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
Disability Services for Students
Missoula
The Missoula Chapter of the National Coalition Building Institute
The UM Campus-based Multicultural Alliance
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.
Women’s Opportunity and Resource Development - feminist organization empowering low-income women through job development, housing opportunities, school-based resource centers, promotion of women’s rights, and programs targeting young parents.
Mountain Home - a residence for pregnant and parenting teens
Girls Using their Strengths - leadership development for pre-teen and teenage girls
Rural Institute on Disabilities and Office of Disability Services for Students
Speaker series, seminars, and special programs
- Student participation in human rights, peace, and social justice activities in collaboration with community-based organizations such as Montana NASW, Montana People's Action, Indian People's Action, Working for Equality and Economic Liberation, Jeannette Rankin Peace Center, Women's Opportunity and Resource Development, Montana Human Rights Network, Montana Food Bank Network, Students for Peace and Justice, and Community Action for Justice in the Americas.
- The President’s lecture series, the Kimmet lecture series in public service. Philosophy Forum, Women's History Month, and Black History Month.
- Brown bag discussions (sponsored by Practical Ethics Center, Women's Studies, Central Asia Studies, International Programs Office, Mansfield Center for Pacific Affairs; International Development Studies, Latin American Studies Program; Native American Studies) that address issues of diversity, international collaboration in research & program development, & cross-cultural issues regarding health, development, & well-being.
- Student involvement in the Women's Center, Lambda Alliance, Multicultural Alliance, Disability Advocacy Services, and the student-run radio station.
- Student participation in the development and implementation of community-based projects and research addressing housing, homelessness, & food system security.
- Faculty and student participation in campus-wide Day of Dialogue.
- College sponsorship of international travel opportunities.
- Opportunity to attend annual campus-based Kyi Yo pow wow.
Graphics, Design, and Layout by Carrie Phillips at Spectral Fusion
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