Professional Social Work Program

Purpose and Goals

The mission of the Baccalaureate Social Work (BASW) Program is to prepare students as generalist Social Work practitioners and provide students with requisite knowledge for advanced study. The Program equips students with core skills and values for beginning level Social Work practice in both rural and urban settings, working with individuals, families, groups, organizations, communities, and populations-at-risk.

The generalist Social Work practice entails a problem solving process (multi-method) at the micro, mezzo, and macro levels (multi-level) utilizing Social Work knowledge, values, and skills, which informs and directs service delivery to assess and intervene with the problems confronting clients (conceptualization). Generalist Practice of the Baccalaureate Social Work Program at Prairie View A&M University utilizes the ecosystems approach, which includes the ecological perspective and systems theory that entail viewing the person and the problem within the environment, and identifies strength within the client as well as the environment. Students apply the problem solving method to empower clients and to intervene across diverse client systems of all sizes (i.e. individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities), both in rural and urban settings.

Students at Prairie View A&M University, a Historically Black College/ University, are provided with a unique opportunity to recognize the importance of the barriers and obstacles regarding disenfranchised people within the social environment, realities of discrimination, and oppression, and the opportunities to enhance social and economic justice.

The Baccalaureate Social Work Program is accredited by the Council on Social Work Education. The goals of the Social Work Program are to:

1. Prepare students to understand social welfare policy analysis and its history, as well as policy analysis and its implementation; forms and mechanism of oppression and discrimination, and the strategies of change that advance social and economic justice in both rural and urban settings;
2. Utilize liberal arts and core generalist competencies to prepare students for practice with client systems of various sizes and types, with considerations to the social context of social work practice and the dynamics of change;
3. Prepare students to appreciate and conduct ethical Social Work research to evaluate service delivery at all levels of practice and to add to the Social Work knowledge base with qualitative and quantitative methodologies;
4. Prepare students for entry-level generalist Social Work practice with diverse populations in rural and urban settings at micro, mezzo, and macro levels of practice; based on knowledge, values, ethics and skills of Social Work built on a liberal arts perspective and reinforced through classroom and field experiences; and
5. Prepare students for a generalist Social Work career as well as graduate social work education and the importance of ongoing growth and development for both students and faculty.

Social Work majors have the opportunities to complete a total of 56 hours of volunteer assignments and the required 400 hours of supervised experiential field instruction in settings, such as rural community centers; mental health and mental retardation agencies; drug and alcohol treatment facilities; agencies serving the elderly; juveniles, adults, and children; public assistance/public welfare; school Social Work service; and policy-making entities and Social Work administration. Graduates of the Social Work Program secure employment in a variety of agencies, including hospitals, schools, child welfare, probation and parole centers, residential treatment centers, and other public and private agencies.

Academic Progress

Social Work majors must maintain satisfactory progress in the major. Students will be evaluated by their respective advisor each semester. Students maintaining unsatisfactory academic progress will be evaluated for continuation in the Social Work Program. Students must meet with their respective advisor to ensure courses are taken in the proper sequence for the Social Work major (See Social Work Suggested Degree Program Sequence). Students must complete the Liberal Arts prerequisite courses and SOWK 2113 prior to enrolling in Social Work core courses for their junior and senior years. Students must take all SOWK upper division core courses in proper sequential order.

A Social Work major must maintain a grade of “C” or better in all SOWK courses. No SOWK prefix course may be repeated more than once to achieve a passing grade of “C”.  A minimum of a 2.50 GPA in all SOWK courses is required to qualify for Field Education and graduation with a BASW degree.  A student who fails to achieve a passing grade in any of the SOWK prefix courses after two attempts must seek a major in another discipline. Students must earn a minimum grade of “C” in all Social Work courses and in those required in the support area. The Program does not offer credit for life or work experience.

The Social Work Program does not give credit in whole or part for previous work experiences or life experiences in lieu of field instruction or for any social work core courses.

Academic and Professional Advisement

Each Social Work major (current or prospective) is assigned to a Social Work faculty advisor. Students are strongly encouraged to be proactive in seeking advisement and in strictly following their degree plan. Each Social Work major must meet with his or her respective advisor at least once per semester, and more often as needed. Advisement includes appropriate guidance in academic course work, satisfactory progress in the major, adherence to Social Work Codes of Ethics, and career options for employment.