Introduction to Social Work, Fourth Edition: The People's Profession

There are certain questions that all students considering social work ask. Who are social workers? What is it that social workers do? How is the social work profession changing? What does it take to become a social worker? Ira Colby and Sophia Dziegielewski bring their decades of experience in social work practice and education to answer these questions.

This engaging text gives readers a practical guide to the many ways in which social workers effect change in their communities and the world. The authors offer an overview and history of the profession; introduce readers to the practice of social work at the micro, mezzo, and macro level; and finally look closely at the many settings and populations that social workers work with. While realistically portraying the pressures and obstacles that social workers face, Colby and Dziegielewski communicate their own passion for social work.

Ira Colby (MSW, Virginia Commonwealth University; PhD, University of Pennsylvania) is professor of Social Work at the Graduate College of Social Work at the University of Houston. He served as the college's dean for fifteen years as well as developing and directing the baccalaureate social work program at Ferrum College, Ferrum, VA. He was a faculty member at the University of Texas at Arlington, and directed a new school of social work at the University of Central Florida. Colby has held many positions nationally, including past president of the Council on Social Work Education, and internationally, serving on the International Association of Schools of Social Work board of directors. He received his BS degree from Springfield College, his MSW from Virginia Commonwealth University, and his DSW from the University of Pennsylvania. He is widely published and has presented papers at state, national, and international meetings and forums. His passions are golf, running, and family, not necessarily in that order.

Sophia F. Dziegielewski (MSW, PhD, Florida State University) is professor in the School of Social Work at the University of Central Florida. She also is chair of the Institutional Review Board for this large metropolitan university of over 60,000 students. Previously, she served as dean of the School of Social Work at the University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, and taught in the School of Social Work at the University of Alabama, the Departments of Family and Preventive Medicine and Psychiatry at Meharry Medical College, the School of Social Work at the University of Tennessee, and the U.S. Army Military College at Fort Benning, GA. She also serves as editor for the Journal of Social Service Research. She is widely published with over 135 publications to her credit including eight textbooks and numerous articles and book chapters.