The Social Work Program at Alabama A&M University offers the Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Work.

UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAM MISSION/OBJECTIVES

The Undergraduate Social Work curriculum prepares students for generalist social work practice. Systems theory, the strengths perspective and the ecological model to problem solving are used as the framework for generalist practice. The curriculum, based upon a liberal arts perspective, prepares students for the professional foundation. Generalist social workers address a variety of social issues, using multi-method, multi-level approaches within a variety of practice settings to enhance the social functioning of individuals, groups, families, organizations, and communities.
To develop knowledge, skills and values in the areas of human behavior and the social environment, social work practice, research, social policy and field instruction, various instructional methods are used to promote self-assessment, critical thinking and professional use of self. The program also promotes and educates students about the forms and mechanisms of oppression and discrimination and to develop change strategies that advance social and economic justice.
The primary purpose of the Program is to prepare students for entry level generalist professional social work practice with diverse and impoverished populations, and oppressed groups in rural and urban settings.
The Social Work Program will achieve its mission by meeting the following objectives:
1. To prepare students for competent, empathic and ethical generalist social work practice with diverse systems of all sizes in rural and urban areas.
2. To recruit, retain, and graduate minority students for employment at the baccalaureate level and advanced study.
3. To facilitate the capacity for self-assessment, critical thinking and the professional use of self.
4. To provide students with the necessary skills and abilities to actively advocate on behalf of oppressed and at-risk populations and to continuously work to create a just and humane society.
5. To facilitate in students an understanding, appreciation and respect for the positive value of diversity.
6. To strengthen the quality of social service delivery in the State of Alabama and the region through employment of qualified entry level professional social workers.
The curriculum of the Social Work Program is based on the Program's objectives. The objectives reflect generalist training. The specific curriculum objectives and content extend the program objectives and therefore reflect the generalist problem-solving framework.

PROGRAM OFFERINGS
UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAM ACCREDITED BY THE COUNCIL ON SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

The Social Work Program was initially accredited by the Council on Social Work Education in April, 1980. In June, 1986, the Program's accreditation was reaffirmed by the Council for a seven-year period (1986-1993). In June 1993, the Program's accreditation was reaffirmed for an eight-year cycle (1993-2001).

LIBERAL ARTS REQUIREMENTS

Social Work, as is true with all professions, depends on selected knowledge, which is subsequently organized in a manner to provide a certain perspective of reality. At Alabama A&M, this knowledge is primarily drawn from Mathematics, World History, Political Science, Economics, English, Biology, Psychology, Philosophy, Sociology, Humanities, Art, and Music. In addition to the knowledge for these areas, certain values and ethics are also extracted for use in conjunction with the knowledge. The liberal arts perspective promotes the idea of graduates as productive citizens of the world.

MAJOR REQUIREMENTS

The major in Social Work includes the University core curriculum; the requirements of the School of Arts & Sciences; forty-three (43) hours of social work courses, and six (6) hours of electives.

GRADUATE PROGRAM MISSION/PURPOSE

The mission of the Graduate Social Work Program of Alabama A&M University is to prepare students, particularly minority students, to become competent, ethical, advanced professional social work practitioners capable of assuming a wide range of roles and functions in working with vulnerable individuals, families, groups, public and private organizations and institutions, in rural and urban communities.

*The Graduate Social Work Program is accredited by the Council on Social Work
Education.

OBJECTIVES

1. To prepare advanced level social work practitioners who have incorporated social work values and ethics and who demonstrate the application of these standards in their professional practice.
2. To prepare advanced level social work practitioners who will utilize the ecological perspective and problem solving process model and the empowerment perspective as conceptual frameworks, and who will apply critical thinking skills, synthesizing and applying appropriate theories and knowledge to multiple levels of interventions in meeting needs and addressing problems with a wide range of client systems, including individuals, families, groups, public and private organizations, and rural and urban communities.
3. To prepare advanced level social work practitioners, who have acquired the knowledge, skills, values and ethics of the professional foundation and who will apply the knowledge, skills, values and ethics of the generalist social work perspective in practice with systems of all sizes.
4. To prepare advanced level social work practitioners who have acquired specialized knowledge in an area of concentration and who will apply this knowledge, including values, ethics, and skills in their professional practice.
5. To prepare advanced level social work practitioners who understand and can interpret the history and current structures and issues of the social work profession.
6. To prepare advanced level social work practitioners who understand and appreciate human diversity and understand the forms and mechanisms of oppression and discrimination as well as change strategies and skills that advance social and economic justice, and who are committed to practice on behalf of the poor, minority populations, oppressed and other socially disadvantaged and vulnerable people and who will work toward the elimination of social and economic injustices, including poverty, oppression, discrimination, and stereotyping.
7. To prepare advanced level social work practitioners who demonstrate mastery of knowledge and skills of social work practice, including the professional use of self, relationship and communication skills, and the differential use of communication skills with a variety of client populations, colleagues, and the community at large.
8. To prepare advance level social work practitioners who critically analyze, synthesize and apply knowledge of human behavior in the social environment, including the positive value of diversity, the interrelatedness of the biological, psychological, sociological and cultural systems, and the environmental influences on diverse populations and who apply theoretical frameworks to understand client systems, and the interactions between client systems (individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities).
9. To prepare advance level social work practitioners who are knowledgeable about the research process, and who use research methods to assess, improve, monitor and evaluate relevant research and apply findings to social work practice, to conduct empirical evaluations of their own practice and those of relevant systems, and contribute to the development of theory and the social work knowledge base.
10. To prepare advanced level social work practitioners who understand social welfare policies and services including the nature and scope of politics, power and the bureaucracy, and who will analyze the impact of social policies on client systems, workers, and agencies, and who demonstrate skills for influencing policy formation and change.
11. To prepare advance level social work practitioners, who have the knowledge, values, ethics, and skills of the generalist social work perspective, and in their area of concentration, and who synthesize and apply these standards in the Field.
12. To prepare advanced level social work practitioners who use supervision and consultation appropriately to advanced practice in the area of their concentration.
13. To prepare advanced level social work practitioners who functions within the structure of organizations and service delivery systems and seek necessary organizational change.
14. To prepare advanced level social work practitioners who critically apply knowledge of rural and urban characteristics and populations to their advanced professional social work practice; and to encourage students to practice in rural areas.
15. To attract, recruit, prepare for advanced practice, and graduate minority students of color.

THE MSW PROGRAM

The Graduate Social Work Program will provide an integrated curriculum that leads to the Master of Social Work degree. Students will have a solid base in the professional foundation courses: social welfare policy; human behavior and the social environment; social work practice; research and field instruction. Students will have the opportunity to select one of two advanced concentrations.

1. Direct Practice (Family & Child Welfare or Community Mental Health)
2. Policy, Planning, and Administration

The field instruction component of the program will complement the student's concentration.

DEGREE REQUIREMENTS

The Two Year Program
The Master of Social Work (MSW) degree requires 60 semester hours over a two year period of full-time study. For part-time students, there is an extended three or four year program. The 60 hours involves 48 hours of classroom instruction and 12 hours of field instruction in community-based social welfare agencies.

Advanced Standing
Applicants with a B.S.W. degree from a CSWE-accredited program and a minimum 3.0 cumulative GPA may apply for advanced standing. Qualified applicants will be required to take 39 semester hours, instead of the 60 hours required for the two-year program. Of these 39 hours, 8 are required in field instruction. In order to complete the degree in the Spring semester, the students should enroll in three bridging courses (SWK 522, SWK 523, SWK 587: nine credits) in the summer, prior to the regular Fall semester.

In addition to the successful completion of all classroom and field instruction, a student is required to pass a written comprehensive examination. In lieu of the comprehensive examination, students have the option of writing a thesis.

MSW CURRICULUM
The 60 (39 credit hours for advanced standing students) credit hours Master of Social Work degree program consist of foundation and advanced concentration courses and electives. The purpose of the graduate social work curriculum is to prepare students within a context of supervised autonomous social work practice within a multi-system perspective based upon the EPPSE framework. This preparation is consistent with the Department and Program's Mission, Goals, and Objectives and CSWE's CPS.

Admission requirement included completion of a minimum of twenty-four liberal arts courses in biology, social sciences and humanities. Advanced standing students must have graduated from a CSWE Accredited BSW Program.