From guest lectures to wellness workshops, you’ll find all kinds of interesting events at our School. Check the event calendar on our home page to see what’s happening this month.
You’ll also want to explore the opportunities available across campus. Visit the UNC-Chapel Hill Events Calendar to see a sample of events at other schools and departments, at campus centers for public outreach and education (including Ackland Art Museum, Morehead Planetarium and Science Center, and NC Botanical Garden), and at the Carolina Union.
Welcome Weekend
Each year, most often in April, our School hosts Welcome Weekend for students who have been admitted to the MSW program. This two-day event provides an opportunity to learn more about graduate student life at UNC-Chapel Hill before accepted students make a final decision about enrollment.
The schedule for Welcome Weekend is packed with activities. Each is optional, so you can choose the activities that interest you most. The schedule includes these choices:
- Sample class — Direct Practice concentration
- Sample class — Community, Management, and Policy Practice concentration
- Overview session — curriculum, concentrations, field education
- Overview session — financial aid
- Panel discussions with current students
- Small group discussions with current students
- Info fair — registration, residency requirements, dual-degree programs, housing, etc.
- Info fair — student organizations
- Self-guided tour
Welcome Weekend is a perfect opportunity to meet future classmates and explore our beautiful campus. You must register for this event in order to participate. Newly admitted students will receive an invitation with full details.
There is no fee to register for Welcome Weekend, but each participant is responsible for any personal expenses, such as hotel stays or restaurant meals. (Use the Visit Chapel Hill website to help plan your trip.)
Still deciding about enrollment? Download our New Student Guide for more information.
Contact
Sharon Thomas, Assistant Dean of Recruitment, Admissions, and Financial Aid, 919-962-4367
JumpStart! Orientation
All MSW students at the UNC School for Social Work begin their academic career here with our comprehensive JumpStart! orientation program. During JumpStart!, you will meet your classmates and faculty, learn more about academic processes and your curriculum, become familiar with the School, and prepare to start your program with a commitment to success.
Students in either 12-month Advanced Standing Program participate in a customized “Advanced Standing JumpStart!” orientation when they begin classes.
Students in the traditional 2-Year MSW Program attend JumpStart! orientation on the Friday (8 a.m.–4 p.m.) before their classes begin. Additional JumpStart! activities are offered during the first week of classes.
Students in the 3-Year MSW Program participate in a customized “Preparation for Practice” orientation at their home site (Chapel Hill) on the Friday (8:30 a.m.–3:15 p.m.) before their classes begin. Additional JumpStart! sessions are offered during the first day of classes.
What Happens at JumpStart! Orientation?
These are some of the activities that are part of the JumpStart! schedule:
- Check-in and continental breakfast
- Welcome Assembly
- Special presentations, including “The Work of Confronting Oppression” and “Straight Talk about Professional Ethics”
- Group meetings with faculty advisors
- Workshops offering resources and recommendations for academic success
- Lunch
- Introduction to NASW
- Information fair
- Panel discussion with service recipients
- Field education seminar
- Social mixer (optional)
- Bus tour of selected community sites (optional)
Most of these activities are scheduled on Friday, but a few are scheduled during the first week of classes.
You’ll also have an opportunity to relax with new friends at the School’s annual picnic, held each year at an outdoor venue on or near the Carolina campus. This optional event is open to family and friends. Wear comfortable clothes if you’d like to join in some games.
Optional Programs (pre-registration required)
S.A.G.E. (Students Achieving Graduate Education)
Entering and continuing students of color and international students are invited to participate in S.A.G.E., a pre-orientation program that offers a network of peer and faculty support to assist with each student’s transition to UNC-Chapel Hill. S.A.G.E. is scheduled on the Saturday before JumpStart! orientation begins.
LGBTQ+ Welcome Event
Members and allies of the LGBTQ+ community are invited to participate in the LGBTQ+ welcome event, which provides an opportunity to network with peers, faculty, and staff and to become familiar with academic, social, and cultural supports at UNC-Chapel Hill. The LGBTQ+ welcome event is scheduled during the week before JumpStart! orientation begins.
Graduate School Orientation
UNC-Chapel Hill’s Graduate School provides orientation activities for all new graduate students. These include an overview of resources and opportunities, both on campus and throughout the Chapel Hill-Carrboro area. Graduate School Orientation is scheduled during the week before JumpStart! orientation begins. Visit the UNC Graduate School website to pre-register.
GSDI Symposium

Every two years, the Global Social Development Innovations Center, housed in the UNC School of Social Work, hosts a symposium featuring renowned experts across the globe.
GSDI was launched in fall 2017 by founding director Gina Chowa, the School’s associate dean for global education, to focus on improving the lives of vulnerable and marginalized youth around the globe. The Center was built on the belief that research should not be conducted for the sake of research, but instead to change lives through the use of rigorous methods that honor those we work with.
The biannual Symposium, which occurs every other October, allows researchers and scholars the chance to discuss the next frontier of impactful research and innovations from the field. The 2024 GSDI Symposium, “Engaging Diverse Perspectives to Improve Inclusive Youth Development,” was a three-day event that featured more than 30 researchers representing over 22 nations. You can read more about the 2024 Symposium here.
Harambee
After a three-year hiatus, students from the UNC School of Social Work “all pulled together” in 2024 to bring back one of the School’s beloved traditions — Harambee.
The annual event celebrates the School’s ethnic, racial and cultural diversity through music, dance, poetry and spoken word.
Black History Month Research Series
Founded by Sandra Reeves Spears and John B. Turner Distinguished Professor of Social Work Trenette Clark Goings and Johnson-Howard-Adair Distinguished Professor Gina Chowa, the Black History Month Research Series is sponsored by the School of Social Work’s UNC’s Global Social Development Innovations (GSDI) and INSPIRED Lab.
Since 2022, the series has showcased research from both faculty and students, as well as invited presenters and external scholars. The series opened with discussions on anti-racist research and offers participants an opportunity to confront the disparities that Black, Indigenous and people of color often face.
The 2024 installment centered on mental health, physical health and community interventions, and included speakers such as David Williams, chair of Harvard University’s Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences in the T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Florence Sprague Norman and Laura Smart Norman Professor of Public Health.
The annual virtual workshops are free and open to the public.
Career Day
Each year during the spring semester, the UNC School of Social Work hosts an in-person Career Day job fair. Career Day is open to all UNC MSW students and is a great opportunity for students to connect with potential employers and network with local organizations.
Career Day offers opportunities for social work students to meet with recruiters from all types of organizations that hire social workers — social service agencies, schools, hospitals and other health care providers, nonprofit organizations and more.
For MSW students at UNC School of Social Work
Career Day is an opportunity to explore different career interests, learn more about the job market, and practice your interviewing skills. We encourage all students at our School to attend, even those who don’t plan to graduate that semester. Most social work-related organizations have opportunities for both community, management, policy, and practice and direct practice concentration students. As you are planning to visit recruiters during Career Day, please consider what your passion is and look at organizations that are in the social work practice areas relevant to your personal and professional goals.
If you are currently enrolled at UNC School of Social Work, you do not need to register for Career Day in advance. Remember to bring extra copies of your resume and dress as you would for an interview.
For social work recruiters
If you are representing a human services organization that is interested in hiring social work graduates, we invite you to participate in Career Day, even if your organization does not have a current opening. By talking with our students about your organization, you can help our students learn more about the needs of employers, and you can inform them about future openings. We also encourage our professors to talk with recruiters about emerging trends in the workplace. If you are a recruiter who is interested in hosting MSW practicum students, please indicate that on your registration form. Our practicum education faculty will meet and greet you at your table.
Interested social work recruiters must register in advance. We have a limited number of booths available for Career Day.
Generally, recruiters arrive for set-up by 10 a.m. Students visit each organization’s booth from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. (box lunches are available for recruiters in the hospitality room from noon to 1 p.m.). The day concludes with a free continuing education workshop (optional) for recruiters from 2 to 4 p.m. After the workshop, the School will provide workshop participants with a certificate documenting two contact hours.
Each organization will have its own table or booth space. We will provide parking for one car and lunch for two recruiters per organization. There is a $10 fee per additional recruiter.
If you cannot participate in person but want to share your promotional materials with students on Career Day, please ship them to UNC School of Social Work (ATTN Beth Sauer), 325 Pittsboro Street, Chapel Hill, NC 27516.
Contact
April Parker, MSW, LCSW
Director of Student Development and Leadership
Clinical Assistant Professor
919-962-6452
Registrar
919-962-6443
Legacy Speakers Series

Launched in 2022 by Dean Ramona Denby-Brinson, the Legacy Speakers Series spotlights the needs of our communities and the capacity of the organizations that support them.
Held each spring, the event focuses on health, mental health and behavioral health across the lifespan, from child welfare to older adults; aging and long-term care; economic security; and system- and service-level research.
You can read about the 2024 Legacy Speakers Series, “Thriving with I/DD Across the Lifespan,” here.
Bobby Boyd Leadership Lecture

Bobby Boyd ’69 (MSW) is a member of UNC School of Social Work’s Board of Advisors, a recipient of the School’s 2009 Distinguished Alumni Award, and the former director of Catawba County Social Services, where he retired after a nearly 30-year career.
The lecture series, held each spring, is made possible by the Bobby Boyd Leadership Fund at the School of Social Work. The fund was established by Boyd’s former staff at the Catawba County Department of Social Services, the Social Services Board and Catawba County Commissioners with the purpose of sustaining Boyd’s vision of focusing on results and excellence in public service. The fund supports leadership development and opportunities for UNC School of Social Work students. The Bobby Boyd Leadership Lecture provides a forum for leaders from various fields of practice to discuss their experiences and their use of specific strategies to provide leadership aimed at promoting social change interventions.
Graduation
UNC School of Social Work celebrates its graduates (both MSW and Ph.D.) with a commencement ceremony held on the second Saturday in May at Memorial Hall on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus. Graduates are invited to participate in this ceremony. Tickets are required for family and friends who attend. The School provides information on this ceremony directly to graduating students.
Doctoral graduates are also invited to participate in the UNC-Chapel Hill doctoral hooding ceremony on the second Saturday in May. This ceremony is held at the Dean E. Smith Center on campus. The University provides information on this ceremony directly to graduating students.
The School hosts separate receptions at the Tate-Turner-Kuralt Building for its MSW graduates and its Ph.D. graduates on Friday evening or Saturday morning before the commencement ceremony. Family and friends are invited to join these celebrations. RSVP is required.
Because the School has a single commencement ceremony at the end of the spring semester, students who expect to complete their degree requirements in August or in December of the same year may also be eligible to participate in the May commencement ceremony. You may review the policy and procedure for participation here:
Students Completing Degree Requirements in August or December
Contact
Beth Sauer, Registrar, 919-962-6443