Part-Time Faculty: SWK 315: Social Welfare Policy and Services II (Spring 2027)

The School of Education seeks a Part-Time Instructor to teach SWK 315: Social Welfare Policy and Services II (Spring 2027) Structure and organization of public and voluntary income maintenance, health, mental health service delivery system. Cultural, racial, ethnic, gender, diversity. Policy analysis frameworks. Social work roles, values.

Course Description

This course builds on SWK 314. Where SWK 314 introduced the history, philosophies, value dilemmas underlying social welfare policy, SWK 315 provides an overview of the structure of major social welfare programs and policies, poverty, contemporary policy issues, and the political and analytic skills that social workers bring to bear on the development and implementation of social policy. Emphasis continues to be placed on understanding how societal attitudes and values, political institutions, economic goals and circumstances, and the population's demographic characteristics have shaped and continue to shape our social welfare policy. Special attention is paid to the implications of policies and policy options for groups at risk, including specific racial and ethnic groups, elderly persons, gays and lesbians, immigrants, children, persons with disabilities, and women. The course explores the structure and organization of public assistance, social insurance, health, mental health, social service, criminal justice and housing policies and programs. Students are introduced to and apply basic techniques of policy analysis, with particular concern for examining the impacts of policy and programmatic dilemmas on low-income and other risk populations. Students also explore the advocacy and lobbying roles of social workers.