Centering Racial Equity in a BSW Program: What We’ve Learned in Five Years

ABSTRACT

In response to the 2016 election of Donald J. Trump and calls for antiracist action from activists and communities of color, our Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) program embarked on a process of curriculum revision. In this article, we describe our efforts to center critical and Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) scholarship and to better align our curriculum with the experiences of students of color. While we have drawn from feminist and critical race theories, we have also borrowed concepts from literatures not typically associated with antiracism work, such as policy implementation and leadership/management. We present our ongoing work as a case study of, and methodology for, systematic social work curriculum change to promote racial equity and justice.

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

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Notes on contributors

Stephanie A. Bryson

Stephanie A. Bryson is Associate Professor and Associate Dean of Academic Affairs at Portland State University. Gita Mehrotra is Associate Professor at Portland State University. Jessica Rodriguez-JenKins is Assistant Professor at Portland State University. Passion Ilea is Doctoral Student at Portland State University.