Social Work Baccalaureate Program

Baccalaureate Program

School of Social Work

The Whitney M. Young Jr. School of Social Work Baccalaureate Social Work (BSW) Program affirms the Institution and the School’s mission as approved by the Board of Trustees and stated in the Undergraduate Catalogue as follows:

The mission of the Whitney M. Young Jr. School of Social Work Baccalaureate Social Work (BSW) Program is to develop social work generalist practitioners who are ethical and competent critical thinkers dedicated to helping vulnerable, oppressed, or marginalized individuals, families, groups, and communities through research-informed practice; and committed to addressing social, economic, and environmental injustices locally, nationally and globally.

The School and the program utilizes an Afrocentric, autonomous social work practice model to prepare culturally competent practitioners capable of intervening and working with systems of all sizes and resolving problems that particularly affect African American children, families, and males within the context of family and community. The curriculum is built on a liberal arts base and is guided by humanistic values. Faculty ensures that graduates are prepared to recognize and impact social and economic injustice issues at the local, regional, national, and international levels.

The Program’s mission embraces not only the Institution and the School’s mission; it is consistent with the purpose of the social work profession to promote human and community well-being. The program is also guided by a person and environment construct, a global perspective, respect for human diversity, and knowledge based on scientific inquiry, social work’s purpose is actualized through its quest for social and economic justice, the prevention of conditions that limit human rights, the elimination of poverty, and the enhancement of the quality of life for all persons. Both the School and the BSW Program seek to increase the work force of generalist social workers engaging in accountability, empirically based practice, knowledge building and sharing of their own practice wisdom.

Vision
The Whitney M. Young, Jr. School of Social Work Baccalaureate Program will prepare generalist social work practitioners with the appropriate practice and research skills, enabling effective responses to societal and economic issues faced by diverse populations.
The Baccalaureate Social Work Program has four goals, which reflect the stated mission of the Whitney M. Young, Jr. School of Social Work and Clark Atlanta University, and are consistent with the purposes, values and ethics of the social work profession. The BSW program goals build on and integrate a liberal arts foundation. The goals listed below reflect content from the Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards core competencies for baccalaureate social work degree programs.

BSW Program Goals

The Whitney M. Young Jr. School of Social Work Baccalaureate Social Work Program has four goals, which reflect the stated mission of the Whitney M. Young, Jr. School of Social Work BSW Program at Clark Atlanta University. The goals embrace each other and specific generalist knowledge and skills that students are expected to synthesize and apply in practice. Thus, the goals of the BSW Program are designed to:

Goal 1: Prepare students for generalist practice with diverse groups without discrimination and with respect, knowledge of age, class, color, culture, disability, ethnicity, family structure, gender, marital status, national origin, race, sex, religious, sexual orientation and the relationships between human behavior and the social environment across the lifespan which incorporates the Afrocentric Perspective and the values and ethics of the social work profession.

Goal 2: Prepare students as social work generalists who link social research and social service practice by applying research findings to practice, and by evaluating their own practice.

Goal 3: Prepare students for generalist social work practice with systems of all sizes.

Goal 4: Prepare students for lifelong learning and critical thinking through an educational process that combines a liberal arts foundation with professional social work education and prepares them for graduate education in social work.

Admission Requirements

Admission to the Undergraduate Program in Social Work consists of the following: Admission to University Formal declaration of an interest in social work and completion of an Undergraduate Social Work application in the spring semester of the sophomore Grade Point Average (GPA) 2.5 or better.

Completion of two undergraduate social work courses: Introduction to Social Work (CUSW 200) and Introduction to Helping Professions (CUSW 202) with a "C" or better in each.

Completion of social science prerequisite course: Introduction to Sociology (CSCJ 215) with a "C" or better.

Completion of two English prerequisite courses: College Composition I (CENG 105) and College Composition II (CENG 106) with a "C" or better. Completion of twenty (20) community service hours in CUSW 202: Introduction to Helping Professions Submission of applicant’s personal statement responding to the following questions:

1. Describe your motivation(s) for becoming a social worker.
2. Describe any employment, volunteer, or life experiences, which you believe have helped prepare you to pursue a career in social work.
3. What strengths do you bring to professional social work practice?
4. What do you consider to be areas in which you need additional growth and development in relation to professional social work practice?
5. Discuss your commitment to abide by the values and ethics of the social work profession.
6. Identify and describe any areas in which your personal values conflict with professional social work values. If value conflicts do exist, please describe your plans to resolve the conflicts.
7. Describe your immediate and long-range career goals and list your fields of practice preferences (client populations/social problems/agency settings).
8. List any client populations, social problems, or agency settings with which you would not feel comfortable.

Please include, at this point, any additional information you believe to be relevant to your application for admission to the professional core.

All transfer students must contact faculty in the Social Work Program prior to, or no later than, the registration period. The Undergraduate Program in Social Work does not give credit for life experience or previous work experience under any circumstances. All graduating students from Clark Atlanta University must take field instruction and field seminar.

Degree Requirements

The degree offered by the Undergraduate Program in Social Work is the Bachelor of Social Work (BSW). The Program requires the following courses in addition to the University Core Requirements:
Baccalaureate Social Work Program Curriculum – Graduation Requirements 122-123 Credit Hours

Freshman Year

	Fall Semester	Cr		Spring Semester	Cr
CBIO 101	Biological Science	3	CENG 106	College Composition II	3
CENG 105	College Composition I	3	CGED 101	First-Year Seminar II	1
CGED 100	First-Year Seminar I	1	CPSY 211	General Psychology	3
CMAT 104/CMAT 105	Algebra/ Intro to Statistics	3	CHIS 201	U.S.,Africa and the World History I	3
CPSC 106	Politics and Global Issues	3	CSCJ 215	Introduction to Sociology	3
CCIS 100	Information Technology and Computer Applications	3	CFLS 101/201	Foreign Language Requirement I (Spanish/French)	3
	TOTAL	16		TOTAL	16

Sophmore Year

	Fall Semester	Cr		Spring Semester	Cr
CUSW 200	Introduction to Social Work	3	CUSW 202	Introduction to Professional Helping & Ethics	3
CENG 201/CENG 202	Introduction to World Literature I/ II	3	CFLS 102/202	Foreign Language Requirement II (Spanish/French)	3
CREL/CPHI 105	Religion/Critical Thinking	3	CBUS 250* CECO 250*	Personal Finance or Principles of Economics	3
Open Elective		3	CHUM XXX	Humanities Requirement	3
Open Elective		3	Open Elective		3
	TOTAL	15		TOTAL	15

Junior Year

	Fall Semester	Cr		Spring Semester	Cr
CUSW 401	Human Behavior and the Social Environment I (HBSE)	3	CUSW 300	Social Welfare Policy	3
CUSW 403	Practice Competencies I	3	CUSW 301	Social Research Methods for Social Work Practice I	3

CUSW 333	Writing for Social Work	3	CUSW 402	Human Behavior and the Social Environment II (HBSE)	3
CUSW 411	Social Work Theory and Practice	3	CUSW 404	Practice Competencies II	3
CUSW 361	SW with Diverse Populations	3	CUSW	SW Elective	3
	TOTAL	15		TOTAL	15

Senior Year

	Fall Semester	Cr		Spring Semester	Cr
CUSW 360	Interpersonal Skills Laboratory	3	CUSW 405	Field Instruction	12
CUSW 302	Statistics for Social Research II	3	CUSW 406	Field Seminar	3
CUSW	SW Elective	3	CUSW 499	Independent Study (Optional)	0-3
Open Elective		3
Open Elective		3
	TOTAL	15		TOTAL	15

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