School of Social Work is uniquely qualified to educate and prepare a new generation of social workers ready to meet this critical demand.

We lead the way in innovative research and with methodologies that yield real results — transforming lives and communities. The School is at the forefront of changes in social work theory and practice.

The old ways of helping are giving way to more effective, compassionate, and comprehensive methods. Families and communities welcome social workers who know and respect their cultures. Our students come from a wide range of ethnic and cultural backgrounds. They are helping to redefine the profession and create a more diverse workforce to better meet the requirements of multi-ethnic communities.

School of Social Work Students spend an average of 20 hours a week as interns in community organizations while enrolled in school.