2024-2025 Undergraduate Catalog
Department of Social Work and Sociology
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 Return to: College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
Rebecca Clark, Academic Chair, Social Work Program Director, Associate Professor
Autumn Maxwell, Assistant Professor, Coordinator of BSW Field Education
Emily Stutzman, Assistant Professor
Grounded in a Christian perspective and core social work values, the BSW program educates and empowers students with professional knowledge, values, and skills to become compassionate, competent leaders and change agents who provide ethical generalist social work practice, integrate personal faith with scientific inquiry, and engage respectfully and purposefully to advance the dignity, equity, and well-being of diverse populations across systems.
The Department of Social Work and Sociology offers a major in social work, a minor in social justice, and a minor in sociology.
Social Work
Lipscomb’s social work program is accredited by the Council on Social Work Education, the only national accrediting body for social work education. Because of this accreditation, students are eligible to apply for Advanced Standing Master in Social Work programs.
Lipscomb students earn the Bachelor of Social Work degree. Thus, social work students take the math, science, and humanities required for general education. They do not need additional hours of math or science required for the B.S. or language required for the B.A. degree. Lipscomb social work students do not need additional hours of math or science beyond the general education requirements for the B.S. or music, art or philosophy for the B.A. degree. Lipscomb social work graduates’ credentials are evident on their degrees, making applying and interviewing for employment a simpler process.
Lipscomb students earn over 500 hours of supervised practice experience during their time in the program. This is earned in field placement as seniors. The social work program has relationships with numerous agencies in the Nashville and surrounding area. Recent Lipscomb Social Work students have been placed in government agencies (district attorney’s office, juvenile court), family advocacy centers, foster care and adoption agencies, long-term care facilities, teen shelters, domestic violence shelters, schools, health care settings, community programs serving people experiencing homelessness, and others.
Lipscomb social work faculty and students have participated in mission efforts across the state, across the country and countries around the world. In recent years, social work students have participated in or led international mission trips to Mongolia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Africa, Australia and Honduras. Students on these trips have partnered with local social service and humanitarian agencies in serving children in orphanages, older adults, individuals and families living in poverty, and people in need of medical care. Students have unique opportunities to engage with vulnerable populations.
The social work program is housed in Lipscomb’s Ezell Center. Students benefit from classrooms equipped with state-of-the-art technology, including an Interviewing and Recording Skills Lab with stationary recording equipment and two-way mirror for observation.
According to the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), social workers are the nation’s largest group of mental health providers. Federal law and the National Institute of Health consider social work as one of five core mental health professions. Over 40 percent of all disaster mental health volunteers trained by the Red Cross are social workers.
Sociology
Sociology courses are available primarily in support of general education requirements, as well as nursing, social work, and education majors. These courses are designed to acquaint students with the nature of human relations and society, as well as provide them an understanding of society’s essential structures and processes.
Career Opportunities
Social work graduates provide counseling, crisis intervention, case management and support services to individuals, families, groups and communities through employment in:
- Child and family service agencies
- Long-Term Care Facilities
- Criminal Justice System
- Hospitals/Medical Facilities
- School settings
- Children’s homes
- Foster care
- Adoptions
- Residential treatment
- Home health care
- Administrative work
- Personnel work with public and private organizations
- Agencies providing child and adult protective services
- Pursuit of advanced degrees in the medical, legal and business fields
Admission to the Social Work Program
In accordance with CSWE accreditation standards, the social work program has a formal admission process, which typically occurs in the student’s junior year, after the completion of SW 1103 , SW 2313 and SW 3533 .
Admission must be obtained prior to a student’s entry into SW 3623 and SW 3633 , which are taken in the fall of the senior year. Applications for admission to the social work program are available in the Social Work offices. A completed admission packet includes an application; a brief autobiography utilizing the outline contained in the application; references from three non-social work faculty, staff or administrators (or approved employers or faculty from transfer institutions); and the summary results of the Myers-Briggs Personality Inventory.
Prerequisites: Social Work course descriptions listed on the following pages include required prerequisites. Because of course sequencing, students are advised to complete SW 1103 , Introduction to Social Work, prior to the fall of their junior year. Failure to do so may delay a student’s graduation. Since most Lipscomb students have several elective hours, students interested in the helping professions (psychology, family studies, education, counseling, nursing, family ministry, etc.) should consider enrolling in the SW 1103 course as an elective during their freshman or sophomore year. Doing so would prevent a graduation delay in the event the student later wished to change majors and earn the B.S.W. degree.
Program of Study Requirements
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