Undergraduate Course Catalog 2015-2016
College of Health and Human Services
» http://www.chhs.unh.edu/
Social Work (SW)
» http://www.chhs.unh.edu/sw/index
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Chairperson: Cynthia Anne Broussard
Associate Professor: Mary Banach, Linda Rene Bergeron, Cynthia Anne Broussard, Vernon Brooks Carter, Jerry D. Marx, Patrick Shannon, Anita Tucker, Melissa Wells
Research Associate Professor: Joan B Beasley
Assistant Professor: BoRin Kim
Clinical Associate Professor: Susan A. Lord
Clinical Assistant Professor: Gretchen Bean, Martha A. Byam, Trish Haneman Cox, Kim Kelsey, Brian Miller, Lee P. Rush
Lecturer: William Lusenhop
The Department of Social Work’s undergraduate program offers both a major and a minor in social work. It is a specialized degree that prepares graduates for generalist social work practice with a solid foundation in the liberal arts and in the knowledge, skills, and value base of social work. Through the mastery of core competencies, social work graduates apply their education working with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities. In addition, the program prepares qualified students to pursue graduate education in schools of social work and related fields.
The baccalaureate program at the University of New Hampshire is accredited by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) and must meet rigorous academic standards to retain this accreditation. Social work majors pursue a program that encompasses the professional social work competencies of professional identity, critical thinking, knowledge of diversity and human rights, social and economic justice, social welfare policy and services, social work practice with all client system sizes, human behavior in the social environment, research, and ethics.
To connect the theoretical and conceptual content of the classroom with the practice world, students must complete 40 hours of volunteer service in an approved agency/program setting by the end of the semester prior to applying to the field. Twenty of the forty hours must be in the same agency/program. The remaining hours may be across multiple sites/programs. This experience may be paid or volunteer and must be pre-approved by the student's faculty adviser. The service hours must be completed post high school and by the end of the semester prior to field application. In addition, students complete a 450-hour internship over two semesters during the senior year. This is the senior capstone experience. The field placement in the final year of the baccalaureate program is arranged between the student and the field education coordinator. Evaluation of this senior field placement is one tool that measures student achievement of program competencies. Students are required to pay a liability insurance fee for their off-campus field education experience. In compliance with CSWE accreditation standards, the B.S. in social work program does not grant social work course credit for life or work experience.
Social work majors earn a B.S. degree in social work. Graduates are eligible for practice in a variety of social work settings throughout the United States. In addition, qualified graduates are eligible to apply for advanced standing in M.S.W. programs that offer advanced standing. Depending upon the program, this can mean earning the M.S.W. in one calendar year versus two academic years.
Academic Program
Candidates for a degree must satisfy all of the University Discovery Program requirements in addition to satisfying the requirements of the social work major. Social work majors are required to take SW 424, 525, 550, 551, 601, 622, 623, 625, and the senior capstone course sequence (640, 640A, 641, 641A). Students must maintain a 2.0 and earn a C or better in the 12 social work major courses. In addition, students are expected to successfully complete four additional courses as part of a liberal arts foundation for the major. Students choose one course from an approved list of courses in two different categories: anthropology/sociology and zoology and then must choose two additional courses from an approved list of diversity courses. These four courses may also satisfy University Discovery requirements. Students wishing to minor in social work are required to take SW 424, SW 525, and any three other courses offered by the department, excluding SW 640, 641. Students interested in either a major or minor in social work should consult with the undergraduate program coordinator, Martha Byam, Pettee Hall, Room 231, (603) 862-1077.
