Social Work (BSW)

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:

• SW 304 - Fnd of Sci Inquiry w/Soc Sys

  This course is designed to provide students with the fundamental skills to understand, use, and conduct research to advance the knowledge base of the social work profession and assess the effectiveness of social work interventions in generalist social work practice. The course addresses elements of the research process, quantitative and qualitative methods, research ethics, and approaches to data analysis. Particular attention will be given to the role of research with populations at risk, social and economic justice, and cultural diversity. 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. Social work practice and research share common features and processes: (1) Both are fundamentally problem-solving enterprises, and (2) Both take place in the context of the communities in which people live and the organizations that provide services and support. This course presents basic concepts and principles of research in the community and organizational context in which people live and social work is practiced. Students are encouraged to generalize this knowledge to inform their practice and enhance their learning throughout the broader curriculum. The course content will integrate the core themes related to clients’ strengths, multiculturalism and diversity, social justice, social change, and behavioral and social science research. This course will provide students with an understanding and appreciation of a scientific approach to building knowledge for social work practice and evaluating service delivery in all areas of practice. Ethical standards of scientific inquiry will be presented. Students will learn how to formulate research questions and understand the basics of quantitative and qualitative research methodologies. Students will be introduced to analyses of data that include using both statistical procedures and qualitative theme analysis, including computerized data analysis tools. Offered: Semester varies. 4 credits. Levels: Graduate, Undergraduate

• SW 315 - Social Welfare Policy/Programs

  This is a social welfare policy course designed to introduce policy as a critical component of the social work profession. The history, philosophy, and structure of social welfare and social work within the American social system are presented in a model that students may use to understand social welfare issues, policies, programs, and services and to enhance social work practice with clients. This course provides students 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 services. Based on the premise that effective social work practice is grounded in a solid foundation that includes knowledge of the larger social forces that have an impact on people’s capacity to meet basic human needs, this course will build and enhance this understanding and provide students with the basic analytical tools needed to engage in the process of revising and/or formulating policies and programs to serve clients and citizens more effectively. The role of social policy and the effect of policy on social work practice will be explored. Students will be taught to analyze current social policy within the context of historical and contemporary factors that shape policy. Course content will include the political, economic, and organizational processes used to influence policy, the process of policy formulation, and the frameworks for analyzing policies in light of principles of social and economic justice. Principles of policy/program development and analysis will be examined from a strengths perspective with an emphasis on social justice. In particular, the course will examine the ways in which discrimination and oppression have affected the structure of social welfare policies and programs. Emphasis is placed on major fields of social work service such as: income maintenance, health care, mental health, child welfare, corrections, and services to the elderly. The impact of professional and societal values and ethics on the development of social policy will be examined. The historical development of the social work profession and its roles within the social welfare system will also be studied. Offered: Semester varies. 4 credits. Levels: Graduate, Undergraduate

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.