The College of Social Work DSW program is designed for MSSW/MSW graduates with significant clinical social work practice experience interested in earning a doctoral degree in social work in clinical practice and leadership.
Mission
The DSW program in the College of Social Work at The University of Tennessee Knoxville (UTK) fosters diverse groups of forward-looking MSW/MSSW practitioners interested in advancing their clinical practice, scholarship and leadership. Doctor of Social Work (DSW) practitioner-scholars are committed to generating a more inclusive, equitable and just society through dynamic leadership in their fields of practice that improves the social services and health of all persons in their communities. Upon completing this program, DSW graduates are able to draw on a range of inclusive empirical, theoretical and emerging client-centered sources of knowledge to bring about anti-oppressive, anti-racist and anti-stigmatizing innovations in social work.
Goals
- The program will train students to understand and critically apply knowledge from neurobehavioral science and research-informed advanced clinical practice to address the socio-emotional and physical health of the community, with particular focus on including under-resourced groups.
- The program will mentor students to demonstrate the evidence-based practice process through designing and executing a research project, with particular consideration of conducting anti-oppressive research.
- The program will instill in students the ability to translate research evidence into anti-oppressive advanced clinical and leadership practice settings.
The DSW is a professional practice degree to enhance community-level resources. The degree is not intended to prepare students for academic careers as researchers. Instead, it is designed to prepare MSW/MSSW practitioners, experienced at the master’s level in social work, for advanced clinical practice, teaching, advanced practice leadership and translational research. Geared towards working professionals in the community, the DSW is an intensive accelerated program that enables students to satisfy all degree requirements in three years, without career disruption.
