Diversity
The School of Social Work carries out its mission to provide an open and diverse learning environment to fulfill the fundamental tenets of the social work profession. The School makes ongoing efforts to provide a learning context in which respect for all persons and an understanding of diversity (including age, class, color, disability, ethnicity, family structure, gender, marital status, national origin, race, religion, sex, and sexual orientation) are practiced. Our commitment informs the structure and content of the School's curriculum, classroom practices and procedures, the screening and recruitment of faculty and students, decisions regarding field education settings and the focus of their work, and the promotion of experiences, practices, and learning opportunities that introduce students to issues concerning difference and that model an understanding of and respect for diversity.
Below is a brief list of campus-based and local resources that are committed to diversity and human rights advocacy. Each provides students with rich opportunities for broadening their understanding of human diversity.
University of Montana
American Indian Student Services Office
Missoula
The Missoula Chapter of the National Coalition Building Institute
Classroom Learning Activities
Field Experience to the Flathead Reservation
“Mental Wellness” – a course in which recipients of mental health services work with social work students to develop campus-based support models.
Presentations by Native American authors and social work professionals, including Janet Campbell Hale, author of Bloodlines: Odyssey of a Native Daughter, and Iris PrettyPaint, a social work educator and developer of a Native family empowerment model
Grant Activity
The School was awarded a Hartford Foundation grant to develop practicum placements in aging-related practicum sites for students interested in aging.
Practicum Placements
Poverello Center - a short-term shelter for homeless adults and families
Partnership Health - provides basic health care to low-income individuals and families
Missoula Food Bank and Regional Food Bank Network
Early Headstart - outreach services for low-income families.
Mountain Home - a residence for pregnant and parenting teens
GUTS! (Girls Using their Strengths) - leadership development for pre-teen and teenage girls
Rural Institute on Disabilities and Office of Disability Equity