Mar 28, 2024  
2019-2021 Undergraduate Catalog 
    
2019-2021 Undergraduate Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Social Work, B.S.W.


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The baccalaureate social work degree is the first level of professional education for entry into the social work profession. Thus, the goal of our social work program is to build on the liberal arts perspective and integrate the knowledge, values, and skills for competent generalist entry-level practice. The program curriculum is designed around core competencies and practice behaviors.


The program operates as a community. We have a student resource room and student organizations which provide a wide variety of extracurricular opportunities. For example: volunteer work, programs about practice opportunities, social activities, trips to state and national conferences, and networking.

Academic Advisement

Students are encouraged to work with their advisors throughout their educational process. The faculty offer extended advising and support. Regular review of students’ progress is completed by the faculty during the professional development review which is conducted each semester.

Career Opportunities

Upon graduation, an entry-level generalist social worker will possess the professional judgment and proficiency to apply differentially, with supervision, the common professional foundation to serve people in systems of various sizes and types. Social work offers many career opportunities in diverse fields such as health, child welfare and domestic violence, aging, developmental disabilities, substance abuse, and behavioral health to name a few. A graduate will have special skills for delivering services to clients, which include the development and provision of resources on client’s behalf through organizational and community work. The graduate will be prepared with a breadth and depth of analytical and interactional skills for beginning work with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities. The program’s objective is to prepare students in these learning areas at a level that maintains accreditation by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) and is evaluated by employers and graduate programs as an excellent foundation for both entry-level practice and future career development. This task requires a program and curriculum designed to enable each student to develop the values, knowledge and self-awareness skills as reflected in our stated educational competercies.

Note:


*Note: During this course students must apply for professional standing, students who transfer in this course must apply during their first semester. These procedures and criteria are described in the student handbook.

**Note: Field work in social work and the Seminar in Social Work Methods are taken for 15 credit hours with no additional course work during the last semester in the senior year. Students must have earned a C or better in all required social work courses and full faculty approval before they are eligible for field work and Seminar in Social Work Methods.

General Education Requirements


Foundations (15)


Foundational courses coupled with other experiences provide students with their core First Year Experience, providing opportunities to develop the requisite quantitative, analytical, written communication, and oral communication skills needed to succeed while in college and throughout life after college. Five program goals express the purpose of these foundational courses and how they support student success

Interconnections (9)


This curriculum will provide students with opportunities to explore human behavior, social interactions, and global communities through humanities and the social and behavioral sciences. Open discourse about the causes and consequences of human behavior and thought, and the interconnectedness of societies revealed by examining traditions and structures, provides a pathway to mutual respect and tolerance in a diverse world.

Three program goals express what we will do for students. Each goal has an associated rubric that outlines what we expect students to learn or accomplish. Students must complete three (3) courses in this curriculum, with at least one (1) course being a diversity course (‘D’ rubric) and at least one (1) course being a global perspectives course (‘G’ rubric).

Diversity


Guide and prompt students to evaluate the diversity of human experience, behavior, and thought, in order to better understand ourselves and others, to respond to the roots of inequality that undermines social justice, while developing awareness regarding diversity in culture, ethnicity, race, gender/gender expression, religion, age, social class, sexual orientation, or abilities.

Citizenship and Responsibility


This curriculum will provide students with opportunities to consider the function and development of institutions, as well as their own responsibilities in society. Tools for development of students as informed and responsible citizens can include study of principles and research in social science, analysis of the development of social and political systems and practices, application of critical analysis and reasoning, and contemplation of ethics and values. Each goal has an associated rubric that outlines what we expect students to learn or accomplish.

Students are required to complete two (2) courses (or their equivalents) in this curriculum, with no more than one (1) course being attributed with the same program goal.

Citizenship


Guide and prompt students to understand responsible citizenship through the development of ideas of citizenship and rights, how society protect or fails to protect basic rights, and avenues for individual or collective action.

Ethical Reasoning


Guide and prompt students to identify ethical theories or guidelines and apply appropriate ethical reasoning to reach conclusions and support moral judgments.

Critical Reasoning


Guide and prompt students to use appropriate critical analysis and reasoning to explain and analyze concepts, and apply concepts to issues to determine significance or value.

Natural World and Technology (9)


This curriculum will provide students the opportunity to learn how new knowledge is created by applying scientific principles and technology to address historical and contemporary questions. Two program goals express what we will do for students. Each goal has an associated rubric that outlines what we expect students to learn or accomplish.

Students must complete 3 courses in this curriculum, with at least two (2) courses (or their equivalents) involving the natural world (‘N’ rubric).

Creativity and Expression (6)


This part of the curriculum will provide students with opportunities to explore artistic and literary disciplines and their modes of expression, considering the processes by which artistic works are imagined and created as well as the analytical tools for describing and appraising works of art and literature. Each goal has an associated rubric that outlines what we expect students to learn or accomplish.

Students must complete two (2) courses (or their equivalents) in this curriculum, with one (1) course being a literature course (‘L’ rubric)and one course in either the arts or creativity (‘A’ or ‘C’ rubrics)

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