SOCIAL WORK STUDENT HANDBOOK SOCIAL WORK PROGRAM Department of Sociology MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITY Mississippi State, Mississippi 39762 Revised Fall 2020 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENT. 6 National Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics. 7 Social Work: Is It For You?. 8 Mississippi State University.
8 College of Arts & Sciences. 8 Department of Sociology. 9 Social Work Program. 10-12 Mississippi State University Learning Outcomes.
10 Social Work Program Learning Outcomes. 13-17 Bachelor or Social Work Degree Requirements. 13-14 Social Work Course Descriptions. 14-16 Other Relevant Courses.
17-18 SOCIAL WORK ADMISSIONS AND ACADEMIC GUIDELINES. 18-25 Social Work Admissions Requirements. 18 Criteria for Admission into the Program. 19 Criteria for Remaining in the Program.
19 Criteria for Admission into the Field Practicum. 19 Program Retention Guidelines. 21-22 Transferring Credits into MSU. 25-27 Overview of Advising.
25 Faculty and Staff’s Advising Responsibilities. 26 Student's Advising Responsibilities. 27-28 Association of Student Social Workers. 28 National Association of Social Workers, Mississippi Chapter.
28 Phi Alpha Social Work Honor Society. 28 Professional Development Opportunities. 28-29 University Opportunities for Self-development. 30 Hiring of Social Work Faculty.
30 Social Work Student Advisory Council. 30 Student Field Practicum. 31 Association of Student Social Workers. 31 The MSU Career Center.
32-36 Computer-Based Testing Services. 32 Holmes Cultural Diversity Center. 32 Information Technology Services. 33 Longest Student Health Center.
33 Mitchell Memorial Library. 33 Office of Compliance and Integrity. 33-34 Social Work Program Advisory Board. 34 Student Counseling Services.
35 Student Support Services. 35 University Academic Advising Center. 35 University Writing Center. 36-37 Minor in Social Work.
36 Mississippi Social Work Licensing………………………………………………………………………36 Student Grievances. 38-51 Appendix A: Social Work Curriculum Content. 38-40 Appendix B: Application for Admission. 41-44 Appendix C: Recommendation Form.
45-47 Appendix D: Constitution of ASSW. 48-50 Appendix E: Advisory Board List. 51 4 Acknowledgement Inquiries regarding the social work program should be addressed to Social Work Program Director, Social Work Program, Department of Sociology, P. Drawer C, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS 39762, or socialwork@msstate.
Information in this handbook concerning various areas of Mississippi State University has been directly derived from the currently posted web content at the time of revision. Mississippi State University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, sex, religion, national origin, disability, age, sexual orientation, genetic information, pregnancy, gender identity, status as a U. veteran, and/or any other status protected by applicable law. 5 Introduction Overview The Social Work Program at Mississippi State University is accredited by the Council on Social Work Education.
Social work is a challenging and rewarding profession with the primary goal of enhancing individual functioning and promoting human rights and social and economic justice. The Bachelor of Social Work graduate is prepared to pursue graduate social work education or to work as a generalist social work practitioner in a variety of practice settings. These include, but are not limited to the following: child welfare service agencies, family services, medical hospitals, mental health clinics, public health clinics, home health agencies, nursing homes, industries, juvenile and family court, shelters for battered women and children, and neighborhood and community services. The Social Work curriculum is grounded in a liberal arts perspective.
This liberal arts perspective enhances the person-in-environment focus of generalist social work practice. According to the National Association of Social Workers (NASW), professional social workers assist individuals, families, groups, and/or communities to restore or enhance their capacity for social functioning, while creating societal conditions favorable to their goals. The practice of social work requires knowledge of human development and behavior, of social, economic and cultural institutions, and of the interaction of all these factors. Brief History The Social Work Program at Mississippi State University was granted permission to offer a baccalaureate social work degree (BSW) in December 1989, by the Board of the Institutions of Higher Learning.
The Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) granted candidacy status to the Starkville campus program in June 1992. The Social Work Program was granted initial accreditation effective fall 1995. In February 2000, the Social Work Program’s accreditation status was reaffirmed through June 2008. In June 2008, CSWE reaffirmed the Social Work Program’s accreditation status through June 2016.
Reaffirmation was again successful through 2024. Social Work Social Work: Is It For You? You are encouraged to discuss your questions and concerns about the social work profession with social work students, graduates, employers, and faculty. Consider visiting the MSU Career Center at https://www.edu/ for assistance in defining your career goals and visiting relevant professional websites, such as the National Association of Social Workers at 6 https://www.org/ and the Council on Social Work Education at https://www.org/ to obtain more information. The following questions may facilitate an awareness of your interest, desire, and commitment to social work: 1.
Are you interested in improving society? 2. Do you believe in the worth of each person in society, regardless of cultural, physical, racial, social, economic or sexual differences? 3. Do you get along well with people, viewing conflicts as challenges? 4. Are you patient, persistent, genuine, responsible, and resourceful? 5.
Are you interested in personal growth and learning ways to effectively evaluate interactions with others? 6. Are you interested in learning the interactions of various systems and how they impact individuals? 7. Are you interested in continuous growth and being a part of a recognized profession? Affirmative answers to these questions serve as the basis of the Social Work Program at Mississippi State University. National Association of Social Workers The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Code of Ethics further reinforces the important professional roles that social workers have in society.
Teaching the NASW Code of Ethics is an integral part of the Social Work Program at Mississippi State University. The entire NASW code of ethics may be found at https://www.org/About/Ethics/Code-of-Ethics/Code-of-Ethics-English Definition of Generalist Social Work Practice The MSU Social Work Program recognizes that generalist social work practice must be grounded in the following professional values: service, social justice, dignity and worth of the person, importance of human relationships, integrity, and competence. Generalist social work education at MSU incorporates the primary content areas regarding fields of practice through course content and community engagement: values and ethics, diversity, populations at risk and social and economic justice, human behavior and the social environment, social welfare policy and services, social work practice, research, and field education. Generalist social work practitioners at the undergraduate level may assume a wide range of professional roles but typically work under supervision.
They apply critical thinking skills and evaluate their service outcomes. With these issues in mind, MSU embraces the following definition of generalist 7 social work practice: Generalist social work practitioners apply an eclectic knowledge base and a range of skills, grounded in a strengths perspective and using a planned change process with a focus on empowerment, to target systems of any size in a variety of settings. Mission Statements Mississippi State University Mississippi State University is a public, land-grant university whose mission is to provide access and opportunity to students from all sectors of the state’s diverse population, as well as from other states and countries, and to offer excellent programs of teaching, research, and service. Enhancing its historic strengths in agriculture, natural resources, engineering, mathematics, and natural and physical sciences, Mississippi State offers a comprehensive range of undergraduate and graduate programs; these include architecture, the fine arts, business, education, the humanities, the social and behavioral sciences, and veterinary medicine.
The university embraces its role as a major contributor to the economic development of the state through targeted research and the transfer of ideas and technology to the public, supported by faculty and staff relationships with industry, community organizations, and government entities. Building on its land-grant tradition, Mississippi State strategically extends its resources and expertise throughout the entire state for the benefit of Mississippi’s citizens, offering access for working and place-bound adult learners through its Meridian Campus, Extension, and distance learning programs. Mississippi State is committed to its tradition of instilling among its students and alumni ideals of diversity, citizenship, leadership, and service. College of Arts & Sciences The educational mission of the College of Arts and Sciences is two-fold: to provide students with a liberal education which will facilitate intellectual development and stimulate a life-long pursuit of knowledge, and to give students an in-depth education in at least one specialized area necessary to prepare them for a career or for advanced study.
The College offers curricula in the fine arts, humanities, mathematics, and natural, physical, and social sciences. The curricula are designed to introduce students to the basic methods of inquiry in diverse disciplines, to develop their analytical abilities, to improve their skills in writing and speaking, and to broaden their perspectives on humanity and culture in the natural and 8 technological worlds. Additionally, they provide intensive preparation in one or more specific academic disciplines. A liberal education attained in this context should ensure that graduates of the College have gained an understanding and appreciation of human culture.
They should have examined the social, historical, political, philosophical and economic dimensions of the human condition and humankind’s perception of the world as it is expressed through the arts, language, and literature. They should have learned the use of quantitative and scientific methods and should have participated in the universal quest to comprehend natural phenomena and to utilize this knowledge beneficially and ethically. For more information about the College of Arts and Sciences, please go to https://www.edu/ Department of Sociology The mission of the Mississippi State University Department of Sociology is to integrate our research, service and teaching into a holistic educational experience, as suited to the land-grant mission of a research-intensive university. We provide a high quality undergraduate education to students majoring in criminology, social work, and sociology within the liberal arts education mission of the College of Arts & Sciences.
Our graduate programs train sociology students at the master’s and doctoral levels, integrating students into academic research. We foster an intellectual environment for professional growth and development that prepares students to be critical thinkers with strong communication skills for use in the global environment, preparing them for careers and/or graduate studies. The Department of Sociology resides within the College of Arts and Sciences, although its members have historically carried out research and service through the Mississippi Food Insecurity Project, the Social Science Research Center, Nsparc, Southern Rural Development Center, Crime and Justice Research Unit, the National Research and Training Center on Blindness and Low Vision, as well as other research entities. The Department offers the B.
degrees in sociology, B. in criminology, and the BSW in social work. The Department has developed longstanding emphases in rural sociology, community development, criminology, social demography, and social inequality. The Department is one of the larger concentrations of sociological expertise in the Southern region as evidenced in the number of graduate faculty, the enrollment of graduate students, the placement and success of doctoral graduates, the number and frequency of publications, the level of funding for grants and contracts, the facilities, and other infrastructure for sociological research and education.
We have a concentration of research expertise and programmatic activities focused on Mississippi and the Deep South broadly. In the area of learning, we embrace the two-fold mission of the College of Arts and Sciences with sociology squarely within the liberal arts tradition. 9 Social Work Program The mission of the Social Work Program is to educate undergraduate students for generalist social work practice framed by an understanding of the history, purposes, and philosophy of the profession. The curriculum is grounded in the liberal arts perspective and embraces social work knowledge, skills, and values.