SOCIAL WELFARE, B.S. at University of Wisconsin

The Sandra Rosenbaum School of Social Work core mission is to enhance human well-being and promote human rights and social and economic justice for people who are disadvantaged to achieve an equitable, healthy, and productive society. At a time when the intersection of increased attention on racial injustice and the COVID-19 pandemic, which is disproportionately impacting people of color, social work seeks to actively confront racism.

Undergraduates in the Sandra Rosenbaum School of Social Work receive a liberal arts education in the social and behavioral sciences and their application to human problems that prepares them to be informed citizens involved in human services or social welfare problems and policies. Students majoring in social welfare leverage their understanding of the historical context of social work and the systems and policies that underlie our society, and learn strategies to address social, racial, economic, and environmental justice and political contexts. Students take courses in a variety of social sciences to enable them to view social welfare in its broad social, economic, and political contexts. The social welfare major offers an overview of current social problems and prepares students for further academic study or for employment in selected human service arenas.

Social work's special contribution rests on an established body of knowledge, values, and skills pertinent to understanding human relationships and the interaction between people as individuals, in families, groups, organizations, and communities. Social work courses offer a theoretical understanding of social problems and an introduction to practice methods used by social workers. The curriculum covers areas such as aging, family and child welfare, poverty, mental health, developmental disabilities, alcohol and drug abuse, diversity, race and ethnicity, criminal justice, oppression and social, economic and environmental justice, and at-risk populations.

Graduates of the Social Welfare major go on to work at non-profit organizations, and federal, state, and local governments. Many alums go on to complete graduate degrees in Social Work, Counseling, Sociology, Psychology, Gender and Women’s Studies, and Law, among other degrees in the Social Sciences and beyond.