Tenure-Track Assistant Professor in MASTER OF SOCIAL WORK Program Ontario

Faculty/Academic Area: Faculty of Social Work

Department
: N/A

Campus: Kitchener

Employee Group: WLUFA

Requisition : 10641

WILFRID LAURIER UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF SOCIAL WORK

Tenure-Track Assistant Professor

MASTER OF SOCIAL WORK PROGRAM

Kitchener, Ontario

The Lyle S. Hallman Faculty of Social Work (FSW) at Wilfrid Laurier University invites applications for one Assistant Professor tenure-track faculty position commencing July 1, 2026, subject to budgetary approval. Candidates with expertise in micro-level practice in the areas of aging, mental health and wellbeing, child welfare, and/or child, youth, and family wellbeing are preferred. This position is located at the Kitchener site in the Master of Social Work (MSW) program.

The FSW is located on the traditional territory of the Neutral, Anishnawbe, and Haudenosaunee peoples. As a Faculty, we are continuously working to decolonize social work practice and education and expect the successful candidate to support this ongoing growth and development.

The FSW offers professional social work programs at the bachelor’s and master’s levels, and a research- focused doctoral program. We are devoted to excellence in research, creative and critical thinking, and reflexive practice. The MSW program includes full-time on-campus and part-time online programs. The Indigenous Field of Study in the MSW program embraces Indigenous-based learning. We encourage students at all levels to become active citizens of an increasingly complex and interconnected world.

We fulfill our mission by advancing multi-disciplinary and marginalized forms of knowledge. Our graduates are committed to constructively engaging and working toward transforming oppressive conditions and structures and promoting the well-being of individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities.

Position Description

We are seeking one scholar-practitioner with direct practice social work experience, an emerging program of research, and demonstrated teaching effectiveness. The ideal candidate will meet the following criteria:

Social Work Practice

Experience:

Micro-practice experience (at least 3 years or more) in social work settings is required. All applicants must be able to reflect a deep understanding of the complexities involved in direct practice social work and demonstrate an ability to apply evidence-based interventions effectively. This might include reflection on their integration of a social justice praxis in their direct practice.

Research Expertise: We are seeking a candidate with preferred research expertise in the following substantive areas:
1) critical approaches to aging;
2) mental health and wellbeing or
3) child welfare, and/or child, youth, and family wellbeing. Expertise in either intervention research and/or quantitative research design as it relates to these social work practice and research areas, especially alongside equity-deserving communities, would be considered an asset.

Social Work Teaching

Experience:

The teaching load for this position is a maximum of four courses during an academic year (Fall, Winter, and Spring/Summer terms). These courses will be taught at the graduate level and will be part of our on-campus MSW program, though opportunities to teach within the MSW Online program, the doctoral program, and/or the BSW program also exist.

We are interested in applicants who have expertise in contemporary critical approaches to teaching and pedagogies that reflect the FSW’s emphasis on anti-racism, integrative practices, empowerment, and social justice principles. Both the on-campus and online MSW curricula emphasize the integration of knowledge, theory, and practice within a framework that promotes the advancement of equity, inclusivity, reflexivity, and social justice, including the ways that lived experience of Indigenous identity, race, class, culture, gender, (dis) ability, sexual identity, and other social locations are produced and shaped by systemic, cultural, and interpersonal experiences and inequalities.

The successful candidate must demonstrate teaching experience and effectiveness in courses exploring practice with individuals, families, or groups, and/or…