Mar 28, 2024  
2019-2020 
    
2019-2020 [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Social Work Department


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The mission of the Social Work Department is to prepare students for entry-level generalist social work practice with individuals, families, groups, organizations and communities. The generalist practitioner engages in a multilayered practice within a diverse society. The Social Work Department places a special emphasis on the needs of the multicultural rural constituency and humanistic values. This philosophy respects and supports the rights, the dignity and the worth of all people regardless of their color, creed, race or national origin, age, gender, sexual orientation, economic, social status, political orientation, or disabilities. In addition, this philosophy recognizes the potential of each student and strongly believes that the student’s diverse cultural and ethnic background is an asset to his or her educational process. The program also builds upon the university’s required liberal arts curriculum. The Social Work Department offers a Bachelor of Social Work (B.S.W.).

Heritage University Social Work Program (Learning) Outcomes:

  1. Identify as a professional social worker and conduct oneself accordingly
  2. Apply social work ethical principles to guide professional practice
  3. Apply critical thinking to inform and communicate professional judgments
  4. Engage diversity and differences in practice
  5. Advance human rights and social and economic justice
  6. Engage in research-informed practice and practice-informed research
  7. Apply knowledge of human behavior and the social environment
  8. Engage in policy practice to advance social and economic well-being and to deliver effective social work services
  9. Respond to contexts that shape practice
  10. Engage, assess, intervene and evaluate individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities

The goals of the Social Work Program are:

  1. The Social Work Program provides quality educational preparation for entry into beginning generalist social work practice with individuals, families, groups, organizations and communities, with a focus on the specific needs of the multicultural diverse populations in the rural and urban regions of the Northwest.
  2. The Social Work Program prepares students academically to pursue graduate-level education.
  3. The Social Work Program fosters commitment to lifelong learning.

The Social Work Program has the following six objectives, which have been derived from the program’s goals:

  1. Prepare graduates for generalist social work practice with client systems of various sizes and types, from micro to macro
  2. Prepare graduates for generalist social work practice with diverse populations, including human and cultural diversity, with an emphasis on populations at risk
  3. Prepare graduates who will have the knowledge, values and skills to do social work practice and to recognize the changing nature of contexts, the behavior of organizations and the dynamics of change; emphasis is given to social and economic justice, social policy, and developing the ability to evaluate policies/programs utilizing research skills
  4. Prepare graduates for generalist social work practice within the values and ethics that guide professional social work practice
  5. Prepare graduates to accept responsibility for continuing their professional growth and development
  6. Prepare graduates to work in a rural multicultural environment

What jobs are available for social work graduates?

Social worker or case manager in:

  • Health care
  • Elder care
  • Mental health
  • Chemical dependency
  • Hospitals
  • Schools
  • Nonprofit organizations
  • Criminal Justice
  • Children Serices
  • Family Services

Degrees and Programs Offered

The Social Work Department offers courses to complete the following degrees and programs:

Programs

    Bachelor of Social Work

    Courses

      Social Work

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