Program Overview

HPU’s MSW is based on an advanced generalist model with a concentration in culturally competent social work practice. The school also offers a focus on military social work and veterans’ affairs that encompasses five courses plus field placements in military or veteran affairs venues.

The social work profession promotes human and community well-being. Social workers focus on social and economic justice at the local, national, and global levels. They are often pioneers—challenging the status quo and working tirelessly to help others help themselves. Social workers have many options for specialization, including child or adult protective services, health care, mental health, individual and family counseling, criminal justice, or social agency administration, to name only a few practice areas.

The goal of HPU’s MSW is to prepare qualified students for entry into competent, ethical, and effective social work practice. Utilizing critical thinking and building upon our diverse cultural and geographic environment, students at Hawai‘i Pacific University strive to enhance the social well-being of all people; provide leadership in culturally competent services at the micro, mezzo, and macro levels; advocate for social and economic justice locally, nationally, and globally; and promote multiculturalism through furthering social work knowledge.

Program Learning Outcomes

• To prepare graduates who will demonstrate competence in social work practice at an advanced level with client systems of all sizes.
• To prepare graduates to work effectively with diverse populations in multicultural settings.
• To prepare graduates to understand the social contexts of social work practice at micro, mezzo, and macro levels, including the changing nature of those contexts and advocate for social and economic justice.
• To promote the values and ethics of professional social work in the program and in its graduates’ practice.
• To develop in graduates an appropriate foundation for a valuing of lifelong learning, leadership, and generation of knowledge.