Social Work Department

Application

Program

Course Offerings

Handbook

Field Education Manual

Faculty

Advisement

Bachelor's Program > Overview

Student entering the social work program often describe themselves as "people persons." When they leave, they are "professional people persons," ready to pursue meaningful careers that often reflect work they've already performed as volunteers.

This transformation is due in large measure to each student's passion. But just as crucial is Southern's outstanding program -- a program that helps student's define their individual goals and realize their full potential.

Southern's challenging coursework and innovative internships prepare students for the flexibility of a career in social work. Most social workers play many roles during the course of their careers. Sometimes they are teachers, consultants, or political organizers. At other times they are managers or administrators working in childcare, adult daycare, nursing homes, clinics, school systems, or hospitals.

In every social work setting, there is a myriad of responsibilities to juggle. Running a group home for at-risk youth, for example, means handling the dozens of issues that clients need help with between therapy sessions -- things like job skills, communication, academics, and anger management. It falls to the case managers to implement the programs that help clients with such important issues.

The social work department at Southern offers an undergraduate degree that prepares students for entry-level case manager positions. They learn the communication, problem-solving, interviewing, evaluation, and writing skills necessary to develop and carry out useful programming in local community agencies.

Many social work graduates remain lifelong students, going on to graduate programs that prepare them for careers as counselors and therapists. Southern undergraduates leave campus both "job ready" and with a foundation for challenging graduate study.

The most exciting part of undergraduate study in social work is the direct contact with clients that students have through their 500 hours of internship training. And because Southern is in an urban center, the program offers vast opportunity for a wide variety of real-world experience. Students at Southern realize the goal of applying their classroom studies to practical situations.