Educational Goals

The Baccalaureate degree in Social Work has been offered at the University of Arkansas since 1940. The School has one of the oldest undergraduate social work programs in the United States. The program is fully accredited by the Council on Social Work Education.

The purpose of the profession of social work is the enhancement of human well-being and the alleviation of poverty and oppression. The profession is dedicated to assisting individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities to reach their full potential. Social work is particularly concerned with achieving social and economic justice for vulnerable populations and with respecting and valuing human diversity. The School of Social Work at the University of Arkansas reflects the profession's fundamental concerns in its educational goals and objectives. The undergraduate program has two primary education goals:

  1. preparation for culturally competent, empirically based, multi-systems, beginning level professional generalist practice across the life course;
  2. the preparation of students for continuing their professional growth and development after graduation.

In order to achieve its basic purposes, the faculty, students, staff, and agency field instructors are involved in a variety of teaching, research, and outreach activities that involve them in the life of the university, communities around the state, and at the national level.