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2020-2021 Graduate Catalog [FINAL EDITION]
Course Descriptions
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Social Work |
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SW 635 - Social Work Practice With Groups
3 Credit(s)
This clinical course exposes students to an array of the major concepts, techniques, and skills underlying social work practice with groups. The primary goal is to provide students with the clinical competencies and associated practice behaviors to lead groups with children, adolescents, and adults in an agency-based practice setting. Readings, lectures, videos, small group experiences, and assignments are directed at an advanced understanding of group dynamics and group process, techniques of group formation, and leadership. Multiple models for group practice are taught, including psychoanalytically based groups, cognitive-behavioral groups, developmental group counseling, experiential models, psycho-educational groups, and support groups. Finally, the course examines the impact of diversity on group interaction and the relevance of group work theory to organizational and community contexts.
Prerequisite(s): SW 506 .
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SW 636 - Organization and Program Development
3 Credit(s)
This advanced-level course builds upon the core competencies and related behaviors addressed in the foundational social and economic justice courses. The course presents theoretical and practical materials necessary for all aspects of practice affecting the social service agency. Conceptualizing agencies as the foundation from which most services emanate, this course prepares students both to effectively work within the organizational context, including developing new programs, and to enhance organizational capacity and treat the agency as a client when necessary. Course topics include organizational theory and assessment, management, the budgetary process, fundraising, program development, proposal writing, technology, and program evaluation.
Prerequisite(s): SW 541
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SW 637 - Field Instruction III and Seminar
4 Credit(s)
This is the specialization year, two-semester field instruction placement. Students work in a supervised social work setting for 20-24 hours per week. Field Instruction III & Seminar and Field Instruction IV & Seminar provide students with the opportunity to further examine and integrate the theories and skills of agency-based clinical social work practice with individuals, families, and small groups; to develop and refine clinical assessment, intervention, and evaluation skills; and to consolidate their own identity as a professionally disciplined and self-aware professional social worker. Field Instruction III & Seminar and Field Instruction IV & Seminar build upon the generalist social work practice perspective introduced in the prerequisite courses.
Corequisite(s): For on-campus MSW students, SW 630 is a corequisite.
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SW 638 - Field Instruction IV and Seminar
4 Credit(s)
This is the specialization year, two-semester field instruction placement. Students work in a supervised social work setting for 20-24 hours per week. Field Instruction III & Seminar and Field Instruction IV & Seminar provide students with the opportunity to further examine and integrate the theories and skills of agency-based clinical social work practice with individuals, families, and small groups; to develop and refine clinical assessment, intervention, and evaluation skills; and to consolidate their own identity as a professionally disciplined and self-aware professional social worker. Field Instruction III & Seminar and Field Instruction IV & Seminar build upon the generalist social work practice perspective introduced in the prerequisite courses.
Prerequisite(s): SW 505 , SW 506 , SW 552 and SW 553
Corequisite(s): SW 639
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SW 639 - Clinical Social Work Seminar
3 Credit(s)
This seminar is designed to build upon the clinical competencies and associated practice behaviors of SW 630 Clinical Social Work Practice with Individuals by helping refine and deepen conceptual and technical knowledge of the clinical process in the context of agency-based social work practice. The seminar focuses on issues related to the agency-based social work practice context, considering the dimension of time in terms of how it can be exploited to promote change (short-term treatment) and examining how principles of change are operationalized by social work practitioners applying psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral, narrative, emotionally focused, and family systems theoretical orientations to various client populations within different settings. Whenever relevant, students are invited to examine how policy issues, particularly those related to managed care, affect clinical practice. As students become more familiar with alternative applications of the clinical process, they are expected to develop greater clarity about their own clinical skills, strengths, limitations, and interests. This increased professional self-awareness is intended to facilitate students’ autonomy and creative use of the self with diverse clinical populations. Throughout the semester, attention is given to issues of gender; sexual orientation; ethnic, racial, and cultural diversity; and the effects of oppression and discrimination upon clients. Through reading and written assignments, students use research knowledge to understand issues confronting them in their clinical work with clients and to examine and evaluate various intervention strategies with clients. SW 630 and SW 639 are cohort courses. Students remain together as a group for both courses.
Corequisite(s): SW 638
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SW 642 - Social Work Practice With Children and Adolescents
3 Credit(s)
This course applies clinical social work practice to the treatment of children and adolescents. A review of developmental theory provides the foundation for assessment and intervention with this population. Psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral, systems, and other theoretical models of practice are analyzed as they apply to work with children and adolescents. A variety of treatment modalities including individual, play, family, and group is presented. Students also learn to integrate theoretical orientations and social work interventions with a variety of special needs children.
Prerequisite(s): SW 506 ,
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SW 644 - International Social Work
3 Credit(s)
The purpose of this course is to explore this definition, understand the history of social work from an international perspective and expand the knowledge and skill base of social work students to better understand their role in an international arena. Students will be introduced to various topics of social issues and learn how to assess needs and polices designed to address those needs while maintaining a culturally competent and sensitive lens. This course offer opportunities for an enhanced understanding of the culture context of the experiences of immigrant and refugees as they encounter social services in the United States.
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SW 646 - Environmental Policy
3 Credit(s)
This course examines the human consequences of the current environmental and occupational health crisis facing our nation. Case studies are used to demonstrate the ways in which environmental degradation and toxin waste threaten workers and communities. The course examines the human services needs and policy responses to the crisis.
Prerequisite(s): SW 540
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SW 648 - Children and Families at Risk
3 Credit(s)
This course examines current issues in public and private child welfare practice and policy. Students review a variety of innovative policy and practice approaches to working with children and families that are served by the child welfare system. The challenges inherent in practicing clinical social work with mandated clients and from within bureaucratic settings are explored. Models for strengths-based approaches to providing clinical case management and supervision are also examined. This course is designed to extend the knowledge base and skills of students who have worked in public or private child welfare practice.
Prerequisite(s): SW 540
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SW 649 - Social Work Practice in Mental Health
3 Credit(s)
This course focuses on social work practice in mental health, including policy analysis and practice implications. A historical overview is presented from which current policies and trends in the delivery of services to those with serious and persistent mental illnesses are analyzed. The hospital and community-based service systems are examined, as are best practice standards. Social work interventions are then explored for the mentally ill including special populations such as those with substance abuse, mental retardation, children, and the elderly.
Prerequisite(s): SW 506 ,SW 505 and SW 540
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SW 650 - Field Instruction III
4 Credit(s)
This is the clinical year field education placement for two semesters. The field placement provides the student with the opportunity to engage in agency based clinical social work practice. The placement allows students to apply the theory and skills learned in the advanced practice sequence work with individuals, families, and small groups. Students are in the field placement setting for twenty-four hours each week for fourteen weeks.
The field seminar is completed concurrently with the field placement. The field seminar is designed to support students in integrating knowledge acquired in the clinical practice sequence and applying the knowledge to work with clients. In addition, the seminar will afford students the opportunity to reflect on their professional development as clinical social workers
Prerequisite(s): SW 506 or Advanced standing
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SW 652 - Extended Field Instruction
1 Credit(s)
This course addresses educatoinal, supportive and administrative aspects of supervision of direct practice with agency clients. Within the contect of adult development theories, factors in utilizing and providing supervision are emphasized. Supervisory techniques for individual, family and group modalities are considered.
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SW 655 - Social Work With People Who Have Intellectual and Developmental Disability
3 Credit(s)
This course is intended to increase social workers’ capacities to work effectively with individuals who have intellectual and developmental disability (IDD). The course increases participants’ understanding of many of the issues relating to people who have developmental disability and who exhibit challenging behaviors. Students examine these issues through the lenses of positive approaches and explore person-centered planning, autism spectrum disorders, understanding the impact of trauma on individuals with IDD, and working effectively with psychiatric needs.
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SW 659 - Social Work With Immigrants and Refugees
3 Credit(s)
This course focuses on international/national policies, theoretical premises, and practice skills useful for prospective social workers working with immigrants and refugees in the United States. The course focuses on both macro and micro perspectives on immigration issues, ranging from trends and policies that influence service delivery to psychosocial experiences by immigrants and refugees, such as pre- and post-migration traumas and acculturation. Both macro and micro theories for immigration are introduced. Special groups (e.g., survivors of torture, victims of human trafficking, asylum seekers, and unaccompanied minors) are included in the discussion. The course also examines interventions for immigrants and refugees with focus on cultural diversity and competency in social work practice.
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SW 663 - Social Work Practice With Addicted Persons and Their Families
3 Credit(s)
This course introduces students to a broad range of theories about heavy drinking and addiction, provides an overview of commonly abused substances, and evaluates assessment and treatment strategies employed in work with individuals and families. The class examines psychosocial factors affecting both the identification and treatment of substance abusers.
Prerequisite(s): SW 502
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SW 664 - Treating Trauma
3 Credit(s)
This course concentrates on the etiology and treatment of traumatic symptomatology. Students explore conditions that contribute to the development of acute stress disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, borderline personality disorder, dissociative disorders, and other disorders of extreme stress. Comorbid conditions, including substance abuse and self-harming behaviors, are considered. The intergenerational, socio-cultural, and societal impact of trauma is explored. A strengths-based approach is emphasized. Readings orient students to the assessment of trauma symptoms, as well as to some generally applicable treatment approaches, and to research on the psychobiology of trauma.
Prerequisite(s): SW 552
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SW 667 - Brief Treatment
3 Credit(s)
This course focuses on how to use brief therapy to address client issues. The course addresses treatment issues such as assessment of the client, role of the social worker, and understanding the importance of time in the treatment relationship. A variety of theoretical approaches is discussed.
Prerequisite(s): SW 506 , SW 505 and SW 502
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SW 668 - Clinical Supervision
3 Credit(s)
This course explores approaches to and skills associated with clinical supervision. Initially, students work in teams in experiential exercises during which they alternately take the role of supervisor and supervisee. These experiences are then examined in relation to assigned course readings and class discussions. The last sessions of the course require the students to again role-play identified supervisory tasks/functions-both as a supervisor and as a supervisee. The class concludes with large group discussion of those experiences.
Prerequisite(s): SW 506 .
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SW 669 - Cognitive Behavioral Interventions
3 Credit(s)
This course acquaints students with theoretical, conceptual, and skill bases of several cognitive-behavioral approaches to practice. Topics include assessment, use of task and homework, coping skills, cognitive restructuring, and problem-solving approaches to practice.
Prerequisite(s): SW 502 , SW 505 and SW 506
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SW 670 - Grief and Loss Across the Life Cycle
3 Credit(s)
This course is taught in seminar style and focuses upon understanding losses and appropriate interventions for clients who endure loss across the life cycle. These losses include death, community disaster, and chronic illness. The following are addressed: perinatal loss (including SIDS), loss of a child and a child’s reaction to loss, loss of an adolescent and an adolescent’s reaction to loss (sibling, friend, parent), losses in early and middle adulthood (parental loss, spouse/partner loss, and loss of an adult child), loss in later life (including chronic illness and its affect on the individual and family), disenfranchised loss (domestic partners, gay and lesbian partners), the dying patient, end of life issues, community resources (including hospice), and support networks. Theoretical perspectives are drawn from both traditional and postmodern approaches to grief and loss. Issues of cultural diversity are addressed throughout the course.
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SW 671 - Human Sexuality for the Social Work Professional
3 Credit(s)
Human sexuality is one of the basic foundations for life. From before birth, individuals are sexed, gendered, and bombarded with messages about who they are, who they should be, and how they are expected to behave. In adult life, whether individuals choose to date, to partner, or to remain single; to have children, adopt, or create other forms of family, sexuality is one of the central and organizing components of the human experience. Human sexuality to explored using the weekend course format in three separate sections from a biopsychosocial perspective. The first of these units addresses an overview of sexuality information and functioning. The second examines psychosocial issues as they exist within sexuality. Lastly, the manifestations of human sexuality as they occur within the social work context and subsequent practice issues are investigated.
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SW 673 - Relational Perspectives On Clinical Social Work Practice
3 Credit(s)
Clinical social workers try to help clients resolve or manage a variety of problems or barriers that interfere with effective and satisfying social functioning. These include the cumulative effects of trauma, oppression, family conflict, and emotional neglect that have produced patterns of emotional regulation, thinking, and acting that function (on one level) to protect the self but that are dysfunctional (on other levels) in terms of preserving physical health, participating in interpersonal relationships, and maintaining occupational viability. This course applies recent developments in affect theory, attachment theory, interpersonal neurobiology, self-psychology, intersubjectivity theory, narrative theory, and relational (or two-person) psychology to the challenges facing social workers trying to help clients manage themselves and their lives in the wake of emotional neglect, trauma, oppression, domestic violence, and substance abuse. A central concern of the course is on how the worker’s participation in the helping relationship facilitates or impedes the client’s ability to use that relationship as an opportunity to regain and sustain satisfying social functioning.
Prerequisite(s): SW 506 or Advanced Standing
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SW 674 - Spirituality and Social Work
3 Credit(s)
This course provides students with an opportunity (1) to think through and emotionally experience the place of spirituality in social work practice, (2) to come to an understanding of the meaning and application of spirituality in each student’s own social work practice, and (3) to explore the impact of religion and spirituality on social policy. This course is premised on the view that spirituality is a basic human need whether it is expressed in a formal institutional setting or takes a myriad of other forms. As social workers more and more encounter diverse belief systems, it is important that practitioners at all levels of practice have some understanding of how the adherence to different beliefs affects peoples’ functioning. The course addresses the knowledge and skills needed to work within the spiritual and religious contexts of the “lived” world of clients. The course explores spirituality as a core dimension of human experience and addresses the need for social workers to understand their own beliefs and biases about spirituality and religion and have regard for their own spiritual growth.
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SW 678 - Social and Cultural Issues of Gender: Clinical Implications
3 Credit(s)
This course engages students in a dialogue about the questions, dichotomies, uncertainties, and challenges that gender presents on a daily basis. Theories, assumptions, and stories that are relevant to the development of gender in North American society are examined. Issues of oppression, discrimination, social change, and implications for social work practice are addressed. Themes for the course include the historical underpinnings of the women’s movement, the challenges of inclusion and diversity, the formation of gender identity, the challenges of aging in North American, the significance of relationships and sexual identity, the political impact of personal decisions and vice versa, the impact of economic status, and family and motherhood. Life cycle dilemmas with an emphasis on the effects on women are also addressed. Throughout the course, students examine how the female struggle and women’s place in society have been constructed and defined through the interaction of social, political, economic, and psychological forces. The challenges of defining gender as they relate to race, sexuality, disability, and class are explored.
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SW 680 - Comparative Social Work and Social Welfare: International Study
3 Credit(s)
This course is part of Widener’s Center for Social Work Education Travel Abroad expeditions. Faculty lead students in an international study tour to compare domestic and international approaches to social work practice, social welfare, and social service systems. The class visits a variety of service sites and meets with social work practitioners and educators. Discussions, readings, and assignments guide students in comparing domestic and international policies and systems.
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SW 681 - African Americans in Contemporary Society
3 Credit(s)
This course introduces and applies African-centered (Afro-centric) values, analysis, and cultural principles in historical and contemporary contexts to examine social themes, issues, and problems regarding the plight of African Americans in American society. The course uses a hybrid-seminar design and addresses multiple themes related to the African American experience/condition with a person-in-the-environment (communal village) examination of cultural strengths. There is candid discussions about how to remediate complicated social problems being faced by members of this group. Students have proactive roles in developing and taking responsibility for targeted aspects of their learning. Students of all ethnic and racial groups are encouraged to take this course.
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SW 683 - Social Work With Urban Youth
3 Credit(s)
This course enriches and enhances the social work student’s understanding of and work with the urban adolescent population. The study of the growth, development, and experience of contemporary urban teenagers is grounded in a biopsychosocial and systems perspectives, which take into account influences of oppression, marginalization, and discrimination. These micro and macro forces intersect in ways that influence urban adolescents’ development and identity formation. Identity formation in adolescence is a key psychosocial task that informs the teen’s sense of self. It influences behavior, relationships, the choices an adolescent makes, and the life course trajectory. On a daily basis, urban adolescents make choices as they navigate landscapes that provide rich and layered experiences. These landscapes may also present risk, overwhelming stress, and challenge. With this in mind, a multidimensional and dynamic risk and resilience framework is used to understand typical, adaptive, and maladaptive adolescent adjustment and behavior. Course content covers theoretical and empirical adolescent psychosocial literature, both traditional and recent, and current and relevant topics/issues that shape social work assessment and work with this population.
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SW 684 - Medical Social Work
3 Credit(s)
This course will prepare MSW students to work as professionals in the field of medical social work. It will provide foundational content in health care and integrates the clinical social work role. The course will focus on medical social work with children, individuals and families through the life course. Students will receive a historical overview of the US health care system and the foundations of social work in health care. The course will examine theories of health behavior and disease prevention. In addition, students will learn complementary and integrative medicine practice models. Students will develop an understanding of prevalent issues and themes in health care: health disparities, diversity, culture, religion/spirituality and human rights.
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SW 686 - Social Work Practice With Older Adults
3 Credit(s)
This course seeks to explore challenges facing older adults in the larger society. The student is challenged to increase their cultural competency/cultural humility of the older adult community and to develop a perspective that is sensitive to older adult issues. History, current events, scholarly literature, person-in-environment theory, life-cycle stages, interventions, policy, practice skills, and advocacy will all be used for a holistic reflection of being an older adult in today’s society.
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SW 687 - Addiction: A Chronic Neurobiological Health Disorder
3 Credit(s)
This course focuses on addictions as a major neurobiological health disorder. The course covers the history of addictions, stigma associated with addictions, and underlying causes of the use of addictive substances. The DSM 5 will be used to examine a range of addictive substances and the criteria required to make substance use disorders and substance induced disorders diagnoses. The emphasis is to consider addictions as a chronic brain based disorder with neurobiological and social consequences to individuals, families, and communities. Evidence-based practices will be applied in psychopharmacology treatments and biopsychosocial treatment modalities. Avenues of certification in addictions will be explored in the course.
Prerequisite(s): SW 502 and SW 505
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SW 688 - Special Topics
3 Credit(s)
Topics offered in response to student and/or faculty interest.
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SW 801 - Methods of Inquiry and Analysis
3 Credit(s)
The course begins with a review of basic concepts pertaining to research methodology and statistical analysis-both descriptive and inferential, including the basic procedures followed for analysis of qualitative data. A computer lab is an integral part of the course so that students receive hands on experience with SPSS subroutines and with one or more software programs for use with qualitative data. Overall, this course is intended to humanize and demystify research methods so that students have the foundation necessary for quantitative and qualitative study of social work practice.
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SW 802 - Using Qualitative Methods I
3 Credit(s)
This course examines the use of ethno-methodologies, case studies, focus groups, content analysis, grounded theory, and participatory action research to illuminate and analyze both the processes and outcomes of social work practice. Like its companion course, SW 803 , the course is taught through critical examination of published qualitative studies pertaining to social work practice. The underlying assumptions of the methods used, as well as the trustworthiness and validity of the findings, are discussed. In addition, students are required to develop and submit a written qualitative research proposal.
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SW 803 - Using Quantitative Methods I
3 Credit(s)
Like its companion course, SW 802, this course is taught through critical examination of published quantitative studies of social work practice, including meta-analyses. The course covers regression-based procedures such as multivariate analysis, path analysis, and structural equation modeling, as well as statistical procedures used for instrument development (e.g., tests of reliability and factor analysis). The underlying assumptions of the designs, measures, and statistics used, as well as the validity of the findings, are discussed.
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SW 811 - Deconstructing Clinical Theories and Their Application
3 Credit(s)
The focus of this course is on the change processes presumed to be at work by various clinical theories or models of intervention. This entails a critical conceptual analysis of the theoretical foundations for clinical practice, including the assumptions regarding human nature, change, and the intervention context, as well as their salience for diverse and historically oppressed client populations. Cognitive-behavioral, emotionally focused, narrative, and psychodynamic approaches are considered, as well as more recently developed eclectic blends such as dialectical behavior therapy, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), and solution-focused therapy. A combination of case analyses and critical analyses of both empirical studies and theoretical literature is used.
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SW 812 - Social Welfare Policy
3 Credit(s)
The goal of this course is to examine the evolution of social welfare policy during the 20th century in order to acquire an understanding of how political, economic, and social forces shape the conception of social work practice in any given era, including our own. Special emphasis is placed on how these forces have affected diverse and historically oppressed populations. Methods of financing social work services and the interaction of influences from within the social work profession with those from the larger sociopolitical context are examined in an effort to discern how they support, impede, or initiate changes in practice.
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SW 813 - Facilitating and Evaluating Change Processes
3 Credit(s)
This course addresses the application of the principles of evidence-based practice to social work practice. Students are expected to identify, summarize, and synthesize both the theoretical and research literature pertaining to a client population of their own choosing as well as to evaluate and analyze, in a comparative fashion, two clearly articulated approaches to intervention with the client population.
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SW 814 - Historical and Philosophical Foundations of Social Work Practice
3 Credit(s)
This course examines the philosophical foundations for social work practice in the historical context of the development of the profession of social work and of social welfare policy in the United States. Then, contemporary epistemological foundations for knowing in social work are addressed through readings from a political, economic, sociological, and neurobiological perspectives.
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SW 815 - Using Quantitative Methods II
3 Credit(s)
This course is designed to further a student’s knowledge and skills with statistics. The course is taught using a combination of mathematical skill development, critical examination of existing quantitative research, and practical application of quantitative methods. The course begins with regression-based procedures such as multivariate analysis, path analysis, and discriminant analysis, and continues with additional tools for analysis including structural equation modeling, factor analysis, and non-parametric methods.
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SW 816 - Using Qualitative Methods II
3 Credit(s)
This course is designed to further a student’s knowledge and skills in the use of qualitative methods. The course is taught using a combination of critical examination of published qualitative research, practice using qualitative data analysis software, the application of qualitative methods in a project of the student’s own design and writing up the results.
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SW 818 - Social Theory
3 Credit(s)
This course provides an overview of theoretical material from the social sciences relevant to social work. Students examine classic and modern social theory and the major paradigms relevant to social science research. Materials from other disciplines, including economics, philosophy, and political science are also incorporated. Students learn how this material can be applied to research questions, methodology, and their own theoretical ideas.
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SW 873 - Relational Perspectives on Clinical Social Work Practice
3 Credit(s)
Clinical social workers try to help clients resolve or manage a variety of problems or barriers that interfere with effective and satisfying social functioning. These include the cumulative effects of trauma, oppression, family conflict, and emotional neglect that have produced patterns of emotional regulation, thinking, and acting that function (on one level) to protect the self but that are dysfunctional (on other levels) in terms of preserving physical health, participating in interpersonal relationships, and maintaining occupational viability. This course applies recent developments in affect theory, attachment theory, interpersonal neurobiology, self-psychology, intersubjectivity theory, narrative theory, and relational (or two-person) psychology to the challenges facing social workers trying to help clients manage themselves and their lives in the wake of emotional neglect, trauma, oppression, domestic violence, and substance abuse. A central concern of the course is on how the worker’s participation in the helping relationship facilitates or impedes the client’s ability to use that relationship as an opportunity to regain and sustain satisfying social functioning.
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SW 890 - Area of Specialization Seminar
3 Credit(s)
This seminar is designed to assist students in selecting a topic to be addressed in the comprehensive paper (see SW 900 ) and to guide their pursuit of literature pertaining to the political, social, economic, and cultural dimensions of the topic; the history of social welfare policies related to the topic, theoretical and empirical investigations of the topic; and any ethical issues raised by the topic.
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SW 900 - Comprehensive Paper Seminar
6 Credit(s)
This seminar is designed to guide students in their efforts to focus their substantive interests, formulate a research focus, and begin a review of the relevant theoretical and empirical literature in order to complete the required comprehensive paper.
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SW 957 - The Art and Science of Social Work Practice
3 Credit(s)
The purpose of this seminar is to provide students with the opportunity to critically examine their own practice. While taking this seminar, students must be actively engaged in some form of social work practice-either with individuals, families, groups, organizations, or communities. Each student prepares a detailed case presentation and leads a class discussion of both the theoretical and empirical foundations for their interventions. In addition, the question of what constitutes evidence of effectiveness is addressed. The case presentations must be based on the student’s own work.
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SW 958 - The Art and Science of Social Work Education
3 Credit(s)
The purpose of this seminar is to prepare students to function as effective social work educators by providing knowledge and skills for teaching social work courses. Teaching is conceptualized as a professional practice; therefore the focus of the seminar is on the integration of theory, research, and educational strategies and techniques and skills for students’ practice as educators. Although doctoral-level trained social workers occupy a range of educational roles such as supervisors, administrators, trainers, and public educators, this course has been specifically designed to address teaching in the academic setting.
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SW 998 - Dissertation Proposal Preparation
3 Credit(s)
This course supports and guides students in the continued delevopment of the dissertation proposal.
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SW 999 - Dissertation Research
3 Credit(s)
This course supports and guides students in the implementation and completion of their dissertation research. Students who have successfully completed all program course requirements and successfully defended their dissertation proposal must enroll in this course in order to maintain active status in the program.
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Taxation |
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TAX 602 - Tax Accounting
3 Credit(s)
This course focuses on accounting issues relevant to tax practitioners. Traditional topics such as changes in accounting methods, accounting periods, and installment sales are covered. New topic areas include accounting for income taxes (interperiod tax allocation), financial statement analysis, expanded coverage of cost recovery concepts and depreciation recapture, and discussion of the Original Issue Discount (OID) rules.
Prerequisite(s): None. An undergraduate tax course is recommended.
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TAX 603 - Individual Income Taxation
3 Credit(s)
Students will be able to identify tax problems and/or opportunities for tax savings through the exposure to the primary sources that comprise the U.S. tax law such as the law’s statutory provisions, treasury regulations, revenue rulings and cases. Use of primary sources help students to develop analytical and critical thinking skills and remain current in their field long after the class is over. Students will be able to recommend strategies for reducing adjusted gross income, for fully utilizing deductions for dependents, and for reducing taxable income. They will be able to make recommendations about the timing of sales and exchanges of investments. They learn how to utilize a wide variety of fringe benefits and tax exclusions. Moreover, by gaining an understanding of how tax penalties operate, students will be able to help clients avoid onerous penalties and interest charges. This course explores Circular 230 and the ethical requirements for tax and financial planners. This is a required class for MSTFP students.
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TAX 611 - Federal Corporate Taxation and the Law of Business Entities
3 Credit(s)
This course helps students learn how to assess the legal and tax risks and benefits of using different business forms. They will learn how clients can incorporate their businesses without generating an income tax to the transferors. Students will be able to recommend strategies for minimizing the effects of double corporate taxation on the corporation and its shareholders. They will be able to identify the circumstances when it is preferable to sell corporate stock rather than the underlying assets of the corporation. In addition, students become acquainted with contract and tort law exposures and legal risks created when the client is a co-owner or a minority owner of a private business entity. Students are well-positioned to advise clients as to how their businesses can preserve the corporate veil of limited liability. Also, they will be able to help clients understand why corporate shareholders’ agreements and/or other governing legal documents are so important and how buy-sell agreements can be used to address the problems of owner disputes. Students learn how to integrate multiple areas in addressing client issues. This is a required class for MSTFP students.
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TAX 612 - Federal Estate and Gift Taxation
3 Credit(s)
Students learn how assets are transferred and how gifts are taxed under the unified gift and estate tax law. They will be able to advise clients as to which assets will be subject to a federal estate tax and will be able to recommend strategies to clients that will minimize their estate and gift tax. Students learn how to develop an annual gifting program for clients and to suggest other alternatives that will maximize the client’s unified credit and ensure that the client’s family members will be provided for in a way that makes sense given the family’s personal, financial, and tax position. Techniques to use trusts and valuation discounts will be provided to give the student the ability to assist high net worth clients and work with other advisors for appropriate and efficient transfers of wealth to the heirs or charities. Students learn how income taxes will affect the choices of wealth transfer planning. This is a required class for MSTFP students.
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TAX 613 - Federal Taxation of Partnerships and Other Pass-Thru Entities
3 Credit(s)
Students study how partnerships and partners are taxed. They learn the characteristics of various Pass-Thru entities, which enable them to advise clients on the advantages and disadvantages of the entity choice. They will be able to advise clients as to how to form a partnership without incurring an income tax. They learn how each partner’s adjusted basis is computed and affected by indebtedness, contributions, and distributions. They learn what special allocations are permissible and how those allocations can meet a client’s business needs. Moreover, they acquire the knowledge and analytical skills necessary to ensure that tax costs are minimized and tax benefits maximized when a partnership is sold or is liquidated. They will be able to evaluate tax benefits and tax costs depending upon how a sale or liquidation is structured. This is an elective class. Prior coursework in taxation is recommended.
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TAX 619 - Retirement Plans and Retirement Planning
3 Credit(s)
Students study the different types of retirement plans available so that they can recommend to business owners the plan or plans that are best suited to the needs of their small business. The information learned can also be applied to recommending the optimal plan for larger companies. Students also learn how to design a plan to meet the needs of the business. An adoption agreement case study exercise illustrates how the ERISA rules translate into creating an effective plan design that meets the business’s needs. Students will also be able to help clients navigate through the maze of plan administration issues. Part of the course focuses on individual retirement planning. This part of the course enables students to identify the steps in the retirement planning process, calculate the savings the client will need for retirement, advise a client as to how to avoid the 72(t) penalty, recommend strategies for complying with required minimum distribution rules, advise clients about qualified plan distribution options, and advise clients as to when rollovers are desirable. This is a required class for MSTFP students.
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TAX 621 - Tax Fraud and Penalties
3 Credit(s)
Students learn about tax procedure involving civil and criminal tax penalties. They will ultimately be able to advise clients as to what practical steps they will need to take once an audit is underway. Students will be able to suggest strategies to avoid the possibility of the imposition of a tax penalty in the first instance, and will be able to recommend arguments that can lead the IRS to set aside costly charges of interest and/or penalties. This is an elective class. Prior coursework in taxation is recommended.
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TAX 633 - Taxation of Investments
1-3 Credit(s)
Students will be able to explain to clients the advantages, disadvantages, and risks associated with a wide variety of investment alternatives, including investments in real estate, oil and gas, financial products, life insurance, and mutual funds. They learn how to compare investment alternatives and are able to recommend avenues for investment, depending upon the client’s individual personal, family, and financial goals. This is an elective class. Prior coursework in taxation recommended.
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TAX 640 - Retirement Planning
1.5 Credit(s)
Students examine in depth how to address several critical retirement planning decisions an individual client will face. Students will be able to assess the risks associated with retirement and aging and recommend strategies that can effectively minimize these risks. They acquire the analytical tools to advise clients regarding their optimal retirement age. They will be able to recommend strategies that enable clients to effectively turn retirement assets into retirement income. They will be able to help clients understand the optimal place to live during retirement and to help them understand the strategies for using the home as a financial asset. Students learn to advise clients about the optimal age to claim Social Security and the various Social Security claiming strategies. In addition, a myriad of retirement planning products and strategies will be discussed to enable the student to properly advise clients. This is an elective class.
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TAX 651 - S Corporations and Planning
3 Credit(s)
Students study the taxation of corporations that elect to be taxed under Subchapter S of the Internal Revenue Code. They develop the substantive knowledge and critical thinking skills to advise clients how to form an S Corporation without incurring an income tax. By studying the taxation of S Corporation income, students can help clients structure the ownership of S Corporation stock in a way that will minimize the family’s overall tax bill. Students learn how to avoid the S Corporation built-in-gains tax, and how to help clients develop a sound strategy if they wish to liquidate or sell the S Corporation. This is an elective class. Prior coursework in taxation is recommended.
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TAX 652 - State and Local Taxation
3 Credit(s)
Students begin by gaining an understanding of the constitutional due process limitations on the state’s authority to impose taxes. They develop a framework that enables them to evaluate whether a state has exceeded the constitutional limits of its taxing authority. Students will be able to advise clients as to how to minimize state tax burdens in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and in many other states. With knowledge of state taxation, students will be able to counsel clients as to the optimal choice for selecting the state of incorporation, the best location for choosing the principal headquarters, and the most tax-friendly states in which to do business. Students will be sensitized to the need to consider all types of taxes including income, franchise, property, and other taxes when businesses undergo fundamental changes in ownership and/or structure. This is a required class for MSTFP students.
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Organizational Development and Leadership |
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ODL 501 - Organizational Theory and Principles
3 Credit(s)
This course examines the principles and theories behind how organizations work, and how individuals can use these theories as a practical framework to understand an organizational environment and to achieve the organization’s vision and goals.
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ODL 502 - Ethical Leadership
3 Credit(s)
Leaders in organizations face ethical dilemmas on a daily basis. This course will examine leadership theories using an ethics lens, and allow students to apply theory to case studies of ethical leadership challenges in a variety of organizations.
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ODL 503 - Group Dynamics
3 Credit(s)
An interactive course for the development of group/team skills and understanding. The focus is on group learning and professional growth and development. Students will apply group development theory in simulations with observations.
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ODL 504 - Assessment and Evaluation in Organizations
3 Credit(s)
This course provides an introduction to assessment and evaluation theory and practice in organizations, and applies it to the strategic planning process. Students develop diagnostic skills to aid individuals and groups within organizations.
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ODL 505 - Persuasive Communications
3 Credit(s)
This course surveys the range of communication strategies in organizations, including presentations, proposals, crisis response, supervisory, web-based communication, and social media. Students develop oral and written communication skills through projects and case study responses.
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ODL 510 - Introduction to Applied Data Analytics
3 Credit(s)
The goal of this course is to teach applied job skills in close connection to the concepts and theories that drive the daily decisions relevant to data analysis and business intelligence. Each module will focus on the primary theme. Students will start by grappling with real-world cases, then will methodically drill down to solve the problems from a technical approach. A few of these topics include applications of statistics, data visualization tools in Excel, linear regression, time-series, classification algorithms, and bias in data.
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ODL 520 - Introduction to Data Visualization with Tableau
3 Credit(s)
The goal of this course is to teach the skills, concepts, and theories relevant to data visualization and its applications. Students learn theoretical fundamentals and design principles of data-based visualizations, how to spot misleading and untruthful visualizations, and how to use Tableau, a leading data visualization software. Students also learn visualization best practices, how to design usable dashboards, and will sharpen their analytical skills. This course is hands-on, allowing students to merge, join, and download data from several sources for their visualizations.
Prerequisite(s): ODL 510
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ODL 588 - Special Topics
1-3 Credit(s)
This seminar focuses on selected topics, issues and problems in education, organizations and health.
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ODL 601 - Adult Learning & Development
3 Credit(s)
To foster the professional development of employees across organizations, leaders need to understand theories behind how adults learn, develop and are motivated. This experiential course will allow students to apply learning theory to practical organizational cases and cultures.
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ODL 602 - Innovation in Organizations
3 Credit(s)
Organizations are constantly responding to pressures for change through innovative approaches to leadership, structure, practice and operations. This course will examine how organizations use innovation to respond to challenges and to succeed in a highly-competitive, ever changing environment.
Prerequisite(s): ODL 504 ODL 504 - Assessment and Evaluation in Organizations
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ODL 610 - Theoretical Foundations: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
3 Credit(s)
This course examines the historical, scientific, and sociological and factors impacting diversity, equity and inclusion in the United States. Students explore the evolution of the Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) and the applications for different fields.
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ODL 611 - The Inclusive Organization: Leadership Practices
3 Credit(s)
This course provides students with he opportunity to examine organizations that are committed to effective, inclusive work environments. Students will examine contemporary workplace settings that emphasize cultural competency, equity and inclusion. In addition, students will consider inclusive workplaces where inclusive team development has drawn on the experience and competencies of individual employees. This course examines ways in which organizations benefit across units and functions from diversity and inclusive-driven practices.
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ODL 612 - Cross Cultural Leadership
3 Credit(s)
This course examines the cross-cultural skills required to effectively work and lead across cultures in an ever-changing organizational environment. Students will examine various frameworks related to culture and the impact of culture differences in the workplace. Topics include effective communication across cultures, negotiating across cultures, working in cross cultural teams and, comparative leadership styles. The importance of developing cultural competence in the workplace is also addressed.
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ODL 620 - Human Resource Leadership and Practice
3 Credit(s)
This course examines the role of the human resource professional in today’s complex organizations and approaches to locating, developing and retaining a workforce aligned with strategic organization objectives. Students will explore primary functions such as strategic recruitment; compensation and benefits; performance assessment; employee and labor relations; and training and development.
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ODL 621 - Talent Management and Development
3 Credit(s)
Talent Management represents the growing recognition of strategic human capital investments in organizations. Human Resource Leaders are asked to strategically develop a workforce in which employees possess the competencies required for organizational success. This course addresses the strategic focus on the integration of talent management and workforce development; diversity; career development and succession planning. Students will examine key components of talent management and approaches to developing and implementing talent management systems within organizations.
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ODL 622 - Legal and Ethical Issues in Human Resources
3 Credit(s)
This course addresses the critical legal and ethical issues facing human resource professionals. Students will examine the ever-increasing impact of federal and state legislation and related compliance requirements.
In addition, students will explore the role of human resource leaders as partners with other organization leaders in oversight of best practices associated with developing ethical guidelines, hiring, termination, medical leave ,
discrimination, harassment, immigration, and labor law. The course will also examine current and emerging issues such as workplace violence social media impacts, developing ethical cultures, and privacy.
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ODL 650 - Professional Development Practicum
3 Credit(s)
This seminar course will allow students to identify an organizational development and leadership challenge and design a consultation approach to meeting that challenge. Students will apply knowledge gained through the program to develop a strategy, including assessment, design, implementation, and evaluation.
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ODL 651 - Capstone Seminar
3 Credit(s)
This capstone course will allow students to serve as a member of a simulated consulting team, which will analyze case studies in the areas of human resource development, organizational development, communications, change management, ethics, and leadership.
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ODL 687 - Current Issues in Organizational Development and Leadership
3 Credit(s)
This course focuses on the identification and analysis of contemporary issues, innovations, and trends in organizations and leadership. Discussion topics may relate to entrepreneurship, employee relations, changing external environments, technology, emerging models and global trends.
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