Bachelor of Social Work - Social Work

The Department of Social Work offers an undergraduate curriculum leading to the bachelor of social work (BSW) degree. The program provides a basic knowledge of the social welfare system, the social work profession, and the professional knowledge, values, and skills necessary for entry-level professional social work practice as a generalist. The program also prepares students to pursue graduate study in social work and related professions.

The program builds upon a liberal arts base and encompasses an interdisciplinary perspective, drawing from such fields as psychology, sociology, political science, and human biology.

The mission of BSW program is promoting human dignity and community well-being through the promotion of 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. The total program functions to provide leadership and instruction that will ensure preparation of a continuous pool of social work graduates who are able to assume professional positions in a variety of social welfare settings, especially in Northeastern Tennessee and the southern Appalachian region.

The faculty believes that the philosophy of social work must be demonstrated as it is taught and, as such, must be incorporated into not only faculty-student relationships but also relationships between the program and the social work practice community. The social work faculty believes that social workers should function in accordance with the profession’s purpose and with adherence to the profession’s ethical canon and therefore programmatically emphasizes acceptance of difference between and among individuals, as well as within and among groups and other larger systems.