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Mission

      The Mission of the Northwestern State University of Louisiana Social Work Program is to develop competent, solid, beginning level generalist social workers. The program offers an appreciation of human diversity by developing lifelong learners whose values and ethics are consistent with the profession of social work. In this rural setting, NSU maintains a commitment of service to the professional community and populations at risk who suffer from oppression due to social and economic injustice. This program seeks to provide a caring, student-centered environment that encourages professional development.

Goals

  1. To enable students to integrate the knowledge, values, and skills of the social work profession into competent practice.
  2. To prepare students for generalist social work practice at the professional entry level and graduate education in social work.
  3. Provide a professional foundation curriculum that contains the common body of the profession’s knowledge, values, and skills. This base is transferable among settings, population groups and problem areas.
  4. Include a liberal arts perspective and the professional foundation content, which prepares students for direct services with client systems of various sizes and types.
  5. Prepare graduates to practice with diverse populations.
  6. Provide content about the social contexts of social work practice, the changing nature of those contexts, the behavior of organization, and the dynamics of change.
  7. Infuse throughout the curriculum the values and ethics that guide professional social workers in their practice.
  8. Prepare graduates who are aware of their responsibility to continue their professional growth and development.
  9. Contribute knowledge and support to the professional community who serves populations at risk who suffer from oppression due to social and economic injustice.
  10. To offer students an appreciation for the special concerns affecting the rural population.

Program Objectives

  1. Apply critical thinking skills within the context of professional social work practice.

  2. Practice within the values and ethics of the social work profession and with an understanding of and respect for the positive value of diversity.

  3. Demonstrate the professional use of self.

  4. Understand the forms and mechanisms of oppression and discrimination and the strategies of change that advance social and economic justice.

  5. Understand the history of the social work profession and its current structures and issues.

  6. Apply the knowledge and skills of generalist social work to practice with systems of all sizes.

  7. Apply knowledge of bio-psycho-social variables that affect individual development and behavior, and use theoretical frameworks to understand the interactions among individuals and between individuals and social systems (i.e., families, groups, organizations, and communities).

  8. Analyze the impact of social policies on client systems workers, and agencies.

  9. Evaluate research studies and apply findings to practice, and, under supervision, to evaluate their own practice interventions and those of other relevant systems.

  10. Use communication skills differentially with a variety of client populations, colleagues, and members of the community.

  11. Use supervision appropriate to generalist practice.

  12. Function within the structure of organizations and service delivery systems, and under supervision, seek necessary organizational change.

  13. Demonstrate proficiency in the use of communications technology and resources.

  14. Use the skills, values and knowledge to meet the special needs of the rural population.