REQUIRED COURSES FOR BSW DEGREE

PRE BSW MAJOR COURSES

SWRK 120:  Introduction to Social Work Services and Professional Roles – 3 hours
An overview of the social work profession including its philosophy, values, professional roles, current trends, and models in varied practice arenas such as criminal justice, mental health, child and family services, public welfare agencies and medical and industrial settings. 

SWRK 200:  Human Diversity and Social Justice – 3 hours
An introduction to a framework for understanding race, class, and gender along with ethnicity, sexual orientation and privilege, based on the development of critical thinking skills and sensitivity to the need for culturally competent practice and advocacy for social justice.    

SWRK 222:   Social Welfare Policies and Services – 3 hours
A survey of social institutions and policies in their historical and modern contexts and examination of social welfare services in the United States as they are related to  economic, political and socio-cultural conditions and prevailing ideologies. 

SWRK 251:  Self Assessment and Development for Social Work – 1 hour
An experiential course which helps students to assess their personal preparation for the social work profession and explore their own values.

REQUIRED BSW MAJOR COURSES

The following courses are taken after a student has completed all pre major courses and is accepted as a BSW Major.  Other than the required social work elective listed in this curriculum, all of the following courses are available to social work majors only:

SWRK 315:  Theoretical Bases for Social Work Practice – 3 hours
Integrating, supplementing, and translating students’ knowledge of human beings and their social environments into social work practice and learning to apply the knowledge and values that form the base of professional practice.   
Prerequisites:  Admission into the program, EDPS 325 or IHHS 260 and PSY 360.

SWRK 317:  Interpersonal Foundations of Social Work Practice (lecture) – 3 hours.  Taken with corresponding SWRK 318 lab.   
The first course in a sequence of social work practice courses designed to prepare the student for field experience including relationship building, information gathering and preliminary assessment and contracting.  
SWRK 318:  Skill Integration Seminar (lab) – 1 hour.  Taken with corresponding SWRK 318 lecture. 
This course features a video skills laboratory in which students participate in role-plays as members of an ongoing group. 
The co-requisite for SWRK 317/318 is SWRK 319.

SWRK 319:  Writing for Agency Practice – 3 hours  (W)
Prepares students for the professional writing components of professional, agency-based practice and sensitizes them to the agency-based demands and issues association with professional social work practice while developing professional writing skills focused on a simulated client situation.  The co-requisite for SWRK 319 is SWRK 317/318. 

SWRK 350: Generalist Social Work Practice: Organizations and Communities –
3 hours (LBC)
Supported by a service-learning experiential component, students learn a range of macro practice assessment and intervention skills to promote improvements in social service organization, social welfare systems and communities. 

SWRK 405:  Analysis and Change in Social Welfare Policies – 3 hours
Students learn current social policy and its intended and unintended effects on client populations, policy analysis, and strategies and methods for policy change.
Prerequisite:  PLS 112. 

SWRK 408:  Generalist Social Work Practice with Individuals and Families – 3 hours
Students learn the generalist conceptual framework for social work practice, models of assessment, practice values, and phases of planned sequential change. 

SWRK 409:  Generalist Social Work Practice with Groups – 3 hours
Students learn how to analyze group situations in different domains of social work practice, develop skills to intervene at both the group and individual levels, and learn how to develop mutual aid and empowerment among the members of a social work group.

SWRK 430:  Social Work Evaluation and Research:  Qualitative and Statistical Methods – 4 credit hours.  This course has a 3 hour lecture and one hour lab.
Introduces knowledge and develops skills in research and practice evaluation and develops competencies in evaluation of professional literature, qualitative and quantitative methods, research skills, and assessment in utilizing technologies through a laboratory experience.  (Students whose previous programs of study required a course in statistics may take SOC 304, a 3 credit hour course, as a substitute for this course.)

SWRK 450:  Practice Issues with Women – 3 hours
Course provides a critical examination of the potential of social policies and programs, community organizations and practice interventions to challenge women’s systemic disadvantage and enhance women’s welfare.

SWRK 451:  Practice Issues with People of Color – 3 hours
Course prepares students for generalist practice with people of color, develops their ability to apply culturally appropriate knowledge, skills and values in their work with clients, and describes ways students can become active change agents as they strive to respond to the needs of agency clients.

NOTE:  The following Field/Practicum courses are taken as students’ final courses either alone (for part-time students) or in combination with SWRK 450 and SWRK 451 and any remaining 400-level courses (for full-time students).   Students must have a cumulative GPA of 2.3 or higher, no grades below a C in required social work courses, and no remaining Incompletes grades.  

SWRK 488:  Field Experience I – 6 hours
During this semester, students are assigned to field agencies for 200 hours of practicum experience to fulfill their varied learning needs and assure their understanding of professional standards of social work.  The course has a weekly two-hour seminar component with an assigned faculty member who also serves as liaison between the School of Social Work, the student, and the field supervisor.  

SWRK 489:  Field Experience II – 6 hours
This course is a continuation of SWRK 488 with a requirement of 200 additional hours of practicum experience. 

STATE OF MICHIGAN LICENSURE

All BSW and MSW students wishing to be licensed by the State of Michigan must follow the procedure listed below.

To obtain the required licensure application packets, please visit the Michigan Department of Community Health (MDCH) website at www.michigan.gov/healthlicense.

Once at the MDCH home page, you will click Social Worker in the light blue box ont he leftside of the page. At this page, scroll to "Forms & Applications", select (click) the appropriate application packet. The application packet with instructions is 16 to 18 pages in length.

As per the licensure instructions:

"It is your responsibility to have all the required documentation sent to the Board of Social Work. Questions regarding your application can be directed to the Michigan Board of Social Work at (517)335-0918 three weeks after the date you sent the application. Applications submitted without the applicant's signature and date will be returned. Please allow 6-8 weeks processing time."

Please read the instructions in full, you may also refer to the MDCH website for additional information or frequently asked questions. Included in the Social Work application packet is a two page form called The Certification of Social Work Education.

The State requires two forms completed by EMU:

1. The Certification of Social Work Education Form (2 pages)
2. Official copy of your transcripts

Complete the first page of the Certification of Social Work Education Form and a Transcript Request Form. The Transcript Request Form is available on line to print off at http://www.emich.edu/registrar/formlibrary/index.php. You will then need to deliver (in person or by mail) these two forms along with a $5 transcript fee to:

Eastern Michigan University
Cashier's Office
201 Pierce Hall
Ypsilanti, Michigan 48197
(734)487-3331

The Transcript Department will complete the Certification of Social Work Education Form, process the transcript and then mail both to the State of Michigan as required.

The Application for a MSW/BSW License must be completed and sent to the State of Michigan along with the applicable fees. Please do not send any documents to the School of Social Work, this will only delay your application process.