Social Work, B.A.

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The Bachelor of Arts in Social Work (commonly referred to as a BSW) prepares the student for professional practice of social work at the entry level. Students with a BSW can become licensed at the LSW level in the State of Maine.

Program Requirements

The major in social work consists of 49 credits in required social work courses. In addition, 30 credits of foundation courses must be completed in other departments. Some of these foundation courses may also be used to satisfy the Core Curriculum requirements as appropriate. Students shall not be eligible to repeat a class more than once without the written permission of the Associate Dean of the School of Social Work.

To major in social work, all students must maintain a 2.5 overall cumulative grade point average, and a grade of C (2.0) or better in all major and foundation classes. In order to prepare for the field work component in the School of Social Work, students must take SWO 393 - Methods of Social Work Practice I in the spring semester preceding their internship/senior year.

To qualify for enrollment in SWO 393 , students must: 1) have at least 60 credits by the time of completion of the fall semester preceding SWO 393 ; 2) they must have successfully completed a WRI 2 course with a grade of C or better, a statistics course (MAT 120 , PSY 201 or LOS 120 ), SOC 100 , PSY 100 , POS 101 , ECO 101 , SWO 201 , SWO 250 , SWO 270 , and SWO 365 , and SWO 370 must be taken either prior to taking SWO 393 or concurrently; and 3) they must have a miniimum 2.5 cumulative GPA overall; 4) For transfer students who have met core requirements, they must take SWO 201 , SWO 250 , SWO 270 , SWO 365 as prequisites, and SWO 370 must be taken as a prerequisite or corequisite. All students are required to maintain the 2.5 GPA and achieve a grade of C or better in all social work and required foundation courses to complete the major. Please see the Student Handbook and Field Work manual on our website (http://usm.maine.edu/swo) for additional information about requirements of field work (to be completed in your senior year). All required courses with their prerequisites can be viewed there.

During the fieldwork year which occurs in the student’s last academic year, each student is placed in a community social service agency approved by and arranged through the School of Social Work. Placements begin only in the fall semester and continue throughout the academic year. By the end of the spring semester, each student will have completed 400 hours of field work. All students should refer to School of Social Work guidelines governing field work for more information and directions.

Required Social Work Courses

Please refer to the BSW course listings for course prerequisites located at: http://usm.maine.edu/swo/

SWO 150 - Professional Writing Laboratory for Social Workers Credits: 1
SWO 201 - Introduction to Social Work Credits: 3
SWO 250 - Introduction to Social Welfare Credits: 3
SWO 270 - Human Behavior in the Social Environment I Credits: 3
SWO 333 - Social Work Research I Credits: 3
SWO 334 - Social Work Research II Credits: 3
SWO 350 - Social Welfare Policy Credits: 3
SWO 365 - Examining Oppression and Valuing Diversity Credits: 3
SWO 370 - Human Behavior in the Social Environment Credits: 3
SWO 393 - Methods of Social Work Practice I Credits: 3
SWO 402 - Methods of Social Work Practice II Credits: 3
SWO 403 - Methods of Social Work Practice III Credits: 3
SWO 411 - Field Work I Credits: 6
SWO 412 - Field Work II Credits: 6
1 SWO Elective

Required Foundation Courses in Other Departments

ECO 101 - Introduction to Macroeconomics Credits: 3
POS 101 - Introduction to American Government Credits: 3
PSY 100 - Introduction to Psychology Credits: 3
SOC 100 - Introduction to Sociology Credits: 3

An introductory statistics course

MAT 120 - Introduction to Statistics Credits: 4
or
PSY 201 - Statistics in Psychology Credits: 3
or
LOS 120 - Statistics for Informed Decision Making Credits: 3

Three social science electives.

These electives may be from anthropology, criminology, economics, food studies, geography, philosophy, political science, psychology, race and ethnic studies, SBS, social justice, sociology, or women’s studies courses.* It is important to select these social science elective courses in consultation with the student’s faculty advisor in School of Social Work. These may not all be in the same discipline, with the exception of either external transfer students or Lewiston-Auburn College students. While the expectation is that these courses will be at the 200-level or higher, in some departments there are 100 level courses that are the prerequistie for all other classes. In these cases, such as CRM 100 , SOJ 101 and WGS 101 , these intro level courses may be taken as social science electives. Transfer students or students with other completed degrees should consult with their advisor about requesting further exceptions to this list from the BSW program coordinator for related courses already completed.”

* A student may take a second social work elective (SWO), in which case only two (2) intermediate-level social science electives are required.

Recommended Course Sequence

During the first years at the University, with the assistance of professional advisors, students enroll in a combination of classes fulfilling their Core curriculum requirements, required foundation courses for social work (classes in other fields required by the major), and the major itself. Once students earn 54 credits, social work faculty advisors work with students to plan for social work major courses. Because many classes are prerequisites for other classes, students must carefully sequence their courses with help from their advisors. The model below indicates the desired program for social work majors; starred (*) classes indicate the class is a prerequisite for other social work requirements.

Model Schedule

Year 1 (30 credits)

Writing, Reading, and Inquiry 1 (ENG 100)
Writing, Reading, and Inquiry 2
Core Creative Expression
Core Cultural Interpretation
Core International
MAT 100 - Mathematics Bridge Credits: 3
(if needed) - or stats if not needed
POS 101 - Introduction to American Government Credits: 3 *
PSY 100 - Introduction to Psychology Credits: 3 *
SOC 100 - Introduction to Sociology Credits: 3 *

Year 2 (30 credits)

Core Science Exploration
General Electives or Minor (if applicable)
Writing, Reading, and Inquiry 3
ECO 101 - Introduction to Macroeconomics Credits: 3 *
Statistics (MAT 120 , PSY 201 or LOS 120 ) (fulfills Core Quantitative Reasoning)
SWO 150 - Professional Writing Laboratory for Social Workers Credits: 1
SWO 250 - Introduction to Social Welfare Credits: 3
SWO 270 - Human Behavior in the Social Environment I Credits: 3 (fall only)
SWO 365 - Examining Oppression and Valuing Diversity Credits: 3 (fulfills Core Culture, Power, and Equity)
SWO 370 - Human Behavior in the Social Environment Credits: 3 (spring only)

Year 3 (30 Credits)

Social Science elective **
General Electives or Minor (if applicable)
Core Ethical Inquiry
SWO 333 - Social Work Research I Credits: 3 * (fall semester)
SWO 334 - Social Work Research II Credits: 3 (spring semester)
SWO 350 - Social Welfare Policy Credits: 3
SWO 393 - Methods of Social Work Practice I Credits: 3 (spring semester)
Prerequisites for SWO 393 include:
- Students must have a minimum of a 2.5 cumulative GPA and must have completed at least 60 credits by the end of the fall semester prior to SWO 393.
- Students must have successfully completed a WRI 2 course with a C or better, all required foundation coures [a statistics course (MAT 120 , PSY 201 , LOS 120 ), SOC 100 , PSY 100 , POS 101 , ECO 101 ], SWO 201 , SWO 250 , SWO 270 , and SWO 365 prior to the start of this course; SWO 370 must be taken either as a prerequisite or with concurrent enrollment in SWO 393 .
- Transfer students who have met core requirements must take SWO 201 , SWO 250 , SWO 270 and SWO 365 , as prerequisites. SWO 370 must be taken as a pre or corequisite.
- All students must have a minimum of a 2.5 cumulative GPA.
**Social Sciences include courses in sociology, psychology, criminology, SBS, anthropology, geography, political science, economics, food studies, philosophy, social justice, race and ethnic studies, or women’s studies (or one additional upper level SWO elective).

Year 4 (30 Credits)

To assure consistency and avoid confusion, it is important that social work majors meet with their advisors on a regular basis. Students receive advising from a designated professional advisor for the social work major until they earn 54 credits, at which time they should start meeting regularly with their assigned social work faculty advisor. Professional and social work faculty advisors collaborate closely to support students. Advising in the School of Social Work is a mutual process of exploring career objectives, reviewing School requirements, designing the best possible combination of required courses and electives, determining proper course sequencing, and facilitating a collaborative relationship between the student and the School of Social Work.

Social Science Elective **
SWO 402 - Methods of Social Work Practice II Credits: 3 (fall semester)
SWO 403 - Methods of Social Work Practice III Credits: 3 (spring semester)
SWO 411 - Field Work I Credits: 6 (fall semester)
SWO 412 - Field Work II Credits: 6 (spring semester)
Social Work Elective
General Electives or Minor (to reach the required minimum of 120 credits)
**Social Sciences include courses in sociology, psychology, criminology, SBS, anthropology, geography, political science, economics, food studies, philosophy, social justice, race and ethnic studies, or women’s studies (or one additional upper level SWO elective).
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USM Core Requirements

The USM Core Curriculum is a coherent, integrative, and rigorous liberal education that enables our graduates to be world-minded, intentional, life-long learners and captures your general education degree requirements.

Please Note: Core requirements may be part of your major and/or minor, and Core may have been fulfilled with transfer credit. Please consult your MaineStreet Degree Progress Report (DPR) and review your degree progress with your Advisor. For additional information, access the USM Core webpage.