School of Social Work: Global Health Resource Center

School of Social Work

Description of Activities

The School of Social Work has had sister partnership with a School of Social Work in India since 1997 and provides a 2 weeks externship opportunities for its students. The School has a unique disaster management training component for students under the guidance of Dean Harris. As part of the latter initiative, social work students traveled to Chennai, India to provide assistance in Tsunami relief efforts. There are also linkages with social work investigators in the Ukraine, Hong Kong, Japan, Republic of Korea, and Canada, focusing on health care delivery and related long-term care services to elderly populations.

Furthermore the School of SocialWork offers a dual degree program MSW/ MPH with an opportunity to train in international public health. For more details please see: http://www.ssw.umaryland.edu/academic_programs/dual_degrees/#mswph.

Field Experience Opportunities

The School of Social Work offers field experience opportunities to its students through coursework as well as through the Peace Corps program.

SOWK 705 - International Social Work

Comparative studies of social work practice provide instruments for better understanding the general laws of social life and opportunities for examining practice trends and issues in a clearer perspective. This course focuses on the study of the social work profession and practice in specified developed and developing nations. This course is taken in conjunction with the biannual trip to India (other destinations are possible).

SOWK 720/834 Comparative Social Policy

The course emphasizes the comparative analysis of respective national approaches to social policy provision in a variety of societies. It examines different societies and a number of dimensions of the social welfare system: social security, social services and health care policy. This course is initially concerned with the methodology of comparative analysis. It pays particular attention to the nature of governmental involvement in social policy, the nature of public/private sector relations, and the assessment of social policy with regard to such analytical concepts as adequacy, equity and efficiency. It considers theories which relate social policy outcomes to factors such as resource development, ideology and historical/cultural tendencies. Research projects will reflect areas of student interest.

Peace Corps Fellows/USA Program

The program is designed to attract returning Peace Corp Volunteers (RPCV's) into graduate social work study at the University of Maryland School of Social Work. We think RPCV's make good Social Workers. We offer a stipend of $3000 for the first year field placement and $7000 for the second year field placement. The stipend is tied to the placement as it is often contributed by the community organization where the placement is located. For more information contact Dick Cook at: 410-706-5130.