Program Overview

Social Work Major

The social work program prepares students for generalist professional practice in a wide range of agencies, including social services, health, mental health, developmental disabilities, education, aging, youth services, addictions, and related organizations. The social work program is fully accredited by the Council on Social Work Education.

What Will I Learn?

The social work program is completed in the junior and senior years. The curriculum includes both course work and an agency-based field internship under professional supervision. In the freshman and sophomore years, social work students complete a liberal arts base that includes the general education requirements. Both SUNY Plattsburgh students and transfer students may apply for admission to the social work program.

Program Benefits

• Prepare for generalist practice in a wide range of agencies
• Benefit from one-to-one contact with caring, supportive faculty
• Gain hands-on experience through professional, agency-based internships
• Study in a program fully accredited by the Council on Social Work Education
• After earning your B.S.W., be eligible to complete an M.S.W. in one year
• Be eligible for membership in:
  • National Association of Social Workers
  • Phi Alpha Honor Society: A National Honor Society for Social Work Students
• Participate in the Social Work Student Association

What Are My Career Opportunities?

Baccalaureate Social Work (B.S.W.) is the only undergraduate major that educates students to be professional social workers. Graduates are prepared for immediate entry into direct human service professional positions ready to excel in careers in social work and ready to do post-graduate work at the masters degree level. They possess the intellectual, practical, and professional skills needed to promote beneficial change in the lives of their clients.

Career Settings

Our graduates can find employment in many different public and private work settings, including:

• Health Services
  • Nursing homes
  • Hospices
  • Public health agencies
  • Substance abuse programs
  • Aging services
  • Hospitals
  • Developmental disabilities services
  • Mental health services
• Public Agencies
  • Community action agencies
  • Legal services agencies
  • Domestic violence programs
  • Criminal justice agencies
• Child and Family Services
  • Child welfare agencies
  • Family services agencies
  • Child and adult day care centers
  • School (elementary and secondary)
  • Children & youth services
  • Home care agencies
• Community Services
  • Residential treatment programs
  • Homeless shelters
  • Vocational rehabilitation services
  • Income maintenance programs

Graduate School

Students in the Social Work Program at SUNY Plattsburgh have a 95% acceptance rate to graduate schools both in the United States and in Canada. Some of the schools that students have been accepted at are:

• University at Stony Brook
• University at Albany
• University at Buffalo
• University at Binghamton
• Fordham University
• Hunter College
• Syracuse University
• Rutgers University
• McGill University, Canada
• Springfield College
• Washington University; St. Louis
• University of Pittsburgh
• University of Maryland
• University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
• Boston College
• Simmons

Field Practicum

Field practicum is an integral and essential component of the social work curriculum. Field practicum places students in agency settings and engages the student in supervised social work practice. It provides valuable opportunities to apply classroom learning in the field. Field coordinators are college or university social work faculty members with M.S.W. degrees and a minimum of two years work experience.

Learn From Experienced, Professional Personnel

The Council on Social Work Education mandates that social work programs establish minimum standards for field supervision and that supervisors are experienced social service agency personnel, preferably with a B.S.W. or M.S.W. degree. This formalized supervision results in consistently high standards of quality. Other undergraduate majors who have a field experience usually do not have formal, professional supervision.

Additional Programs in Social Work

• Graduate Degree
  • Social Work, M.S.W.
• Bachelors Degree
  • Social Work B.S., Online
• Certificate Program
  • Global Social Action Certificate