Program Overview
A BSW degree through Binghamton University will prepare students for generalist practice and will focus on understanding social work values, ethics, and professional behavior. Utilizing a generalist lens, students will obtain the knowledge and skill to work with individuals, families, groups, organizations and communities. Students will explore historical oppression, structural inequality and work towards navigating complex systems. Students will increase their awareness of social injustices and the impact that social injustice has on access to education, resources, and services. Students will learn how to maximize empowerment of clients and communities to reduce clients’ and communities’ experiences of oppression and institutional violence.
The curriculum is designed to create explicit linkages between practice, policy, and research. Students will build knowledge around basic concepts and principles of research and create an understanding that for social work practice to be effective, it is important that social workers be both consumers of, and contributors to, research efforts that aim to build knowledge and improve social work practice. Students will gain knowledge about human development across the life span and become familiarized with a variety of frameworks for interpreting the interactions among human biological, psychological, social, cultural, and spiritual systems as they affect and are affected by human behavior. Students will be provided with a foundation for understanding social problems and social welfare policies in order to prepare them to become informed and competent providers of social welfare systems.
Undergraduate students who are interested in the Baccalaureate of Social Work (BSW), but not yet accepted into the major will be enrolled in the College of Community and Public Affairs with an undeclared major.
To matriculate into the BSW program, students must complete the application process, which includes group or individual interviews. Applications will be accepted in the spring semester of the sophomore year and students will enter the program in the fall semester of the junior year. Transfer students who have completed an Associate’s Degree or the equivalent number of credits should apply during the spring of the year for which they are seeking fall admission.
Alumni of the Binghamton University BSW program will become advocates for the systems they serve and learn how to build on individual, family and community strengths and then utilize those strengths to empower change.
Degrees Offered
- BSW in Social Work
Internships, Research Opportunities and More
Field Education is the social work profession’s signature pedagogy and a pivotal part of the BSW curriculum. All students in the BSW program will complete an internship in their senior year of the program that runs concurrently with courses and a field seminar. Students will spend 15 hours a week in their internship for a total of 510 hours for the year (240 hours in the Fall semester and 270 hours in the Spring semester). Students will receive weekly supervision through a licensed social worker throughout their internship experience.
Students may be placed in a variety of agencies (child welfare, criminal justice, substance use, healthcare, mental health, schools, etc…) throughout a 100-mile radius of the University. Students will have opportunities to serve the local communities and will work directly with individuals, families, groups, and organizations.
Coursework
Some courses to consider in your first year:
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After You Graduate
The BSW program prepares students to work in a variety of human service and policy-related settings, including physical and mental healthcare, child welfare and social services, community services, education and civic engagement settings.
For more information, visit the Social Work website.
