In the News: U.S. News & World Report Ranks APU's MSW Program in Top 100 in the U.S.

U.S. News & World Report selected Azusa Pacific University's Master’s of Social Work (MSW) program as one of the top 100 programs in the United States. APU was ranked at number 75 and joins the list of prestigious institutions including University of Michigan–Ann Arbor, Washington University in St. Louis, and University of Chicago.

“It is an honor for APU's Master of Social Work program to receive this distinction,” said Mary Rawlings, Ph.D., LCSW, chair and professor, Department of Social Work. “Our MSW program emphasizes a culture of high expectations for our students, combined with high support from faculty. We offer creative learning opportunities, such as the use of simulation where students practice skill development with actors trained to enact client situations. With 80 percent of our students coming from ethnic minority backgrounds, we emphasize culturally responsive social work practice including a course option for our bilingual students to develop skills for clinical intervention in Spanish,” said Rawlings.

APU's MSW is one of the few programs in California that offers the option for students to specialize in community and organizational leadership. “With a 98 percent graduation rate, our commitment is that each of our students graduates ready and equipped for social work practice.”

Azusa Pacific University’s Master of Social Work program seeks to develop competent advanced social work practitioners who can integrate the knowledge, values, and skills of social work to advance social justice and provide services to assist individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities. Grounded in the profession’s Code of Ethics and with a responsiveness to diversity, the MSW program is committed to excellence in its teaching and scholarship, the integration of faith and learning, the development of professional leadership, and the strengthening of communities in local, national, and international contexts.