The mission of the MU School of Social Work is to promote leadership for social and economic justice by preparing students for professional excellence and leadership in practice, research, and policy. Within the context of a land grant institution, the mission of the School of Social Work reflects the University of Missouri’s tightly interlocked missions of teaching, research, outreach, and economic development.
The University of Missouri School of Social Work PhD program is nationally distinct in its interdisciplinary emphasis, theory-driven research, community-based collaborative research, and student-faculty collaborative research. The program’s purpose is to produce researchers who investigate social problems and disseminate research knowledge, as well as to produce high quality social work educators. It also prepares graduates with the highest level of knowledge and skills needed to inform policy making, program development and evaluation, and research on clinical practice issues.