Note: Western’s MSW advanced standing program will not be accepting students until Summer 2028.
Department of Health and Community Studies, Woodring College of Education
Graduate Faculty
Danny Carroll, PhD, MSW
Program Information
Social work is a profession committed to advancing social, economic, and environmental justice. Guided by the professional core values of service, social justice, dignity and worth of the person, the importance of human relationships, integrity, and competence, social workers use ethical, culturally responsive, research-informed practice to work with individuals, families, groups, communities, organizations, and society to pursue well-being.
The Master of Social Work (MSW) program prepares advanced generalist practitioners with a strong clinical foundation who can engage, assess, and intervene across micro, mezzo, and macro systems. Grounded in the person-in-environment perspective and the NASW Code of Ethics, the curriculum centers on anti-racist, anti-oppressive, and culturally humble practice. Students learn to integrate evidence-informed interventions and approaches with community knowledge to promote dignity, self-determination, accessibility, and equitable access to resources.
The Advanced Standing pathway is designed for applicants who have earned a Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) degree from a CSWE-accredited (Council on Social Work Education) program within the past five years. This pathway recognizes the training already completed at the undergraduate level and allows students to move directly into advanced MSW coursework.
Through coursework and practicum education, students build competencies in clinical practice (assessment, diagnosis, treatment planning, and intervention), group and family work, interprofessional collaboration, and community and organizational change. The program emphasizes trauma-responsive and strengths-based practice, as well as social, racial, economic, and environmental justice. Students also develop skills in program evaluation, policy analysis, and advocacy to address structural and systemic inequities affecting behavioral health, housing, education, healthcare, and other social determinants of health. Students complete a capstone oral examination with faculty as part of the SWP 599 course.
Graduates are prepared for roles in community mental health, integrated healthcare, schools, child and family services, aging and disability services, hospitals, nonprofits, and public agencies. The advanced generalist design supports preparation for clinical licensure while equipping graduates to lead ethically, use data for improvement, and partner with communities to dismantle oppressive systems.
The mission of the Master of Social Work Program is to prepare professional social workers through rigorous, community-engaged, and critically reflexive teaching and learning. Grounded in racial, economic, environmental, and social justice, and informed by and for those at the social margins locally, nationally, and globally, our MSW Program continually adapts to emerging person-in-environment realities, aligning our purpose, aspirations, and practice with evolving individual and community needs.
Program Goals
- Prepare ethical, competent MSW practitioners.
- Deliver a rigorous curriculum that develops mastery of the CSWE EPAS competencies; grounds students in the NASW Code of Ethics; and equips graduates to practice, advocate, and lead across micro, mezzo, and macro settings with an anti-racist and anti-oppressive lens as Master level Social Work Practitioners.
- Recruit and retain a diverse student body.
- Enroll and support qualified students from diverse racial, cultural, socioeconomic, and linguistic backgrounds, including students with disabilities, through equitable admissions, financial and academic supports, and an affirming climate.
- Foster an inclusive, accessible learning community.
- Build a classroom and practicum culture that uses Universal Design for Learning, accessible technologies, and collaborative pedagogy to ensure full participation and belonging for all students.
- Integrate community-engaged and experiential learning.
- Create structured opportunities, courses, practicum education, and co-curricular activities for students to learn with and from diverse individuals and communities, emphasizing strengths-based, culturally responsive, and community-driven practice.
- Continuously improve through stakeholder feedback.
- Use regular input from students, the advisory committee, field instructors, site supervisors, community partners, alumni, and employers to assess outcomes and make timely program improvements.
Academic Program Director: Danny Carroll, Assistant professor, Miller Hall 316B, 360-650-2210, carrold@wwu.edu
Application Information
Admit Quarters: Summer
Application Deadlines: Priority deadline: December 15; Final deadline: February 15.
The following are specific requirements for consideration for admission into the Advanced Standing Program:
- Graduation within five years from a baccalaureate social work program (BSW) accredited by the Council on Social Work Education.
- Successful completion of a college-level statistics course.
- A cumulative grade point average of 3.0 in all social work courses taken before faculty admissions committee action.
- Evidence of characteristics and/or potential required for competent social work practice as defined in the school’s mission statement. Such evidence may be derived from application materials, letters of reference, and/or pertinent work or volunteer experience.
Candidates must meet the requirements of the Graduate School in addition to the following departmental requirements:
- Three current references
- A current résumé
- A Statement of Purpose
- A personal interview with MSW Program Faculty.
- A signed statement indicating an understanding and intention to comply with the MSW program’s policies, expectations for academic and professional performance, and the NASW Code of Ethics.
- Successful completion of the program background check. Please note that no applicant who has been convicted of sex offenses against children shall be eligible for admission or continuation into the MSW program.
- Access to a computer, the necessary software, and computer competencies are required.
Please upload supporting materials with the application.
