Goals and Standards

Mission Statement

As part of Colorado State University Pueblo, a regional comprehensive university, the social work program prepares students for beginning generalist practice with diverse client populations across systems of all sizes, including individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities.

The Department of Social Work mission statement refers to competent practitioners who are able to serve a diverse population in systems of all sizes, which links to the university’s mission statement’s use of the term resilience, agility, and problem-solving abilities. We have tailored our program to meet the needs of our constituencies in southeastern Colorado, much as the university’s original mission statement from the Board of Governors in 2005 which identifies access to education at a regional comprehensive university. The university is committed to diversity, and our mission statement emphasizes diverse client populations of all system sizes, recognizing the diversity embedded within that phrase.

BSW Goals and Standards

Our goals are to:

1. Provide BSW students with a range of skills, attitudes, and knowledge grounded in social work values and ethics.
   • Students will apply social work values and ethics to social work practice with diverse systems.
   • Students will evaluate the professional use of self in interactions with diverse systems
2. Develop culturally competent professionals who can intervene appropriately in systems of all sizes with an emphasis on regional populations.
   • Students will develop culturally competent knowledge, values, and skills for beginning level social work practice with diverse systems.
   • Students will demonstrate the ability to practice with diverse populations in a multicultural environment including Chicanos, Mexicans, and American Indians.
3. Develop the ability of BSW students to advocate for social-economic justice with systems of all sizes.
   • Students will identify factors which impact the attainment of social and economic justice for diverse systems.
   • Students will select and apply appropriate intervention methods to develop and enhance social-economic justice across diverse systems.
4. Engage BSW students in a process of practice-informed research and research-informed practice. 
   • Students will use critical thinking skills to develop knowledge and understanding of research relevant to beginning social work practice with diverse systems.
   • Students will interpret, evaluate and implement relevant research, linking theory to practice, as they engage in beginning-level social work practice with diverse systems.

MSW Goals and Standards

Our goals are to:

1. Prepare advanced social work practitioners with the ethical consciousness, cultural competence, and desire to be lifelong learners who give back to the profession of social work and enhance the global community in which we live;
2. Provide students with the necessary advanced skills in engagement, assessment, intervention, and evaluation in order to competently serve diverse client populations at all levels of social work practice and across the lifespan utilizing the ecological perspective as a foundation; and
3. Prepare students to engage in policy practice, to advocate for social and economic justice, to engage in research in its many forms in order to better serve individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities.