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Social Work

Master of Social Work (M.S.W.)

UW-Laramie (full-time)

UW-Casper (part-time)

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Earn Your M.S.W. at UW


Grounded in a sense of place and social justice, the University of Wyoming’s CSWE-accredited graduate program in social work prepares you to make a difference in the far-flung cities and townships of the American West or wherever you choose to create change.

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Program Details

Tuition and Fees

Please visit our cost of attendance page

Program Requirements

Curriculum & Courses

Department

College of Health Sciences
Division of Social Work

About Social Work at UW

The master of social work at UW is an advanced generalist degree program with a focus on rural and frontier practice. The graduate program curriculum allows you to acquire the theoretical and practical foundations of social work, along with advanced competencies. Plus, your two-part practicum and capstone give you the chance to customize your M.S.W. program to focus on an area meaningful to you.

Our student-centric social work master’s offers two tracks: the two-year Standard Program, which does not require a B.S.W. for admission, and the one-year Advanced Standing Program, which requires a bachelor’s degree from a Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) accredited school.

The UW master’s degree program in social work qualifies you for state license exams and clinical licensure and for social work jobs in government, agency, health care, nonprofit and other settings.

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Application Requirements Overview

  • Pay application fee
  • Complete online graduate application 
  • Complete and upload necessary documents
  • Three letters of recommendation
  • Background check

How to Apply
Please visit our program admission webpage for more details and necessary forms/documents.

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What Can You Do With a MSW?

Graduates from our master’s program in social work find employment with public agencies, nonprofits, government agencies, community organizations and health care organizations. Some have also started their own practices.

Social Work Careers

UW social work graduates have gone on to work in the following roles:

  • Social Worker, Sioux Falls VA Medical Center
  • At-Risk Social Worker, Judson ISD
  • Renal Social Worker, Fresenius Medical Care
  • Licensed Clinic Social Worker, St. John's Living Center
  • Regional CLinical Coordinator, Missouri Division of Youth Services 
  • Associate Professor, Utah State University
  • Community Organizer, Powder Rivier Basin Resource Council
  • Co-Founder, Creekside Collaborative Therapy
  • UW Program Director, Native American Education, Research and Cultural Center
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University of Wyoming’s graduate social work program is listed as the top MSW program by Best Value Schools.

 

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Social Work Master's Degree Program Highlights

A degree grounded in social justice and anti-oppressive practice. With the advanced generalist social work training you’ll get from UW, you can take your career into the frontier, the urban core and almost any societal sector.

Why Wyoming? Here are some great reasons to choose UW for your M.S.W. degree:

Accreditation

UW’s social work master’s program is accredited by the Council on Social Work Education.

 

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Faculty

Work with faculty who have extensive social work practice experience in mental health, children, youth and families, child protection, gerontology, individual, group and family therapy, veterans, forensics, school social work, grief and loss, research, community practice, administration, policy and advocacy. Examples of faculty publication titles: Human trafficking in Wyoming regions: A mixed-methods, exploratory study of knowledge and practice amongst health care professionals,  Unpacking the worlds in our words: Critical discourse analysis and social work inquiry, Pedagogies of disability justice: Cognitive accessibility in college classrooms.

Research

Collaborate with faculty on social work research. Faculty research interests include grief and loss, individuals with disabilities, veterans, forensic social work, human trafficking, the impact of the pandemic, stress, international, qualitative inquiry,critical social work theory, feminist practice and social work education.

Field Practicum

Hone your skills through 900 practicum hours over two years (Standard Program) or 500 hours in one year (Advanced Standing Program). Students in the M.S.W. program have completed field practicums at Wyoming Children's Law Center, VA hospitals and clinics, Wyoming Behavior Health, and in schools across the state.

Thesis/Portfolio Options

Elect to do a research-based thesis (Plan A) or complete a professional portfolio (Plan B).  Example of a thesis title: Finding Where I Fit: An Autoethnography of a Daughter of Mexican Immigrants Living in White Spaces. 

Graduate Assistantships & Scholarships

Apply for graduate assistantships and scholarships. UW offers half and full assistantships.

My education in visual art (BFA ’11), social work and environment and natural resources (MSW Summer ’21) has informed my interests in working to creatively and collaboratively advance social, environmental and climate justice. To me, these movements are inextricable from one another, and I’m fortunate to make a living putting that idea into practice.

- Conor Mullen, M.S.W. candidate 2021

Related Programs

You might also be interested in the following UW graduate programs:

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College of Health Sciences

Division of Social Work

Department 3632 | 1000 E. University Ave.

Laramie, WY 82071

Phone: (307) 766-6112

Email: sowkmail@uwyo.edu