Welcome and thank you for your interest in the Department of Social Work.
The Department of Social Work (DSW) includes a BSW program; an MSW program, and a PhD in Social Welfare program. BSW and MSW programs offer both Campus and Distance Education options. MSW program has four specializations in Behavioral Mental Health, Children and Families, Health, and Gerontology. http://manoa.hawaii.edu/thompson/dsw/
The University of Hawaiʻi began offering a social work training program to students on the undergraduate and graduate levels in September 1936. The courses were designed primarily to train employees of local social work agencies who were college graduates but lacked professional preparation. An integrated one-year program of professional graduate-level study, set up in 1940, served as the basis for the establishment of a School of Social Work. In 1942, the school was provisionally accredited by the American Association of Schools of Social Work. The School of Social Work was fully accredited in January 1948 as a one-year school, awarding a Certificate of Social Work.
A two-year graduate program leading to the master of social work (MSW) degree was approved by the Board of Regents in November 1948, and the school was fully accredited as a two-year Graduate School of Social Work by the American Association of Schools of Social Work in January 1950. In 1950, there were approximately 30 students. The school has since grown to an average enrollment of 300 students in the undergraduate and graduate programs.
The undergraduate program, leading to the degree of bachelor of social work (BSW), was approved by the Board of Regents in October 1976. The BSW program was initiated in January 1977.
In February 1991, the Board of Regents approved the provisional status of the PhD Program in Social Welfare. The program began in 1991. In May 2003, the BOR approved the permanent status of the PhD Program.
On Friday, September 19, 2008, the Board of Regents unanimously approved the naming of the School The Myron B. Thompson School of Social Work. Myron "Pinky" Thompson received his MSW from UH in 1953. He went on to become a noted humanitarian and leader in the struggle for the preservation of the Hawaiian culture. In December 2020, the school was renamed to the Thompson School of Social Work & Public Health.
In July 2016, the Myron B. Thompson School of Social Work was reorganized and is currently home to the Department of Social Work, the Department of Public Health Sciences (formally the Office of Public Health Studies) and the Center on Aging.
In December 2020, the school was renamed to the Thompson School of Social Work & Public Health.
In 2016, the Thompson School of Social Work & Public Health celebrated it's 80th Anniversary. A compendium was published to celebrate the milestone in the School's history. Click here to view all of the publications.
Myron “Pinky” Thompson earned his MSW from the University of Hawaiʻi in 1953. A noted leader in the struggle for the preservation and perpetuation of the Hawaiian culture, he was at the vanguard of the Hawaiian Renaissance movement in the 1970’s. While serving as the Executive Director of the Queen Liliʻuokalani Children’s Center, he helped revitalize traditional healing practices such as hoʻoponopono and dream work. With Kumu Mary Kawena Pukuʻi and members of the Hawaiian Culture Study Committee, he assisted in the development of Nānā I Ke Kumu (Look to the Source), a seminal, two-volume reference book on indigenous healing practices. Among his many career achievements, Thompson helped to establish ALU LIKE, Inc. and Papa Ola Lōkahi; served as a Bishop Estate Trustee, and as president of the Polynesian Voyaging Society.
Throughout his life, he sought guidance through the wisdom and knowledge of his ancestors to pioneer modern day initiatives that would help ensure the future of Native Hawaiians and all people of Hawaiʻi. Pinky Thompson passed away on Christmas day, 2001. The UH Board of Regents approved the naming of the School after him on September 19, 2008. In support were his wife, Laura Thompson, daughter Lita Blankenfeld, sons Myron and Nainoa, U.S. Sens. Daniel Inouye and Daniel Akaka, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Kamehameha Schools, Papa Ola Lōkahi, the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs, and the National Association of Social Workers, Hawaiʻi Chapter.
