What can we help you find?

Top Searches

Department of Social Work

College of Health & Human Services

Prepare for a rewarding career helping individuals and organizations improve quality of life and achieve their full potential in society with a social work degree from Indiana State.

About the Department of Social Work 

At Indiana State University, the Department of Social Work empowers you to turn your passion for helping others into a purposeful career that improves lives, strengthens communities, and creates positive change. 

Whether pursuing a Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) or a Master of Social Work (MSW), you will benefit from personalized support from faculty mentors, small class sizes, hands-on learning, and extensive field experience in schools, healthcare organizations, local social service agencies, and community programs. Through these experiences, you will develop the critical thinking, communication, advocacy, and problem-solving skills needed to understand complex challenges and support individuals, families, and communities.  

Rooted in service and community access, the Department of Social Work prepares you to lead with compassion and confidence while making a meaningful impact in a wide range of health and human service professions. 

Our Mission and Goals

Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) Program

The mission of the Bachelor of Social Work program at Indiana State University is to educate committed and competent generalist professionals who have integrated the values, and evidence-based knowledge and skills of the social work profession. 

BSW Goals

The BSW Program’s overarching goals are to: 

  • Provide a challenging BSW curriculum that is grounded in a strong liberal arts foundation.
  • Prepare graduates who are competent generalist social work practitioners who operate from a practice framework which integrates knowledge, values, skills, ethics, diversity and a theoretical base.
  • Prepare students for graduate education.
  • Prepare graduates who are committed to social and economic justice and improving service delivery systems.
  • Prepare students who are actively engaged in the community.
  • Prepare students to contribute to the development of the social work profession, their communities and global society.
  • Contribute to the social work profession’s body of knowledge. 
  • Engage in leadership roles and activities in the profession and in the community.

 

Master of Social Work (MSW) Program

The mission of the Master of Social Work program at Indiana State University is to educate committed and competent clinical professionals who have integrated the values, and evidence-based knowledge and skills of the social work profession.

MSW Goals 

The MSW Program’s overarching goals are to:

  • Prepare MSW graduates for ethical and competent clinical practice in a rural environment, which includes engagement, assessment, intervention, and evaluation with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities.
  • Prepare MSW graduates to develop and practice from a framework which integrates evidence-based practice, social work values and ethics, and cultural humility.
  • Prepare MSW graduates to advance human rights and challenge social, economic, and environmental injustice.
  • Prepare MSW graduates to engage in practice-informed research and research-informed practice.

 

The Department of Social Work strives for distinction in its mission to educate committed and competent generalist professionals who have integrated the knowledge, values, and skill base of the social work profession, are able to provide direct services to diverse populations, and are prepared to work with client systems of various sizes and types. Students are educated to recognize social work as a discipline with a broad mandate and to accept that they have a dual responsibility to work with designated clients as well as to work toward a society that reflects economic and social justice.

Signature pedagogy represents the central form of instruction and learning in which a profession socializes its students to perform the role of practitioner. Professionals have pedagogical norms with which they connect and integrate theory and practice. In social work, the signature pedagogy is field education. The intent of field education is to connect the theoretical and conceptual contribution of the classroom with the practical world of the practice setting. It is a basic precept of social work education that the two interrelated components of curriculum—classroom and field—are of equal importance within the curriculum, and each contributes to the development of the requisite competencies of professional practice. Field education is systematically designed, supervised, coordinated, and evaluated based on criteria by which students demonstrate the achievement of program competencies.

(Council on Social Work Education, Educational Policies and Standards 2008)

RHIC Simulation Center

Students in programs from the College of Health and Human Services at Indiana State University enjoy a wide variety of simulations activities that have been integrated into their curricula.  In addition, students are afforded the opportunity of learning through interprofessional teams. Students are often placed into simulated situations where they are learning from, with, and about other disciplines, which is incredibly important as they will often be working side by side with professionals across the healthcare spectrum after graduation.

The RHIC was the first simulation center in the state of Indiana to become accredited by the Society for Simulation in Healthcare.

Course Accreditation

The BSW program is Accredited by the Council on Social Work Education

The MSW program is Accredited by the Council on Social Work Education

Council on Social Work Education