BSW Program Mission & Goals
Welcome!
Welcome to the UTC BSW Social Work Program! You are entering an exciting profession, a profession with opportunities in varied settings. Social work is one of the fastest growing professions in the United States. The profession is unique, however, in its dedication to working with and empowering people who are vulnerable, marginalized, or living in poverty. While social workers practice as lobbyists, administrators, and policymakers, they frequently choose to work directly with individuals, families, and groups.
The Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) degree prepares you for entry level professional generalist social work practice. A generalist approach requires that social workers have an extensive foundation of knowledge and skills to assess, analyze, plan, evaluate, and treat clients from various backgrounds in different settings and systems. This degree will enable you to work in many different settings such as health care, rehabilitation, criminal justice, schools, government agencies, mental health, child and adult protective services, counseling, and many others.
During your educational process, you will find that our entire faculty looks forward to helping you reach your goal of earning a Bachelor of Social Work degree. We do expect you to work diligently on your courses and in your field instruction. Please take time to review the material contained in the Student Handbook. If you have any questions, we urge you to contact your educational advisor.
Again, welcome to our program. Our faculty members are excited about your participation, and we look forward to working with you during the coming semesters.
Mission
The mission of the Baccalaureate Social Work (BSW) degree program at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC) is to prepare students for competent, generalist evidence-based practice. As generalists, graduates will have a common body of social work knowledge and skills informed by the social work profession’s core values and ethics as outlined in the NASW Code of Ethics that are globally transferable across diverse human service settings and population groups. The program is committed to mentoring and empowering students to engage in interprofessional practice experiences, scholarly research, and community service partnerships with the goal of enhancing the well-being of individuals, groups, and organizations from diverse cultural, social, and economic backgrounds, reflecting the UTC mission as an engaged metropolitan university.
Program Goals
The UTC BSW program seeks to create a quality professional program through the following goals:
1. To prepare competent BSW professionals to practice ethical generalist social work effectively by applying a range of social work theories and evidence-based interventions with individuals, families, small groups, organizations, and communities in all types of settings.
2. To prepare competent social work professionals who respect and value local and global constituents and are equipped to apply evidence-based social work skills.
3. To prepare competent social work professionals who apply innovative social change strategies which promote both fair access to basic needs and economic opportunity.
4. To prepare competent social work professionals through a learner-centered curriculum that provides opportunities for students to apply developing skills in a variety of learning environments.
5. To equip students for social work for interprofessional practice and community engagement through a variety of activities.