Strategic Directions

Our Mission: The MSU School of Social Work is dedicated to educating students for ethical, competent, responsive, and innovative social work practice, and to conducting and disseminating high quality research that improves the well-being of the most vulnerable in society. Our teaching, research, and outreach synergistically promote social justice, positive change, and solutions to the problems facing diverse individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities.

Our Values: Integrity, Excellence, Connection, Inclusion, and Innovation

Strategic Directions: The School celebrates innovation and the individual pursuit of creative endeavors. At the same time, as a community we recognize that focusing on selective directions and activities can stimulate meaningful progress in fulfilling our mission. Toward that end, the School has developed strategic directions designed to move us forward toward our goals in key mission-related functions. In particular, we have developed strategic directions across our research, teaching, and service missions, and we recognize that progress in each of these areas can only flourish in a diverse, respectful, and innovative work environment. While each of these work areas has its unique aspects, the importance of integrating research, teaching, and service likewise includes many important intersections.

Diverse, Respectful, and Innovative Workplace

We are committed to creating and sustaining a positive work environment. Our goal is to create a workplace where people are treated with equal respect regardless of their roles; new ideas are explored and openly exchanged; decision-making is transparent; and it is recognized that teamwork and the contributions of all allow us to maximize our impact. We aim to adopt a culture of respect, inclusion, and cohesion that promotes a transparent, innovative, and creative environment.

Diversity and inclusion are supported in positive workforce environments. The School of Social Work supports the inclusion of people with differing backgrounds, abilities, and opinions. The School emphasizes diversity across its workforce and student bodies in recruitment, hiring, retention, involvement in management, and shared decision making. We promote openness and respect for diverse ideas. The SSW fosters a community of leaders, that courageously address instances of incivility.

The SSW has a culture of innovation where new ideas are sought, respected, analyzed, implemented, and evaluated. Use of technology may be part of innovative processes.

Over the next five years faculty, staff, and administrators at the MSU School of Social Work will:

1. Promote and celebrate inclusivity and diversity within hiring, retention, and promotion practices;

2. Engage in respectful, transparent, and inclusive communication processes; and

3. Encourage innovation and collaboration within education, research, and service.

Teaching Excellence- Preparing the Next Generation of Social Workers

The MSU School of Social Work will promote and improve access to our BASW, MSW, & PhD programs through our connections to diverse communities, practice settings, and disciplines. With a unique focus on student support, high impact teaching and learning, and the infusion of educational technology, we will close achievement gaps, promote student success, increase retention, and the timely completion of degrees. We will strive for equity in social work education, ensuring that student’s investment is met with an innovative curriculum, student support, a vibrant community, and high levels of post degree placement. We value and promote educational access through varied teaching and learning modalities, locations, and program compositions.

We are committed to developing social work practitioners (clinical and macro) through an equity lens who are leaders in research, practice, and service. Our graduates will be prepared as advocates to promote individual and community wellbeing, challenge disparities, and excel in the workforce. The School will be adaptive and responsive to promote and support the development of the next generation of social workers and meet the needs of changing systems. Grounded in the values and ethics of the profession, we create a culture of curiosity, where students inquire purposefully, engage in critical thinking, problem solving, and take action to challenge injustice.

Over the next five years our goals related to teaching excellence are:

1. Improving access to quality Social Work Education,

2. Creating learning environments that support the changing needs of the emerging social worker,

3. Centering social justice, diversity, and inclusion in our teaching and curriculum.

Conducting Research that Matters

As social scientists and social work researchers, we take a critical approach to examining social problems and are committed to social, racial, and economic justice, particularly for groups who are oppressed and marginalized. We conduct research that contributes to basic knowledge and theory development, as well as more applied work such as designing and evaluating interventions. Our research is collaborative and interdisciplinary: We build partnerships with community members, fellow researchers across a range of disciplines, practitioners, and policymakers. Faculty within the School are leading experts in four core research areas: Health and Aging, Marginalized Youth and Families, Sexual and Gender Minority Health, and Violence and Violence Prevention.

Over the next five years, we will seek to achieve three related goals:

1. we will conduct research that is ethical and inclusive, as evidenced by its demonstrated, consistent commitment to anti-oppressive research practices;

2. we will cultivate and expand partnerships in ongoing evaluation work, helping us to build evaluation capacity as well as research infrastructure within the School, enhance our reputation as program and policy evaluation experts, and further our collaborative efforts;

3. our research findings will be widely used and informed by practitioners and policymakers at the local, state, national, and international levels.

Engaging Communities to Solve Social Problems

Our expertise as social work researchers, educators, and practitioners allows us to constructively engage with communities as they identify, define, and work to solve dynamic social problems. MSU School of Social Work partners with communities that are oppressed and marginalized; this is fundamental to our mission of social justice within teaching, research, and service. Community-based agencies and programs are critical arenas for the exchange of knowledge and resources, including for students to gain essential practice experiences, and agencies to improve capacity and practice. The process of building collaborative relationships with communities promotes inclusivity, ethics, and diversity. The School’s community programs include Chance at Childhood, Fostering Academics, Mentoring Excellence (FAME), Continuing Education, and the Kinship Care Resource Center.

Over the next five years, we seek to achieve three goals:

1. we will invest in building an alumni network to strengthen our bridge to and from communities with a focus on research, teaching, and service opportunities;

2. we will collaborate with local to global communities seeking technical consultation and training in our areas of greatest expertise to improve service provision and support professional and workforce development;

3. we will support, promote, and share service leadership engagement to enhance community-university collaboration.

Fundamental to these successful outcomes is advocacy for racial, social, and economic justice for community members, leaders, and MSU students, faculty, and staff.