Social Work (B.S.)

The ESU BSSW Program prepares students for generalist practice in an array of social service settings including those in behavioral health, medical social work, child welfare, community organizing, homeless assistance, school social work, and others.

Program Mission

The mission of the Bachelor of Science in Social Work (BSSW) Program at East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania is to create an inclusive educational environment that prepares students to engage in professional practice that works to dismantle racism and systems of oppression. Our purpose is to educate to advance human rights, and social, racial, economic, and environmental justice and to prepare competent generalist practitioners who can respond to the needs of an increasingly diverse and rapidly changing society. In the diverse campus and exurban communities in which we are situated, we respect the dignity and worth of all people and commit to the values of integrity, the importance of human relationships, social justice, competence, and service with an enhanced emphasis on meeting the needs of those from underrepresented populations.
 
The BSSW Program embraces global and person-in-environment perspectives in efforts to enhance the quality of life of all people, engages in scientific inquiry to expand knowledge, and commits to practices that seek the elimination of poverty. The program also provides knowledge of culturally responsive, evidence-informed, integrative approaches that can be utilized with the diverse clients that students will serve. The program also emphasizes that self-care is paramount for competent and ethical social work practice. It is our calling to provide students with the educational background necessary as competent generalist social work practitioners to embrace the strengths embedded in our community while assisting in addressing the shifting needs within it; and to ensure that BSSW graduates have the essential preparation to successfully pursue graduate study in social work.

Why ESU?

The Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) Accredited ESU Social Work Program is situated in a multidisciplinary department affording opportunities for students to minor or double-major in sociology or criminal justice enabling expanded preparation for real world employment within interdisciplinary professional practice settings.

Additionally, full-time and part-time ESU Social Work faculty members have spent years as practitioners in the field before becoming social work educators.

These practice settings include mental health, child welfare, substance abuse treatment, medical social work in hospitals and hospice agencies, forensic social work, family services and an array of other settings.

These experiences inform what takes place in the classroom and further enables students to emphasize the integration of theory into practice across numerous experiential learning opportunities including the 400-hour field experience during the senior year.

What You'll Learn

• Students are educated in generalist social work practice, and will gain the knowledge, skills, and beginning competence necessary to intervene with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities in many different social work practice settings addressing a variety of social problems experienced in society.
• Students learn various practice methods to provide services to a wide-range of client populations within a Person-in-Environment framework.
• Every social work student will complete experiential learning in the form of a 400-hour field experience during their senior year. This is an excellent opportunity for students to apply theory into practice in a highly supervised experience. The department has nearly 200 affiliation agreements with settings located across a wide geographic area where students can complete their internship. These field placement agencies include practice settings in mental health, substance abuse treatment, child welfare, medical social work, school social work, homeless assistance, domestic violence prevention, and numerous others.
• Every student takes a course in quantitative analysis and one in research methods. From these courses students learn how to design research projects, analyze and interpret data. These critical skills are needed in today’s job market as students will engage in evaluation research in the practice settings where they are employed.
• Our students have excellent success in obtaining employment after graduation. Additionally, many of our social work students choose to pursue advanced graduate study in social work.
• Students interested in child welfare also have the opportunity to apply for the Child Welfare Education for Baccalaureates (CWEB) program, which is a cooperative effort among the US Administration for Children and Families and the PA Department of Human Services, and for which ESU’s social work program is an affiliate.
• The program offers an array of electives including Child Welfare Services, Drug Use and Abuse in Society, Crisis Intervention, Juvenile Delinquency, among others, to further student learning in these areas of interest.
• We also encourage our students to expand their preparation for careers by minoring or double-majoring in Sociology or Criminal Justice in our department, or in related programs like the Crisis Intervention Certificate offered jointly by Social Work and Psychology.

9 Competencies

Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) Competencies (Educational Policy & Accreditation Standards, 2022)

Accreditations / Recognition

The ESU Social Work Program received Initial Accreditation from the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) in 2015, and Reaffirmation of Accreditation in 2019 for 8 years.

Graduating with an accredited undergraduate degree in social work, like the one offered at ESU, provides eligibility for program graduates to apply for "advanced standing" into accredited MSW Programs across the US.

Student Organizations

ESU's chapter of Chi Phi Chapter of the Phi Alpha Honor Society for social work majors

The Sociology, Social Work & Criminal Justice Club is open to all majors and minors in the department and provides an interdisciplinary opportunity for club members to plan Community Issues Forums/Speakers, and co-sponsor the annual “Night Without a Home” and “First Responder” events on campus.

The Club also coordinates field trips to various community-based organizations; and develops and implements community service projects.

Career Opportunties

Our alumni earn positions in:

Hands-on Learning

Research Opportunities

Students across each major in the department have had the opportunity to serve as research assistants on a variety of faculty-led research projects related to different facets of the fields of sociology, social work and criminal justice.

Social work students have recently engaged in faculty-led research focused on the recovery model in mental health.

Additionally, students can engage in faculty-supervised independent studies for academic credit that examine and analyze contemporary issues and practice trends in social work.

Internships

Social work students are required to complete field experiences. Students will complete a 400-hour internship in a variety of social work practice settings including:

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