Thank you for visiting the website of the Stony Brook University School of Social Welfare. I hope you will use this visit as an opportunity to get to know us better. 

Let me begin by congratulating you on choosing social work as a profession.  Today, many people dream of a career decision that encourages them to make change on large and persistent social issues, sometimes called “wicked problems.”  This includes a commitment to end homelessness, interpersonal violence, and child abuse; to create fair and just mental health and immigration systems, and to end disparities in health outcomes, involvement in the criminal justice system, and educational failure among people of color.  

As social workers you will be on the front lines of advocacy for social and economic justice. You can choose to be active in a venue ranging from a local neighborhood to global resettlement, and to work with any conceivable population from infants in early intervention programs all the way up through hospice. You can choose to combine roles as clinicians, researchers, policy wonks, administrators, advocates, and community organizers.  Just about any population you want to work with, any social problem you would like to solve, or any level on which you want to make change, a social work degree will allow you to pursue your dream to realize social change.    

I am delighted that you chose to explore your dreams at SUNY Stony Brook.  Stony Brook University is a member of the prestigious Association for American Universities (AAU) and one of the nation’s premier centers for academic excellence. The School of Social Welfare is located within a rich interdisciplinary environment, one of six schools comprising the Health Sciences campus. The Health Sciences campus also includes Stony Brook University Hospital, the Cancer Center, Stony Brook Children’s Hospital and a growing network of community hospitals.  In New York City, we are affiliated with the SUNY College of Optometry that serves over 70,000 patients a year.  Many opportunities exist for collaborative research and training with the health sciences and other disciplines.  

We are committed to preparing students for work in professional social work practice in the public and non-profit sectors of health and social welfare. The School’s curriculum, internships, and our faculty emphasize a commitment to diversity, human dignity, and social and economic justice.  Our faculty and students are involved in interdisciplinary practice, research, and training that develops, implements, and disseminates evidence informed models for innovative practice.  The School is fully accredited by the Council on Social Work Education. 

At Stony Brook you will prepare to work in the future – to learn to intervene at the source of the problems which impact people’s well-being; to study within interdisciplinary collaborations with students from other disciplines; and to build a world in which there is social and economic justice leading to success for all.