Degree Requirements
Sacred Heart University requires that students complete 120 credits of course work to meet the requirements for graduation. Social work students fulfill the core curriculum requirements and general electives, in addition to the identified liberal arts prerequisite courses and the social work professional foundation course work. The University Core Curriculum Plan is described below.
Required Liberal Arts Supporting Courses
The Baccalaureate Social Work Curriculum requires students to complete 18-19 credits of liberal arts prerequisite courses (12-13 of these credits are applied to the Elective Core requirements) and 48 credits of social work courses. The liberal arts courses are taught by other disciplines and provide necessary content for social work majors in the social, political, behavioral, and biological sciences, as well as the area of economics. Students earn 19 credits for their liberal arts prerequisite courses if they select BI 101 The Nature of Life, a 4-credit biology course that includes a laboratory, or 18 credits if they instead take BI 103 The Human Body, a 3-credit course with no lab attached. Four of the required liberal arts courses, PS 110, BI 101 or BI 103, SO 110, and PO 121 (totaling 12-13 credits) may be taken in partial fulfillment of Elective Core area requirements, as indicated in the listing below. The other two prerequisite liberal arts courses, MA 131 and SO 254 (totaling 6 credits), are additional required supporting courses for the social work major.
Choose BI 101 or BI 103
This course examines science as a process to understand basic biological concepts of cells, genetics, evolution, and ecology. Students will examine current biological research and how that impacts their lives and the future of humankind. Three hours of lecture per week. Non-science majors. A prerequisite to SW 267.
Focuses on human physiology and the role humans play in the health and maintenance of their bodies. Topics include human organization, processing and transporting, integration and coordination, and reproduction. Three hours of lecture per week. Non-science majors. A prerequisite to SW 267.
This course is geared toward liberal arts, science, business, and health science majors." It introduces descriptive statistics, probability distributions (both discrete and normal), confidence intervals, hypothesis testing, and correlation. Real-world applications are offered and computer statistical software may be used.
Examines the theoretical foundation of American government, the U.S. Constitution, political behavior, interest groups, political parties, Congress, the presidency, and the Supreme Court.
Introduction to psychology as the science of behavior, focusing on the physiological, cognitive, learning, sociocultural, and psychodynamic bases of behavior.
Students are taught how to investigate social issues as sociologists do-by tracing the troubles of men and women back to broader social forces and problems. The relevance of sociology is demonstrated through examples of applied sociology and through the students' use of social theory and methods to address social problems.
Major socioeconomic developments in twenty-first-century capitalism (e.g., consumer culture, global labor market, media empires) are studied. The persistence of inequality and poverty, fragmentation of family and community, unhealthy constructions of selfimage, and other social problems are explained in terms of these developments.
Professional Foundation Required Courses
The curriculum has been designed to provide students with coursework and field experiences to prepare them for beginning level professional social work practice and for graduate study in social work or related disciplines. Graduates of the program are educated for generalist practice with individuals, families, small groups, organizations, and communities.
The Baccalaureate Social Work Curriculum at Sacred Heart University adheres to the Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards of the Council on Social Work Education.
The Social Work curriculum is founded on a strong liberal arts base and incorporates content on human diversity and the dual perspective; ecological systems theory in relation to understanding human functioning from an interactional, transactional, and interdependent perspective; resources and resource systems; populations-at-risk; the consequences of social and economic injustice; and the patterns of discrimination and oppression existing in society. These themes are first introduced in the liberal arts courses and are reinforced and infused throughout the social work curriculum. Following the Introduction to Social Work course, students take required courses in each of the five areas of the professional foundation: Human Behavior and the Social Environment, Social Welfare Policy and Services, Social Work Practice, Research, and Field Education.
The major in social Work requires the completion of 48 major credits, plus 18-19 credits of required supporting courses in Psychology, Biology, Political science, sociology, and Math. The student is required to maintain an overall GPA of 2.6 or higher and a GPA of 2.6 or higher in required major courses.
Explores the profession of social work as a career choice. Focuses on generalist social work practice as a societal response to social problems with an orientation to professional knowledge, skills, values, and ethics.
Provides a framework for understanding how diversity and inclusion shape the human experience, especially through consideration of cultural, structural, and constructed social and political norms.
Examines how social policy is formulated and implemented with a focus on the inequalities and inequities in social welfare policy that express institutional discrimination. Emphasizes the development of macro practice skills.
Prerequisite: Take SW-101 and PO-121
An introduction to the social service delivery system and resources, the values and ethics inherent in policy, and the role of the social work profession. Includes a global perspective on comparative social welfare systems.
Prerequisite: Take SW-265
Theories of human development with emphasis on stages of the life cycle; human diversity; and the biological, psychological, socioeconomic, spiritual, and cultural influences on development.
Prerequisite: SW 101, PS 110 and BI 101 or BI 103
A study of diverse family, group, community, and organizational systems and their impact on human development and behavior. Theoretical knowledge and assessment skills are emphasized.
Prerequisite: Take SW-267
Emphasizes the generalist model of social work practice, the use of systems theory, the strengths perspective and professional values, and skills to facilitate the planned change and problem-solving process.
Provides students with an orientation to practicum placement to prepare them for generalist social work and to assess student readiness for practicum. A prerequisite to SW 278 and SW 279.
Internship for two days each week in a human service agency where students are professionally supervised in social work practice with clients and the community.
Prerequisite: Take SW-279
Scheduled concurrently with SW 278, the Practicum Seminar facilitates, reinforces, and supports field-based learning while emphasizing both the values and ethics of professional social work. The course assists students in developing Generalist practice skills, including active listening, interviewing, engagement, assessment, intervention planning, and termination. A prerequisite to SW 378 / SW 380
Prerequisite: Take SW-278
Examines intervention skills with families, groups, communities, and organizations using the planned change process. Introduces spirituality in social work practice.
Prerequisite: Take SW-275
Professionally supervised senior internship for two days each week. Integration of theory with practice and the development of appropriate skills and knowledge, along with professional identification, values, and attitudes.
Prerequisite: SW-278 SW-279;
Emphasis is on professional development, the use of research methods to evaluate one's own practice, and application of theory from the entire curriculum to professional practice.
Prerequisite: SW-278 SW-279
Professionally supervised senior internship for two days each week. Integration of theory with practice and the development of appropriate skills and knowledge, along with professional identification, values, and attitudes.
Prerequisite: Take SW 378
Emphasis is on professional development, the use of research methods to evaluate one's own practice, and application of theory from the entire curriculum to professional practice.
Prerequisite: Pre: SW-378 SW-379;
Development of research skills for evaluation and enhancement of social work practice. Emphasizes research designs, sampling, practice evaluation, program evaluation, measurement instruments, and basic statistics.
Prerequisite: Take MA-131