MSSW-MPH Degree

The UTSPH Austin Regional Campus (ARC) is excited to announce that a Master of Science in Social Work and Master of Public Health (MSSW/MPH) dual degree program will be offered starting fall 2009 in collaboration with The University of Texas at Austin School of Social Work. According to the U.S. News & World Report's 2009 America's Best Graduate Schools report, UTSPH is ranked #12 and the UT School of Social Work is ranked #6 in the nation. Thus, students will be able to participate in nationally ranked and competitive graduate education programs.

Applicants must be admitted to both The University of Texas School of Public Health Austin Regional Campus and The University of Texas at Austin School of Social Work. The application deadline for UTSPH ARC fall admission is February 1st and the application deadline for UTSPH spring admission is August 1st. Applicants must submit all admission materials to each admission office independently. Admission materials are not shared between admission offices.

The MSSW/MPH program is designed to be completed in 3 years and requires the completion of 51 semester credit hours at The UT-Austin School of Social Work and 37 semester credit hours at the UT School of Public Health Austin Regional Campus.

Generally, the MPH program requires a minimum of 45 semester credit hours, an internship experience and a master’s thesis on a public health topic. For the dual degree, students are expected to earn 33 of the 45 MPH semester credit hour minimum from courses that originate at UTSPH ARC. Once the student has been admitted to the dual degree program, a UTSPH ARC faculty member and a UT-Austin School of Social Work faculty member are assigned as Advisors and serve on a joint Student Advisory Committee. With guidance from the UTSPH ARC Student Advisory Committee, students will select electives from regular UTSPH ARC courses and the list of Shared Credit Courses for the remaining courses.

The UT-Austin School of Social Work (SSW) offers the Master of Science in Social Work (MSSW) degree, which is normally completed in two years (60 credit hrs). The UT-Austin SSW will waive up to 9 hours obtained at the UTSPH ARC toward the MSSW degree. In addition, a joint Field Placement/Practicum (9 hours), one of the two practicum that UT-SSW requires, also applies to the dual MSSW-MPH degree program. An effort can also be made to integrate the thesis/culminating experience topic as well.

The MSSW/MPH dual degree hopes to address the growing demand for social workers to be sensitive toward the public health realm of clients’ lives (e.g., substance dependence, poverty, cancer, and HIV/AIDS). Both societal trends and consumer demands call for greater integration of the knowlege and skills shared by social work and public health education. Skills learned in public health disciplines, such as biostatistics, epidemiology, health administration, health promotion, and others are essential for persons conducting clinical or community-based research or those involved with health services organizations. The value of combining the MPH degree with the MSSW prepares students to use the expertise gained in both these programs towards solving crucial public health and health-care needs.

Curriculum and requirements for the MSSW/MPH dual degree program.

*The practicum/internship and culminating experience/thesis will focus on a topic relevant to both public health and social work.
**Up to 9 credit hours of SSW courses (as listed) may count as electives toward the MPH degree, and up to 9 credit hours of PH courses (as listed) may be counted as electives/selectives toward the MSSW degree.
***The integrated program requires a total of 88 semester credit hours in order to earn both degrees compared to 105 credit hours to earn the degrees separately.

For more information please contact:

Maria Eva Fernandez, MPH
Academic Affairs Coordinator
University of Texas School of Public Health
Austin Regional Campus
313 E. 12th Street Suite 220 #220C
Austin, TX 78701
Phone 512 482 6176
Fax 512 482 6185
Austinregionalcampus@uth.tmc.edu

or

Ramón R. Gómez, LMSW
Director, Student and Community Affairs
University of Texas at Austin School of Social Work
1 University Station D3500
Austin, TX 78712-0358
(512) 471-9819
Toll-free(877) 875-7352
ramon-gomez@mail.utexas.edu

• ARC Home
• 
• Academics
  • MPH
    • MPH FAQs
  • Doctoral – New
    • Doctoral FAQs
  • Dual Degree
  • Certificate Program
    Certificate Program FAQ's 
  • Continuing Education
  • Application Deadlines
• Course Information
  • Course Schedule
  • Course Descriptions
  • Catalog
• Austin Personnel
  • Faculty
  • Faculty profiles 
  • Staff
• Student Services
  • General Information
  • Student Affairs
  • Research Services
  • Office of Public Health Practice
  • Blackboard
• 
• Alumni
• Experience Austin
• Contact us
•