Social Work is the main profession that provides services to individuals, families, groups, communities, and organizations within our nation’s social welfare system. Among all of the human service professions, social work, more than any other, addresses client’s concerns from a holistic, psychosocial, economic, and environmental framework. According to the National Association of Social Workers, "the primary mission of the social work profession is to enhance human well-being and help meet the basic human needs of all people, with particular attention to the needs and empowerment of people who are vulnerable, oppressed, and living in poverty." seek to provide remediation to human problems by directly helping the affected groups and individuals, and by enabling them to stand on their feet when possible. Social work is entwined with the system of social welfare. The idea of social welfare itself is rooted in the assumption that a decent human society should provide reasonable opportunity, security, and service for its members, especially those in need. The Social Work major equips students with Social Work values, knowledge, skills, abilities, and supervised practice to enter the profession as competent beginning professionals and go on to graduate helps school. students to understand social work as principles, themes, and practices as all these are connected to the existing system of social welfare. The demand for Social Workers at the baccalaureate level has remained consistently high, particularly in the areas of mental health, child welfare, health, corrections, and geriatrics.

Social Work majors cannot earn a second major within the usual four-year academic program because of the number of hours required for the major. However, individuals with a bachelor’s degree in another discipline, may earn a Bachelor of Social Work degree by completing all of the course requirements, which is greater than the 30 hours stated in the catalog.

Students may minor in Social Work by completing 18 semester hours within the Social Work curriculum. Students may only minor in Social Work at locations where it is offered as a major.

Students may earn credit by examination for only the following courses in the Social Work major core, upon approval of the academic adviser and the appropriate Department Chair: BUS 260, PSY 304, and SOW 303.

BACHELOR OF SOCIAL WORK (BSW)
Academic Advisement – SUGGESTED SEQUENCE OF COURSES

TOTAL HOURS: 120

**CAPE students that are required to take MAT 110 and/or ENG 110 may use them as electives in place of one or more of the Ethics courses.

SOW 210 Introduction To Social Work (3). Prerequisite: SSC 115

This course is designed to introduce students to the profession of Social Work as an academic area and an exciting, challenging, helping profession. This course includes a focus on values and ethics.

SOW 235 American Social Welfare Policy (3). Prerequisite: SOW 210

This course builds on the introduction of America’s social welfare policy presented in the Introduction to Social Work course. It is designed to expand the student’s knowledge of social welfare policy in this country. Accordingly, it focuses on the philosophies and history of social welfare and the different service delivery organizations, public and voluntary existing in this society.

SOW 301 Human Behavior and The Social Environment I (3). Prerequisite: SOW 210

This is the first of two courses in the HBSE sequence. The course will address the reciprocal relationships between human behavior and social environments. The content includes empirically based theories and knowledge that focus on the interactions between and among individuals, groups, societies, and economic systems from birth through young adulthood.

SOW 302 Human Behavior and The Social Environment II (3) Prerequisite: SOW 210 

This is the second of the HBSE courses. It includes theories and knowledge of biological, sociological, cultural, psychological, and spiritual development from middle adulthood through death. This includes focusing on the range of social systems in which people live (individual, family, group, organizational, and community) and the ways in which social systems promote and deter people in achieving and maintaining health and well-being.

SOW 303 Human Diversity (3). Prerequisites: SSC 115 

The purpose of this course is to offer content concerning social work practice with an ever increasingly diverse society. The course includes knowledge and skills at the beginning competency level to recognize and be sensitive to issues and strengths of oppressed and marginalized populations. Students will explore how to work effectively and respectfully.

SOW 371 Introduction to Generalist Practice (3). Prerequisite: SOW 210 

This introductory course is designed to provide students with a foundation for generalist social work practice. The emphasis on this first of four practice courses is to equip students with foundation theory and skills for 
generalist practice including self-assessment, social work roles, social agency operations and understanding client needs.

SOW 373 Social Work Practice with Individuals and Families (3) Prerequisites: SOW 210 and 371
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This course is designed to teach students the Generalist Intervention Model. The main course content of this practice course in the practice sequence is to prepare baccalaureate students to work with individuals and families in a variety of settings.

SOW 375 Social Work Practice with Groups (3)  Prerequisites: SOW 210, SOW 371

This course is designed to provide students with the knowledge base and practice skills necessary for working with groups at the beginning generalist professional level. The course includes interventions designed to work with diverse populations within various types of groups. 

SOW 377 Social Work Practice with Organizations and Communities (3)  Prerequisites: SOW 210, 235, and 373

This course is designed to provide students with the knowledge and practice skills for generalist practice with organizations and communities. The course will provide specific skills useful in macro level practice for generalist social workers regardless of their practice setting. The course will include the influences of political, social, and economic forces that affect organizational and agency operations and community functioning.

SOW 472 Field Practice (5). Prerequisites: SOW 302, 373, 375, SSC 200, and 322

This is the first course of the two-semester field practice sequence in the student’s senior year. Students are placed in a field agency setting for a minimum of 240 clock hours each semester. The purpose of the course is to provide students with hands-on experience in working with client systems and integration and application of knowledge and skills under the supervision of a professionally trained and experienced social worker. 

SOW 473 Field Practice Seminar (1). Prerequisites: SOW 302, 373, 375, SSC 200, and 322

The seminar is a companion course to SOW 472, Field Practice. The purpose of the seminar is to help guide the student through the field placement, enhance their practical hands-on learning experiences and to provide a 
forum for mutual support for all students in field placement.

SOW 474 Field Practice (5)   Prerequisites: SOW 302, 373, 375, 472, 473, SSC 200, and 322 

This is the second course of the two-semester field practice sequence in the student’s senior year. Students will continue their placement in their field agency setting for a minimum of 240 clock hours. The purpose of the course is to provide students with hands-on experience in working with a client system and integration and application of knowledge and skills under the supervision of a professionally trained and experienced social worker.

SOW 475 Field Practice Seminar (1)  Prerequisites: SOW 302, 373, 375, 472, 473, and SSC 200, 322

The seminar is a companion course to SOW 474, Field Practice. The purpose of the seminar is to help guide the student through the field placement, enhance their practical hands-on learning experiences and to provide a forum for mutual support for all students in field placement during their second semester of field placement.

SOW 491 Family Counseling (3)  Prerequisites: SOW 210, 302, 303, 371, 373,
375. (Senior Psychology and Sociology students may take this course by joint approval of their advisor and the course instructor. 

This course is designed to provide students with knowledge and skills to work with families at the generalist social work level. The course also exposes students to contemporary family structures, living patterns, lifestyles, and intervention modalities. It challenges students to better understand their own family system and to examine some of their beliefs and values.

SOW 493 Senior Seminar in Social Work (3)  Prerequisites: SOW 210, 235, 301, 302, 303, 371, 373, 375, 472, and 473

This senior seminar, taken the last semester of the student’s senior year, reviews, concludes, and synthesizes the different social work course content students have already studied. This course is intended to be an integrative seminar, which to a large extent is mutually directed by students and professor. Students are expected to identify areas of study that clarify and amplify course content for completion of their social work degree requirements and in preparation for professional practice and graduate education.