Carol Hurst, advisor
The EMU social work program prepares students for generalist social work practice with individuals, families, groups, and communities within the context of various human service organizations.
EMU is accredited by the Council on Social Work Education, the national accrediting and standard-setting agency for both graduate and undergraduate social work programs. Graduates qualify for Baccalaureate in Social Work (BSW) licensure exams and for opportunities in master of social work advanced standing programs. The EMU social work program's emphasis on social justice and cross-cultural learning in domestic and international venues is distinctive.
Professional social work practice requires broad liberal arts understanding, attention to ethical standards, self-awareness, and self-care in order to provide compassionate care to others. Practical service learning and community engagement, language study, and cross-cultural experience build capacity to care competently for diverse persons. The curriculum includes course sequences in the discipline's focus areas including Human Behavior and Social Environment (HBSE), policy, and practice. HBSE courses are SOWK 200, SOWK 210, and SOWK 360, which provide social scientific understandings of patterns of human behavior. Policy courses include POL 111 or POL 112, SOWK 220, and SOWK 330. These courses provide perspective on government and legislative advocacy on behalf of vulnerable populations and social programs. Practice courses provide structured skills practice. These courses include SOWK 310, SOWK 400, and SOWK 410, respectively called Practice I, II, and III. Practice I focuses on micro or direct one-to-one interpersonal skills. Practice II focuses on mezzo or family and group interpersonal skills. Practice III focuses on macro or community and organizational leadership skills. Students can develop knowledge in particular interest areas through class projects, choice of the elective social work topics course, and selection of field practicum setting.
Students apply for formal admission into the social work program during their sophomore year. Transfer students apply to the program during their first year of enrollment at EMU. The social work program does not grant credit for life experience or previous work experience. Admission to and continuation in the social work program is contingent upon academic performance (a minimum of C in all social work/sociology courses required in the major and a minimum overall GPA of 2.5) as well as personal qualities essential for working with people such as a value orientation consistent with the profession, sensitivity to needs of people, self-awareness, and a sense of personal and global responsibility.
Career opportunities for social workers include medical social work, substance and alcohol addiction recovery, adoption and foster care agencies, juvenile justice and corrections, domestic violence prevention, public sector social services, disaster relief, mental health agencies, counseling services, adult education, refugee programs, residential geriatric facilities, day programs for the elderly or children, emergency family shelters, migrant education, halfway homes, judicial/court programs, youth/child support, developmental disabilities support programs, rape crisis and other hotline services, mediation, health and wellness agencies, and after-school care.
The major consists of the following 61 SH:
- ECON 201 Survey of Economics OR ECON 212 Principles of Macroeconomics OR PXD 365 Social and Political Economy - 3
- STAT 120 Descriptive Statistics - 2
- POL 111 Comparative Politics OR POL 112 American Politics - 2
- PSYC 101 General Psychology - 3
- PSYC 202 Developmental Psychology - 3
- SOC 101 Introduction to Sociology - 3
- SOC 336 Methods of Social Research - 3
- SOWK 101 Exploring Social Work - 3
- SOWK 200 Social Behavior and Diversity - 3
- SOWK 210 Social Stratification - 3
- SOWK 220 History and Philosophy of Social Welfare - 3
- SOWK 310 Social Work Practice I - 3
- SOWK 330 Social Policy Analysis - 3
- SOWK 360 Race and Gender - 3
- SOWK 400 Social Work Practice II - 3
- SOWK 410 Social Work Practice III - 3
- SOWK 430 Senior Practicum in Social Work - 12
- SOWK Elective (topics selection) - 3