A message from Dr. Von Nebbitt
Greetings from the Director’s Office! I am pleased to welcome you to the Grace Abbott School of Social Work (GASSW). GASSW is a part of the College of Public Affairs and Community Service (CPACS) at the University of Nebraska - Omaha. We are centrally located on the second floor of the CPACS building.
Social workers have been at the forefront of efforts to create a more just burdened and equal society. Social workers have also played, and will continue to play, a critically important role in efforts to combat the opiate epidemic, to reduce the increase of mental health problems we are experiencing and to disrupt the burgeoning rates of suicidal behaviors that these problems often leave in their wake. Social workers have done this by playing a central role in community organizing and by providing mental and behavioral health services to families and individuals, respectively.
At GASSW, we recognize the important role that social work plays. Consequently, we provide our students with a social work education that is timely, relevant and exceptional, yet is very accessible. Our faculty, staff, and students are committed to diversity, equity and inclusion in teaching, research, learning, and community engagement.
We offer a Bachelor of Science in Social Work (BSSW) degree, a Master of Social Work (MSW) degree, and three dual degrees including a Master of Science in Criminology and Criminal Justice (MSW/MSCRCJ), Master of Public Administration (MSW/MPA), and a Master of Public Health (MSW/MPH) degree offered in conjunction with the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
Our social work program is committed to meeting the needs of all students, and we offer multiple program format options and flexible scheduling. Our course offerings are relevant, dynamic and cutting-edge. Many of our courses involve working with our community partners. Our students are engaged in community-based programs and are embedded with in local human service agencies. Our approach to teaching social work is steeped in the tradition of service learning. Community engagement and service-learning are core features of our curriculum; accordingly, our graduating students have the fingers on the pulse of social issues facing Omaha and the State of Nebraska.
Our faculty are active on numerous community, regional, and national boards and are actively engaged with many local and regional agencies and associations. Memberships and participatory relationships include the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB), the National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI), National Association of Social Workers (NASW), as well as the Office of the Public Guardian, The Kim Foundation, and many others. In partnership with community stakeholders, our faculty are also actively engaged in community-based participatory research. Our faculty produce timely and relevant reports, published papers and books. Our faculty eagerly involve our students in their research, while teaching them the critical role that research has in social work.
In addition to their involvement in professional organizations and community-based research, GASSW faculty provide a program evaluation service to local social service agencies, particularly those serving families and children in poverty. GASSW’s provides this critical service through Support and Training for the Evaluation of Programs, or STEPs. Furthermore, STEPs offers a series of educational workshops and consultation on program evaluation skills to both public and non-profit agencies.
We welcome potential and current students, alumni, community partners, and friends of the Grace Abbott School of Social Work to visit our offices, attend one of our community events or professional education workshops, and collaborate with us in the semesters ahead.
Sincerely,
Von Nebbitt, GASSW Director