Social workers promote human and community well-being; their courses focus on developing
competent, ethical professionals with the knowledge, values, and skills for effective
practice with individuals, families, groups, agencies, and communities. Guided by
an awareness of individuals and their environment, a global perspective, respect for
human diversity, and knowledge based on scientific inquiry, social work's purpose
is realized through its quest for social and economic justice, the prevention of conditions
that limit human rights, the elimination of poverty, and the enhancement of the quality
of life for all persons.
Mission
The Department of Social Work at MTSU prepares students to serve as social work practitioners,
scholars, and leaders who assist individuals, families, groups, and communities at
the local, national, and international levels. Our faculty seeks to develop culturally
informed, community-engaged students who promote social justice and respect for diversity
and human rights through research, coursework, fieldwork, and public service.
Goals
- To prepare a diverse student population for generalist social work practice with systems
of all sizes that is built on an understanding of the value base of the profession
and its ethical standards.
- To provide a flexible educational program that increases the student’s understanding
of the ways which diversity and difference characterize the human experience and which
are critical to the formation of professional identity.
- To help students develop the understanding that every person has fundamental human
rights and to assist students in understanding strategies designed to eliminate oppressive
structural barriers and promote social economic, and environmental justice.
- To prepare graduates with an understanding of quantitative and qualitative research
methods and their respective roles in advancing a science of social work and in evaluating
practice.
- To ensure students understand that human rights and justice are mediated by policy
and its implementation at the federal, state, and local levels, and the global influences
that affect social policy.
- To prepare students through academic rigor and experiential learning to engage, assess,
intervene, and evaluate diverse individuals, families, groups, organizations, and
communities, utilizing evidence-based theoretical frameworks, teamwork, and collaboration.
Learn through experience
Internships, required for all social work students, provide practical hands-on learning.
This field experience occurs in an agency setting, allowing students to combine classroom
learning with real-world experience under the supervision of agency personnel and
mentored by faculty. Students are able to use the internship as a reference when applying
for jobs after graduation. In fact, every year there are students who find their
first professional position at the agencies where they completed their internships.
Students learn in state-of-the art classrooms, labs
Less than two years after breaking ground, the new Academic Classroom Building opened
in the fall of 2020. The 91,000-square-foot-building was designed by Bauer Askew and
houses three disciplines in the College of Behavioral and Health Sciences, including social work, criminal justice administration and psychology. The $39.6 million building includes faculty offices, classrooms and lab space. State
Sen. Shane Reeves, who graduated from MTSU in 1991, said, “The students that graduate from
these programs will clearly enhance the safety and the well-being and the quality
of life of the wider community here and throughout the state and throughout the Southeast.”
Read more about the Academic Classroom Building here.
Related Media
-
Get a Social Work Degree at MTSU
-
MTSU True Blue Preview: Social Work
-
Fostering Collaboration in a New Building | "Out of the Blue" July 2020
-
MTSU Communities Surviving Together | MT Engage Event 2021
-
Social Work and Debate Team | "Why I Chose MTSU"
-
Social Work | "Why I Chose MTSU"
-
Social Work | "Why I Chose MTSU"
-
MTSU | The University of Opportunities
Social Work
SW 2000 - Social, Economic, and Environmental Justice
3 credit hours
Advances knowledge and skills embedded in the values of social, economic, and environmental justice for all people across systems of all sizes that are essential to generalist social work practice and work in other professions.
SW 2010 - Professional Writing for Social Work Practice
3 credit hours
Writing case notes for Social Work. Focuses on the use of APA formatting to assist students in preparing effective documentation for practice and acceptable manuscripts for publication.
SW 2570 - Introduction to Social Work
3 credit hours
The methods, history, philosophy, and present organization of the social work profession.
SW 2630 - Interviewing Skills for Social Work Practice
3 credit hours
An introduction to principles and processes of social work practice including interviewing and developing relationships.
SW 2750 - Introduction to Substance Abuse
3 credit hours
Provides an overview of issues related to substance abuse. Addresses the role of social workers and other helping professionals, models of addiction, treatment and recovery. Introduces evidence-based intervention strategies and the effects of addiction on family systems and communities.
SW 3000 - Social Policy
3 credit hours
Prerequisite: SW 2570. Emphasis on recurring themes in social welfare policy development processes, historical turning points; societal ethics; causal relationship--social problems, social change, and social welfare policy analytical frameworks for assessing social welfare policy and programs.
SW 3010 - Technology in Social Work
3 credit hours
Focuses on the use of technology in social work, including legal and ethical issues and the use of technology in social services (e.g., direct services, electronic data management, and HIPAA) and activism (e.g., advocacy, disparity, and adaptation of intervention).
SW 3020 - Social Work and Health
3 credit hours
Provides health-related information including policy, program description, and diverse individual perspectives on health; students will develop an understanding of the role of social work in health education, health literacy, the development of health-related policy, and the impact of health on daily living among clients served in social work settings.
SW 3030 - Social Work with At Risk Youth
3 credit hours
Examines social work practice with the adolescent population who is at risk for involvement in the juvenile justice system or criminal justice system.
SW 3040 - Financial Capability
3 credit hours
Introduces the field of financial capability and asset building. Influences of social inequality and marginalization, diverse contexts, the lifespan, policy and practice, and emerging trends included.
SW 3050 - Women and Poverty
3 credit hours
Predominant theories, policies, and programs dealing with poverty among women. Explores the effects of poverty on women in addition to a general knowledge of poverty; ageism, sexism, and racism in relation to poverty; historical treatment of women and views of poverty.
SW 3060 - Case Management
3 credit hours
Overview of the case management system and the tools to evaluate and analyze policies and programs that intersect with case management.
SW 3110 - Research Methods for Social Work Practice
3 credit hours
Prerequisite: SW 2570. Research processes; includes information about values for research, knowledge of methods, and opportunities for skill development.
SW 3120 - Data Analysis for Social Work Practice
3 credit hours
Prerequisite: SW 3110. Data analysis and interpretation. Opportunities for skill development in the use of statistical procedures and knowledge of the meaning of results of such procedures. Instruction in computer use for data entry and data analysis.
SW 3160 - Human Behavior and the Social Environment I: Conception to Adolescence
3 credit hours
Examines biological, psychological, and sociological domains of human development from conception to adolescence.
SW 3161 - Human Behavior and the Social Environment II: Young Adulthood to Death/Dying
3 credit hours
Prerequisite: SW 3160. Second in the HBSE I-II sequence. Examines biological, psychological, and sociological domains of human development from young adulthood to death and dying. Must be admitted to Social Work program.
SW 3170 - Family Caregiving Across the Life Span
3 credit hours
Caregivers--gender roles, cost of caregiving, managing stress, respite care, finding recourses, financial and legal matters, establishing support groups, differential caregiving tips for various illnesses and disabilities from infancy to old age, emerging trends, and long distance caregiving.
SW 3200 - Cultural Diversity: Competency for Practice
3 credit hours
Examines culturally appropriate practice issues that are essential considerations for effective service delivery, including African American families and other historically oppressed groups in the U.S.
SW 4010 - Juvenile Justice
3 credit hours
Overview of the juvenile justice system and the tools to evaluate and analyze juvenile justice policies and programs.
SW 4020 - Social Work with Older Adults
3 credit hours
Provides a strengths-based, multigenerational family, and community focused framework that values diversity, resiliency, empowerment, social justice, and social change among older adults.
SW 4030 - Child Welfare Services I
3 credit hours
The contemporary child welfare system and services designed to strengthen families. Historical trends, policy issues, and child advocacy.
SW 4031 - Child Welfare Services II
3 credit hours
Prerequisite: SW 4030. The contemporary child welfare system and services; designed to strengthen families, historical trends, the changing family, challenges, policy and practice implications, and culturally responsive skills and solutions for permanency.
SW 4070 - Social Work with the Military and Veterans
3 credit hours
Introduces evidence-based theories for working with U.S. military personnel, veterans, and their families. Explores the unique needs of special populations in the military such as women, LGBT, aging veterans, and the intersectionality of race and ethics.
SW 4100 - International Social Work
3 credit hours
International dimensions of social work. Explores the impact of globalization on social work problems. Includes status of women, aging populations, family breakdown, drug addiction, child abuse and neglect, poverty, and emerging problems such as civil strife, ethnic cleansing, resettlement, and AIDS.
SW 4150 - Topics in Social Work
3 credit hours
Selected topics important in current social work practice but too specialized to be taught as regularly scheduled courses.
SW 4210 - Social Work Practice in Criminal Justice Setting
3 credit hours
Roles that social workers play within criminal justice settings such as law enforcement, probation and parole, court systems, and corrections.
SW 4250 - School Social Work
3 credit hours
Introduces social work students to practice in school settings. Examines various roles of social workers in school systems and the specifics of practicing with students from 3-21 years of age in individual, group, and organizational level interventions.
SW 4430 - Social Work with the Terminally Ill
3 credit hours
Factors and principles involved with the terminally ill which should stimulate students to learn and think about what he/she values and anticipates experiencing in the area of medical social work.
SW 4440 - Social Work with the Disabled Individual
3 credit hours
The effects of disability on the individual, the family, and society. An examination of a variety of intervention strategies from a social work perspective.
SW 4580 - Social Work: Practice I
3 credit hours
Prerequisites: SW 2570, SW 2630, SW 3000, and SW 3160; must be admitted to Social Work program. Theories and related techniques for beginning-level social work.
SW 4581 - Social Work Practice II
3 credit hours
Prerequisites: SW 2570, SW 2630, and SW 4580; must be admitted to Social Work program. Group process and group techniques as they apply to social work practice, including both treatment and task groups.
SW 4582 - Social Work Practice III
3 credit hours
Prerequisites: SW 3110, SW 3120, SW 4580, and senior standing; must be admitted to the Social Work program. Theories and related techniques for advanced-level social work practice.
SW 4590 - Field Instruction I
6 credit hours
Prerequisites: SW 2570, SW 2630, SW 3000, SW 3110, SW 3160, SW 3161, SW 3200; SW 4580; completion of all General Education requirements; senior standing; must be admitted to Social Work program. Student is assigned to a social agency under the joint supervision of agency and instructor with concurrent seminar. Application must be made the preceding semester.
SW 4640 - Health: Organizations, Policy, and Ethics
3 credit hours
(Same as SOC 4640.) A resource allocation assessment of U.S. health care systems. Applied ethics topics (i.e., justice, virtue, and informed consent) included.
SW 4650 - Social Work: Practice II
3 credit hours
Prerequisites: SW 3110, SW 3120, SW 4580, senior standing; must be admitted to Social Work program. Theories and related techniques for advanced-level social work practice.
SW 4680 - Field Instruction II
9 credit hours
Prerequisites: SW 4580, SW 4590, senior standing, and all other major requirements. Second field placement for social work majors. Application must be made the preceding semester. (Must be admitted to Social Work program.) Pass/Fail.
SW 4681 - Field Instruction: Block Placement
12 credit hours
Prerequisites: SW 3110, SW 3160, SW 3161, SW 3200, SW 4580, SW 4581, SW 4582; senior standing; must be admitted to the Social Work program. Provides student instruction through experience in a social service agency under the joint supervision of an agency field instructor and a faculty field liaison with a concurrent seminar.
SW 4690 - Integrative Seminar in Social Work
3 credit hours
Prerequisites: SW 3110, SW 3160, SW 3161, SW 3200, SW 4580, SW 4581, SW 4582; senior standing; must be admitted to the Social Work program. An opportunity for the student, with instructor and peers, to explore the knowledge, values, and skills gained from academic and field experiences and to synthesize and integrate theory and practice.
SW 4720 - Crisis Intervention
3 credit hours
The basis of crisis theory applied to intervention services for suicide, rape, natural disasters, and other crises.
SW 4800 - Special Projects
1 to 6 credit hours
Field experiences or reading courses through which special interests or needs of the student may be pursued under individual supervision. Arrangements must be made with an instructor prior to registration.
