Program Overview
You are passionate about people—so are we. Our program is committed to upholding the value and dignity of every human, recognizing their strengths, and stressing the importance of diversity to human development. We seek to hear the voices of all individuals, understand human needs, and ethically integrate faith and social work practice in a transformative learning environment. And we want to walk with you as you do the same.
Come gain the experience you need to enter the growing field of social work. In fact, the U.S. Department of Labor projects that the employment growth of social workers will grow 16 percent from 2016 to 2026. According to the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration, social workers are the nation’s largest group of mental health providers. And, over 40 percent of all disaster mental health volunteers trained by the Red Cross are social workers.
Few occupations can match the broad range of opportunities of social work. You’ll find social workers in hospitals, schools, community mental health centers, court systems, non-profit organizations, private businesses, police departments, nursing homes, providing rehabilitation services in drug and alcohol centers, private practices, and countless other work settings. They practice in areas such as health care, child welfare, early childhood intervention, mental health, aging, management, and clinical settings. Social workers may be executive directors of non-profit organizations, community organizers, therapists, educators, and researchers. in large cities and in small communities. Social workers fight for social justice, and improve lives and communities. You'll grow in community and learn to respond to human needs with a Christian worldview. And thanks to our small class sizes, we'll foster what will be a lifelong mentoring relationship with you.
You'll complete over 500 hours of professional, supervised field practicum work and graduate as a SALT Scholar. The experience you gain here will put you at an advantage for the Advanced Standing Master of Social Work programs. When you graduate, you'll have the strong foundation you need to practice your profession with compassion, commitment, competence and ethics.
Alumni Feedback
"As an undergraduate student, I found myself searching for a service-oriented career with deep purpose. Finding Social Work for me was just that. The faculty went above and beyond to instill in me the values of Social Work and cultivate an understanding of diversity, self determination and empathy. The Social Work Department truly invested in me as a young practitioner and helped guide my experiences. I currently work for the Nashville District Attorney's Office as the Director of Victim Witness Services, managing a team that serves crime victims in Davidson County. I am so grateful for my experience as a Social Work student at Lipscomb which propelled me forward to serve crime victims. I am honored to have been a part of an undergraduate program that cared about growing me not only as a practitioner, but as a person." -- Mackenzie Britt
Courses
Specific courses required:
- BY 2213 - Introductory Human Anatomy and Physiology
- PS 1113 - Introduction to Psychology
- PS 3513 - Drugs and Behavior
- SO 1123 - Introduction to Sociology
- SW 1103 - Introduction to Social Work
- SW 2313 - Social Welfare Policy and Services
- SW 2333 - Interviewing and Recording Skills
- SW 3113 - Race and Ethnic Groups
- SW 3123 - Trauma Informed Care*
- SW 3223 - Social Work with Aging
- SW 3313 - Child Welfare
- SW 3333 - Juvenile Justice*
- SW 3533 - Human Behavior and the Social Environment I
- SW 3543 - Human Behavior and the Social Environment II
- SW 3613 - Social Work Practice I
- SW 3623 - Social Work Practice II
- SW 3632 - Social Work Practicum I
- SW 4513 - Research Methods
- SW 4523 - Applied Social Work Research Methods
- SW 4903 - Seminar in Social Work Practice
- SW 491B - Social Work Practicum II
* Elective; not required
Note:
A distributive social science minor requirement, built into the major, is met with required courses in biology, psychology and sociology.
Under the supervision of the social work faculty, social work practicums SW 3632 and SW 491B are completed in an approved social work agency during the senior year. Application for admission to Social Work SW 3632 and SW 491B must be made at the beginning of the semester preceding placement. (The social work program does not grant academic credit, course waivers or field practicum credit for life experience or previous work experience, per CSWE curriculum policy requirements.)
Social work majors earn the Bachelor of Social Work (B.S.W.) degree, rather than the Bachelor of Science (B.S.) or Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degrees. This means that social work students do not need the extra math or science hours required for the B.S. degree or the foreign language hours required for the B.A. degree.
For social work majors, a letter grade of ""C"" or higher in each social work course is required to proceed to subsequent course work. For other academic requirements, consult the Social Work Student Handbook which may be obtained from the Department of Social Work and Sociology.
