Human Services Management Certificate

Return to: School of Social Work

Many MSW’s often find themselves moving up quickly into supervisor, management, and even executive positions.  The generalist perspective and systems knowledge from their social work education provides a strong basis for leadership growth in a range of social work settings.  However, to better prepare macro practice/COSA students to take advantage of leadership opportunities and enhance their personal and professional development, the School now offers the Human Services Management Certificate in collaboration with the Network of Social Work Management under a new University partnership initiative.

This national Human Services Management Certificate can be completed by COSA students in the course of their MSW studies.  Students pursuing this certification option must complete twelve credits through the following COSA core and skill electives course work covering Network of Social Work Management (NSWM) competency and practice behaviors in the areas of: 

• Social Administration/Human Services Management
• Community Organizing (Community Collaboration)
• Human Resources & Financial Management with Supervision
• Grants, Proposals, and Funding Development

COSA students are encouraged to take other skill electives in COSA, as well as skills courses in other schools. For more information on the NSWM competencies:  https://socialworkmanager.org/competencies

In addition, COSA student in Social Administration/Human Service Management must also complete a COSA concentration field placement (12 credits) in a community-based or human services organization to apply their course knowledge, values, and skills in the organizational setting.

For more information on the Human Services Management Certificate, please contact the Community Organization, and Social Action Concentration Chair, Tracy M. Soska, at 412-624-3711 or tsssw@pitt.edu.