Joint MPH/MSW

(For the link to the School of Social Work, click here.)

The combined MPH/MSW degree is offered jointly by the School of Social Work and the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Department of International Health and Development. This program is particularly applicable to students who have had previous experience in international settings (such as the Peace Corps) or who aspire to work in the international arena, yet also want to obtain credentials in social work. The joint degree increases the student's career options in the future, by providing the individual with two sets of skills that are highly complementary: clinical social work skills, and international public health program skills (management, planning and evaluation). Both degrees are internationally recognized and highly regarded.

Graduates may seek employment in health/social service programs in the United States (especially those working in cross-cultural setting) or in various international humanitarian agencies working either in the U.S. or abroad. These agencies may include UNICEF, UNAIDS, U.S. Agency for International Development, World Health Organization, and a variety of non-governmental organizations (Save the Children, International Rescue Committee, CARE). Typical employment opportunities include international development work in developing countries in nutrition, health education, policy and management, reproductive health, in social or psychosocial programs in HIV/AIDS (orphans and vulnerable children, elderly caring for family members, persons living with HIV/AIDS), and social or psychosocial programs for refugees due to natural disasters or war.

A separate application must be submitted to each of the schools and applicants must meet the requirements for admission to each school. 

The application to the SPHTM is completed at www.SOPHAS.org.  The GRE is required for applicants to the SPHTM.  The point of entry into this dual degree program is the School of Social Work in the first (Fall) semester. Full-time students receive their MSW in the fourth (Fall) semester, then move to the School of Public Health for full-time coursework in the fifth (Spring) semester. Students may opt to continue public health classes into the sixth (Summer) semester or to come one summer early and begin public health classes before social work classes. The Department of International Health and Development offers the following key areas of concentration for the international MPH degree:

Nutrition and Food Security
Complex Emergencies and Disasters Management
Reproductive Health and Population
Infectious Diseases and HIV/AIDS
Policy, Programs, and Management
Monitoring & Evaluation

Students in the dual MSW/MPH program must complete 32 credit hours with the School of Public Health and 51 credit hours with the School of Social Work. The Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) expects all Master of Social Work programs to require 60 hours for graduation with the MSW. Fifteen (15) of these 60 hours are completed in a social work field internship. The School of Social Work accepts public health courses for its six (6) hours of electives, and waives the summer data analysis course SOWK 743 (3 credit hours). Dual degree students are required by the School of Public Health to take Epidemiology 603 and Biostatistics 603 to fulfill the data analysis requirement for the School of Social Work. These courses are taken at the School of Public Health.