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2024-2025 Undergraduate Catalog
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.
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Program Requirements
The major in social work consists of 48 credits in required social work courses. In addition, 15 credits of specific foundation courses must be completed (ECO 101 , POS 101 , Statistics, PSY 100 , SOC 100 ). Some of these foundation courses may also be used to satisfy the Core Curriculum requirements as appropriate. Students also need 9 credits in social science electives in different disciplines. Thus, 72 credits are needed to complete the social work degree.
All students must maintain a 2.5 grade point average in social work major courses and a grade of C or better in all major and foundation classes. In order to prepare for field work, students must take SWO 393 , Methods of Social Work I, in the spring semester preceding their 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 minimum 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 prerequisites, and SWO 370 must be taken as a prerequisite or corequisite. All students are required to maintain the 2.5 GPA in the social work major and achieve a grade of C or better in all social work and required foundation courses to complete the major. SWO 393 is a service-learning course, and students are required to complete 20 hours of work at an assigned site in the community.
During the fieldwork year which occurs in the student’s final academic year, each student is placed in a community social service agency approved by and arranged through the School of Social Work. Students apply for fieldwork during spring semester for the upcoming fall while enrolled in SWO 393 during the junior year. Placements begin only in the fall semester and continue through the full academic year. By the end of the spring semester of senior year, each student will have completed 400 hours of field work. 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.
Required Social Work Courses
Please refer to the BSW course listings for course prerequisites located at: http://usm.maine.edu/swo/
Required Foundation Courses in Other Departments
Three Social Science Electives
To expose students to cross-disciplinary content that augments social work education, students may choose electives in a wide range of disciplines including, anthropology, criminology, economics, food studies, geography, philosophy, political science, psychology, race and ethnic studies, social and behavioral sciences, 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 the School of Social Work. No more than 6 credits can be in one discipline. Exceptions to this may be considered in consultation with the faculty advisor and BSW Program Coordinator. While the expectation is that these courses will be at the 200-level or higher, some 100 level courses may be accepted to fulfill this requirement, such as CRM 100 , SOJ 101 and WGS 101 . 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.
* A student may take a second social work elective (SWO), in which case only two (2) intermediate-level social science electives are required.
Social Work Elective Courses
All students are required to select one SWO elective during their time in the BSW program. These electives are offered on a rotating basis. While not an exhaustive list because new electives may be added over time, the following electives are courses currently in the rotation:
Recommended Course Sequence
Professional Advisors guide students through the core curriculum until they earn 54 credits, when social work faculty advisors then provide assistance to plan a path through foundation (courses in other fields required for the major) and social work major courses. Transfer students may have unique advising needs and may work concurrently with professional and faculty advisors during the transition to USM. 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, and determining proper course sequencing. Because many classes have prerequisites, students must carefully sequence their courses with help from their advisors. In addition to the required courses listed below, students must also take one SWO elective course any time after introductory courses are completed. All USM students must earn 120 credits between core, foundation and major requirements in order to graduate. The model below indicates the desired course sequence for social work majors, in addition to fulfilling the university core requirements. Starred (*) classes indicate the course class is a prerequisite for other social work requirements.
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.
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