History of the School

The University of Alaska Anchorage is part of the State of Alaska's University system. The School of Social Work is an academic unit within the College of Health and Social Welfare. The School administers the Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) and the Master of Social Work (MSW) degree programs.

The Social Work Program at UAA began in 1973 within the Department of Sociology. By 1976, the course work for a BSW was in place and the Board of Regents approved the BSW degree. UAA then sought national accreditation for its social work program from the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE). Accreditation of the BSW program was granted in 1978 and has continued since. Re-affirmation of the accreditation was last granted in June 2010.

In February 1994, the University Board of Regents approved the Master of Social Work degree curriculum. In June 1995, the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) Commission on Accreditation granted Candidacy Status to the MSW Program. The first MSW cohort was admitted in August 1995 with the first graduating class in 1997. In June 1999, the MSW Program was granted Initial Accreditation, retroactive to all graduating classes of the MSW Program.

Both the MSW Program and the BSW Program were granted full accreditation for eight years in June 2010 and are now accredited through 2018.

Like overall University accreditation, CSWE accreditation assures the student of a quality education which meets nationally accepted professional standards in social work.

The School's eleven faculty are jointly committed to the BSW and MSW Programs. Faculty are not assigned to a specific program, teaching across programs based upon their prior academic experience, content expertise, and readiness to teach graduate social work courses.  The BSW and MSW Field Practicum and BSW and MSW Program Coordinators work with the Director to establish teaching assignments, insuring fair and equitable distribution of faculty resources in the two programs.