Program Description
Vermont State University’s Social Work Program prepares students to be effective and competent bachelors-level social work professionals in the context of their practice. Consistent with the profession’s purpose and guided by the person-in-environment framework and a strengths-based approach, students will be prepared to provide global and local leadership to implement evidence-based services that respect human diversity, promote human rights and social, economic, and environmental justice, work towards the elimination of poverty, and enhance quality of life through a range of prevention and intervention methods with diverse client systems. Students will use critical thinking to reflect the profession’s ethical and core values of service, social justice, the dignity and worth of the person, the importance of human relationships, integrity, and competence and their application in practice.
VTSU’s Social Work degree is both a professional and liberal arts program that is designed to train students for placement in beginning-level professional service positions or acceptance into graduate fields of study. The social work faculty members have decades of combined experience, and students benefit greatly from faculty knowledge, compassion, strong professional experience, and continued activity in professional organizations and research. With a student to faculty ratio of 12:1, students receive personal attention both in the classroom and through advising.
Social work students can choose to focus their electives and senior field placement in practice areas to earn certificates that can be valuable to employers. The certificates are Criminal Justice settings, Educational settings, Medical settings, and Substance Abuse Treatment settings.
Students will have the opportunity to gain vast and valuable experience in the field. The program has a rurally oriented emphasis because of the nature of Vermont, but stresses knowledge and skills that are applicable in any geographic or practice setting. During the senior year, students are placed in an agency setting to gain valuable experiences in the field of social work. These placement opportunities are an integral component of the social work curriculum. Students within the major have a minimum of 400 supervised hours of field experience. Onsite field instruction is provided by a Social Work faculty member.
Through these field experiences, students refine their professional skills in social work and have the ability to blend course content with on-the-job experiences in service provision, outreach, networking, and resource development.
Program Outcomes
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Demonstrate Ethical and Professional Behavior
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Engage Diversity and Difference in Practice
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Advance Human Rights and Social, Economic, and Environmental Justice
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Engage in Practice-informed Research and Research-informed Practice
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Engage in Policy Practice
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Engage with Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities
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Assess Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities
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Intervene with Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities
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Evaluate Practice with Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities
