Electives & Programs of Study
SSA's Master of Arts program prepares you to be a leader in the fields of clinical social work and social administration practice. Our curriculum is flexible. The comprehensive and interdisciplinary nature of our two-year AM degree (equivalent to an MSW) translates into greater opportunities and choice in your future career. In addition to the core and required courses in the clinical social work and social work administration concentrations, students take electives. Sixty percent of our students design their own elective coursework and field placements; the other forty percent apply to and complete one of the nine Programs of Study.
Examples of self-designed elective coursework sequences include, but are not limited to:
- Child and Adolescent Mental Health
- Family and Child Welfare
- Group Work
- LGBTQ Clients
- Low Wage Jobs and Work Force Development
- Mental Health
- Trauma
Programs of Study
Each Program of Study has prescribed requirements, either required courses or sets of courses from which you may choose. Importantly, each program combines course work with a related field experience to allow you to connect theoretical learning with the development of competencies in a particular area of practice. Three programs are for clinical students, two are for administrative students, and six are for both.
You must be accepted first to SSA and then by the individual Program of Study. SSA students apply to Programs of Study during the winter of their first year, with the exception of the GPHAP Program. Prospective students interested in the GPHAP Program must fill out an additional, separate application form that is due in early September.
Clinical Programs:
Evidence-based Practice
School Social Work Program
Advanced AODA (Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Counselor) Training Program
Social Administration Programs:
Program on Poverty and Inequality
Community Schools Program
Both Clinical and Social Administration Programs:
Family Support Program
Graduate Program in Health Administration and Policy (GPHAP)
GPHAP: Global Health Certificate Program
International Social Welfare
Older Adult Studies Program
Violence Prevention
Margaret Marion, AB '12
“The hardest decision I had to make when I was applying for the AB/AM program was whether to become an administrative or clinical student,” says Margaret Marion, AB '12. “I understood that whichever track I chose, I would still have room to pursue classes in the other track that fit in with my academic and professional goals"