Department Of Social Work Awarded Full Reaffirmation Status Till 2019

Nov. 03, 2011

Michelle Eubanks, UNA, at media@una.edu, 256.765.4392 or 256.606.2033

The Department of Social Work at the University of North Alabama has recently received Reaffirmation of Accreditation by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE), the national accrediting body for social work education, for the full eight year cycle through October 2019. At UNA, the Department has been preparing social work professionals since 1971 and has been continuously accredited by CSWE since 1974. Most recently, the Department was evaluated under the new 2008 Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS). The focus of accreditation has changed from an examination of program inputs to a concentration on program outputs and student learning outcomes. The Department of Social Work is now evaluated by what their graduates can do as beginning professionals, rather than by what they are taught as students. From this perspective, the new standards are a major step in the right direction, as they move social work education away from an assessment of program and in the direction of ongoing assessment of program outcomes and consequent renewal of its programs. The overall goal and mission of the Department of Social Work is to prepare competent and ethical entry level social workers to apply professional social work values with diverse clients and communities in rural to metropolitan environments within a global context. The Department endeavors to model a commitment to professional practice and research that promotes the advancement of human well-being.

About The University of North Alabama

The University of North Alabama is an accredited, comprehensive regional state university offering undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral degree programs through the colleges of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering; the Sanders College of Business and Technology; Education and Human Sciences; and the Anderson College of Nursing and Health Professions. Occupying a 130-acre campus in a residential section of Florence, Alabama, UNA is located within a four-city area that also includes Muscle Shoals, Sheffield, and Tuscumbia. UNA Athletics, a renowned collegiate athletics program with seven (7) Division II National Championships, is now a proud member of NCAA Division I as part of the Atlantic Sun and United Athletic conferences. The University of North Alabama is an equal opportunity institution and does not discriminate in the admission policy on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, disability, age, or national origin. For more: una.edu and una.edu/unaworks/.