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Master of Public Administration and Social Work
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MPA and MSW
45 SIPA credits, 43.5 Social Work credits*
Curriculum Overview
Dual-degree students are required to fulfill the SIPA and Social Work core requirements outlined below. For a list of courses that fulfill core requirements, please refer to the SIPA Registration Guide produced at the beginning of each semester.
SIPA Core Requirements
Dual-degree MPA/MPH students must fulfill the SIPA MPA Core requirements. Dual-degree students are not required to complete a concentration at SIPA.
- U6110 Politics of Policymaking (5 credits)
- U8200 Public Management (3 credits)
- U8213/U8216 Microeconomics and Policy Analysis I/II (6 credits)
- U6310 Quantitative Techniques (3 credits)
(note: T6502 Quantitative Methods for Social Work fulfills this requirement)
Financial Analysis Requirement:
(students must take one of the following courses)
- U6416 Budgeting for Non-Profits (3 credits)
- U8201 Budgeting for Government (3 credits)
- U6014 Accounting for International and Public Affairs (3 credits)
- U6022 Economics of Finance (3 credits)
Capstone Courses:
(students must take one of the following courses)
- U9232 Workshop (3 credits, fall semester only)
- U9180/9181 Non-profit Management Lab (3 credits)
- U9300/9301 Public Policy Clinic (6 credits)
- U4041 Professional Development (1 credit)
- One Internship (0-3 credits)
MPA Concentration Requirements
Dual degree candidates are not required to complete a concentration /specialization at SIPA. It is recommended, however, that students focus their studies on one MPA concentration, and by choosing courses carefully, it may be possible for a students to fulfill the requirements for a concentration at SIPA, the School of Social Work, or both.
Social Work Core Requirements
At CUSSW, the course of study leading to the Master of Science (M.S.) degree is based upon a progressive sequence of courses taken during the total period of study. These courses have been designed in accordance with the standards of the Council on Social Work Education, the School’s accrediting body. The Council on Social Work Education requires all students to take courses in the following areas: practice, practicum, research, human behavior and the social environment, and social welfare policy. For a more complete description, see the School Bulletin.
- T660A/T660B Human Behavior and the Social Environment A and B** (3 credits each)
- T6015 Seminar in Professional Identity (1.5 credits)
- T6801 Social Welfare Policy (3 credits)
- T7100 Foundations of Social Work Practice (T7100)
- Five sequential practice courses, which include T7100, T7102, and T7103, taken in the first year.
- Two additional courses in the student’s primary practice method, taken in the second year.
Prior to the second year of study, students select their practice method concentration. The School has four practice method concentrations: Advanced Clinical Social Work Practice, Advanced Generalist Practice and Programming, Policy Practice and Social Enterprise Administration. The choice of the practice method concentration determines your second field placement and the set of second-year practice courses for which you will register.
Advanced Clinical Practice The clinical concentration emphasizes assessment, intervention, and evaluation within a field of practice, using individual, family, group, and case management strategies; clinical application of risk and resiliency theories and research to at-risk populations; and clinical issues with specific client populations.
Advanced Generalist Practice & Programming AGPP ensures the balance and
flexibility that successful social workers in the 21st century require. It emphasizes direct practice; community practice; movement from case to cause; and development of innovative and responsive social programs and of program resources, including staffing and funding.
Policy Practice Policy analysis and policy advocacy, including the development of knowledge, values, and skills needed to define policy issues from a social work perspective, collect and analyze relevant data, develop policy options, prepare testimony, and present recommendations.
Social Enterprise Administration Building knowledge, skills, and values in administering social service programs is the program goal, including program planning, program evaluation, financial management, staff development and training, human resource management, and management information systems.
MSW Field of Practice Requirements
Although exempt from the field of practice course, dual degree candidates must choose a field of practice from among the following:
Aging: The role, status, and social problems of the elderly; sociology of the family; age stratification; policies providing financial support, health, and social care for the elderly; and social service provisions for the aged.
Contemporary Social Issues (CSI): Emerging social problems, their etiology, epidemiology, and interconnections; relevant policies, programs, and practices; and coordination or lack thereof among service systems that seek to address these problems. CSP, via advocacy and a forensic approach, addresses the impact of issues and problems in the criminal justice system, homelessness, domestic violence/violence, and substance abuse and their impact on individuals, groups, couples, families, communities, and society.
Family, Youth, and Children’s Services: The economic and social status and service needs of families, youth, and children; laws, funding, and service organizations; family support and child care services; preventive and protective services; school-related and/or school-based services; adolescent issues.
Health, Mental Health, and Disabilities: Identification of health factors and social stressors that affect clients; program development and evaluation; fiscal, legal, and organizational sanctions and influences, including managed care; assessment of system entry points for client care and advocacy.
International Social Welfare and Services to Immigrants and Refugees: Global social problems; international trends in social policies and programs, including response to disasters; needs of immigrants and refugees; community development; and activities of major international organizations and voluntary agencies working internationally. Students who select this field must have at least 9 months experience working, volunteering or interning outside of the students’ country of origin; or primarily with immigrants and refugees in this county. A written application that includes information about experience outside of country of origin, and anticipated skills and goals is required. Enrollment is limited and preference in acceptance will be given to those fluent in a second language.
School-based and School-linked Services: Practice issues in public education; problems of school failure; design, administration, financing, delivery, and evaluation of school-based or school-linked child and family services; interdisciplinary collaboration.
World of Work: The composition, status, and needs of the labor force; conditions interfering with work roles; services for clients as workers and for their dependents; collective bargaining; discrimination and unequal opportunity; interdisciplinary initiatives; and legislation related to work and social welfare.
*
The number of credits required at social work will be between 43.5 and 46.5, depending on the student’s chosen method concentration area.
** Any student who takes a HBSE course at CUSSW is also required to take and pass a HBSE proficiency exam.
SIPA Contact Information
School of International and Public Affairs
http://www.sipa.columbia.edu
Office of Admissions
408 IAB, (212) 854-4841
http://www.sipa.columbia.edu/admissions/
Matt Clemens, Director, Admissions
mc2793@columbia.edu
Office of Computing
1513B IAB, (212) 854-8347
http://www.sipa.columbia.edu/sipac/
Harpreet Mahajan, Director
mahajan@columbia.edu
Office of Career Services
420 IAB, (212) 854-4613
http://www.sipa.columbia.edu/ocs/
Meg Heenehan, Director
mh374@columbia.edu
Office of Student Affairs
612 IAB, (212) 854-8690
http://www.sipa.columbia.edu/prog/
Caroline Kay, Assistant Dean
cck11@columbia.edu
Claudio Vargas, Assistant Director, Financial Aid
csv3@columbia.edu
Social Work Contact Information
1255 Amsterdam Avenue
http://www.socialwork.columbia.edu
Office of Admissions
514-H CUSSW, (212) 851-2400
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/ssw/admissions/
Marnelle Alexis, Executive Director
cussw-admit@columbia.edu
Office of Computing
105 CUSSW, (212) 851-2342
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/ssw/ocit/complab/
Ann McCann Oakley, Assistant Dean
swhelp@columbia.edu
Office of Career Development
529 CUSSW, (212) 851-2320
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/ssw/careers/
Jimmie Cochran-Pratt, Director
swcareer@columbia.edu
Office of Enrollment and Student Services
525 CUSSW, (212) 851-2364
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/ssw/students/enroll_service.html
Karma Lowe, Assistant Director
knl3@columbia.edu
Office of Financial Aid
514-E CUSSW, (212) 851-2293
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/ssw/finaid/
Tessie Scroggins-Walker, Director
swfinaid@columbia.edu