Cultivating Community and Advancing the Social Good
An intrinsic commitment to nondiscrimination; diverse backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives; social well-being and the social good.
At the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy & Practice (SP2), we’re preparing the next generation of changemakers to work tirelessly for social innovation, social good, and impact.
Throughout its history, SP2 has dedicated itself to understanding and embracing differences. Today, our historic commitment to community engagement, nondiscrimination, and the social good intersects with a deep commitment to supporting marginalized individuals, families, and communities.
SP2 strives to be a space of principled community, valuing differences of opinion, background, and experience and working to foster an institutional environment where we all think openly, honestly, reflectively, and deeply about questions and ideas that both unite and divide us. The topics that we grapple with every day—from homelessness and discrimination to prisoner re-entry and poverty, responsible philanthropy to economic mobility, aging and child welfare—are some of the biggest facing society. They can sometimes seem intractable, but we believe that addressing them through a truly thoughtful and collaborative lens empowers us to work together to reimagine and rebuild our social world.
Our students join us from around the world, bringing with them a host of perspectives, backgrounds and experiences, and embodying SP2’s commitment to using their knowledge and skills to build community and to advance the social good. During their time here they engage in innovative research and meaningful fieldwork, striving every day to make lasting change and a meaningful impact in Philadelphia and beyond.
“A central imperative for social work, policy, and practice is the fundamental need to think conscientiously about the individuals, groups, and communities these disciplines will affect most. We are resolute in our intention to educate students of social policy and practice to embrace difference and build community in all its dimensions, and to create cutting-edge scholarship that enables our field to more effectively promote social good.”
– Sara S. Bachman, PhD, Dean
Program Curriculums
Our focus on social good demands a multifaceted approach to recognizing and celebrating the many identities, experiences, histories, and aspirations that animate our local and global community. This commitment permeates all five of our rigorous degree programs (MSW, MSSP, NPL, PhD, and DSW), helping bind these programs to SP2’s overarching mission: producing the best social service providers, policymakers, and nonprofit leaders in the world.
Visiting Scholars
Since 1908, the School has served as a temporary home for hundreds of Visiting Scholars joining us from around the world. This tradition of welcoming the best and brightest from abroad continues today, and many international scholars regard SP2 as their research home while in the United States.
“One Book, One SP2” Program
Past “One Book, One SP2” selections:
- 2025: The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness, Jonathan Haidt
- 2024: Never Forget Our People Were Always Free: A Parable of American Healing, Benjamin Todd Jealous
- 2023: Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century, edited by Alice Wong
- 2022: The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story, Nikole Hannah-Jones
- 2021: Caste: The Origins of our Discontents, Isabel Wilkerson
- 2020: Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay in 40 Questions, Valeria Luiselli and There There, Tommy Orange
- 2019: Unapologetic: A Black, Queer, and Feminist Mandate for Radical Movements, Charlene Carruthers
Events
03/18
Brown Bag Lunch Series – Demarcus Jenkins
SP2 Faculty present the Brown Bag Lunch series! Bring your lunch & join the informal conversation to learn what interests your colleagues and professors at SP2. Faculty members will present […]
Events
03/19
CASI presents Nandita Das: My Journey from Social Work to Cinema
The Center for the Advanced Study of India (CASI) at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) is pleased to invite you to the Spring 2026 Saluja Global Fellow Lecture by Nandita Das, […]
News
Alumni
03/09
Shaping the future of responsible AI: A Q&A with Daniel S. Schiff, MSSP’13
In this Q&A, MSSP alumnus Daniel Schiff reflects on what drew him to SP2, the experiences that shaped his career in AI governance, and what he hopes to contribute to the future of technology and society.
Contact Us
Joretha N. Bourjolly, MSW, PhD
Associate Dean for Community Cultivation & Engagement
215 898 8444