Cal State L.A. Receives Reaccreditation for Social Work Graduate Program

Having worked on a self-study reaccreditation for more than a year, Cal State L.A.’s School of Social Work was recently awarded an extended eight full years of accreditation for the graduate program by the Council on Social Work Education, a national accreditation organization of the Social Work Programs in the United States. Both undergraduate and graduate programs are now fully accredited for the maximum allowed period.

The Council on Social Work Education sent three evaluators from the State University of New York, University of Houston, and University of New Mexico to evaluate the self-study and to meet with faculty, students, community advisors, and University administrators, in order to ascertain the quality of Cal State L.A.’s social work curriculum and to determine whether the School is in compliance with the National Accreditation Standards.

After spending three days on the Cal State L.A. campus, the site team gave the School’s graduate program an outstanding report. The site team concluded that CSULA’s School of Social Work has “a diverse and committed faculty,” “a diverse and bright group of students,” “a rich and ambitious curriculum,” and “a strong field instruction component.”

Thanh V. Tran, director of the School, said, “We are very proud of this remarkable achievement given our limited resources. This confirms my belief that commitment and devotion are the keys for success, not only resources. This outstanding faculty bring so much to the University in terms of their talents and commitments. I have no doubt that [Cal State L.A.’s] School of Social Work will become one of the strongest teaching schools of social work in California and in the nation.”

Cal State L.A.’s School of Social Work, in its College of Health and Human Services, includes 437 undergraduates, 214 graduate students and 20 full-time faculty members. The mission of the School is to prepare social workers at the entry (BA) and advanced (MSW) levels for gereral practice in culturally and economically diverse urban communities. The MSW (Master of Social Work) degree program was introduced in the 1996-1997 academic year.

For more information on the reaccreditation, call Wilfred Lee, MSW, admissions coordinator, Cal State L.A., at (323) 343-5834.

Media Contact: Margie Yu, Public Affairs Specialist, (323) 343-3047