UNM adds Master of Social Work program

The University of New Mexico will welcome its first cohort to a new Master of Social Work program in the spring of 2027. Funded by an endowment from the Higher Education Department, the program will help to address workforce shortages in social work across the state.

The program, which is housed in the School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, has been in development under the direction of Jen Panhorst since 2024.

"We really had to start from square one in terms of developing everything," Panhorst said. "Not only to make sure that we were in alignment with social work educational competencies, but also with how things are structured at UNM as well as getting approval from Faculty Senate, the Board of Regents."

Panhorst, who earned a Doctorate of Clinical Social Work from the University of Pennsylvania's hybrid program, started at UNM in 2017 as the director of Community Behavioral Health before taking over the MSW program. She was also part of the team that put together the initial proposal for the program.

At launch, the program will employ three full-time faculty members, a team with over 30 years of experience practicing social work in New Mexico between them. A fourth full-time faculty member is expected to come on board in the summer of 2027.

The initial cohort is expected to welcome 20 students who will be able to choose between two concentrations, clinical social work and medical social work, which are both taught through a combination of specialized coursework as well as practical learning. The medical social work concentration will be the first of its kind offered in the state.

"UNM is really uniquely positioned to provide that kind of education as the only academic teaching hospital in the state," Panhorst said. "The closest programs that offer something like that are over 600 miles away, so we think it's a really important addition to the educational options available in our state."

The inaugural cohort will begin with a semester of coursework before focusing on the practical experience in the summer and fall.

"We felt it was best to give a little bit of that foundational piece with those spring classes first," Panhorst said. "We'll do some class work first, and a lot of the places we've talked with about contracting have been really enthusiastic about the summer-fall schedule."

Students will also engage in a seminar course to support the practicum experience. In total, a graduate of the program will complete 900 practical hours over two years.

Most of the courses in the program will be in-person, something that Panhorst said will help support the development of the core skills required by social work.

"I think there's so much benefit to two people being physically in a room together for these kinds of things," she said. "Because there are so many aspects of body language you need to be attuned to when you're thinking about how well a person is doing with listening and responding, those bread-and-butter skills that we need to have as social workers."

The cohort that begins in spring 2027 will be on a two-year track to earning their degree, but the program will also add a one-year option for individuals who have received their bachelor's in social work in the last five years. The one-year option will mirror the second-year curriculum of the two-year program and begin in the spring of 2028. Applications for the fall 2027 cohort are open now through Jan. 31, 2027.