You are in the official 2001-2002 General Catalog
for California State University, Fresno.
Department of Social Work Education
The College of Health and Human Services
E. JANE MIDDLETON, Chair
CAROL DUPRAS, Administractive Support Coordinator
Psychology and Human Services Bldg., Room 128
(559) 278-3992
CAROL DUPRAS, Administractive Support Coordinator
Psychology and Human Services Bldg., Room 128
(559) 278-3992
http://www.csufresno.edu/socwork/
M.S.W., Master of Social Work
Faculty
E. Jane Middleton, Chair
Mitzi Lowe, MSW Admissions
Jane L. Yamaguchi, Undergraduate Coordinator
James E. Aldredge, Andrew J. Alvarado, Frederick W. Childers,
Benjamin Cuellar, David L. Ellis, John B. Franz, Betty J. Garcia,
Mark G. Hanna, Donna L. Hardina, Debra M. Harris, M. Lynn Jacobsson,
Sudarshan Kapoor, Richard O. Salsgiver
Social Work Education
The profession of social work is dedicated to meeting the diverse
social service needs of special populations of individuals, families,
groups, organizations, and communities. As a practice oriented
profession, social work deals with social concerns that range
from societal oppression to people's emotional/behavioral problems.
The social work practitioner helps at risk populations which typically
include the poor and homeless, abused/neglected children and adults,
people of color, women, recent refugees, chronically mentally
ill, developmentally disabled, physically ill or disabled, substance
abusers, criminal offenders, and the aged.
In focusing on disadvantaged groups, social workers use a range
of traditional and nontraditional methods to promote well-being,
personal growth, and social justice, e.g., client and systems
policy advocating, brokering, consulting individual, family, and
group counseling/psychotherapy, mediating, researching, supervising,
and teaching.
While the discipline of social work is deeply rooted in a rich,
100-year history of service, what social workers "do"
is no longer traditionally defined. The role of the social worker
is constantly expanding into innovative service fields wherever
a compassionate response to human need is indicated.
The Department of Social Work Education offers two degree programs
to educate beginning and advanced social work practitioners who
can meet complex client needs within a diversity of public and
private human service settings and who can perform in a variety
of roles using multiple social work practice methodologies. The
Bachelor of Arts degree program prepares students for beginning
generalist social work practice as well as for graduate study
in the human service field, including social work. The Master
of Social Work prepares the learner for autonomous social work
practice at multiple levels of intervention as well as for doctoral
study in social work and related human service arenas. Both the
B.A. and the M.S.W. programs are accredited by the Council on
Social Work Education.
Faculty and Facilities
The faculty of the department represent a wide spectrum of
theoretical orientations and approaches to professional social
work practice. All have substantive practice experience and many
have extensive research and social policy interests. In addition
to the on-campus facilities of the university, the department
uses the San Joaquin Valley's unique urban-rural configuration
of people, agribusiness and social-political institutions, and
the accompanying host of social service needs as the setting for
in-the-field learning. Numerous public and private social service
agencies in our region make their facilities and professional
social work staff available for the internship/practicum element
of the department's program. A representative sample of these
settings include: Atascadero State Hospital; California State
Department of Corrections, Human Resources Development, Social
Services, Youth Authority; Fresno Community Hospital; St. Agnes
Hospital; Valley Children's Hospital; Veterans Administration
Hospital; Vietnam Outreach Center; and Area Agency on Aging. Internship/practicum
experiences are also available in the schools, as well as the
mental health, probation, and social services departments in the
counties of Fresno, Kings, Madera, and Tulare.
Career Opportunities
Graduates from the B.A. program typically find employment as
social workers in county or state departments of social services;
private agencies offering individual, group, or community services;
poverty and mental health programs; social rehabilitation programs;
human resources development programs for services to the handicapped,
aged, and special population groups, medical and hospital programs,
correctional programs, primary, secondary and higher education
settings, and employee assistance programs in businesses and governmental
agencies.
M.S.W. graduates can expect to hold additional responsiblities
but more advanced clinical, case management, training, administrative,
program development or policy making/administrative positions
in a broad spectrum of human service organizations.
The U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Outlook Handbook
1994-95 projects the employment of social workers to increase
faster than the average for all occupations through the year 2005
in response to the needs of a growing and aging population, especially
in the Central California region. Special mention must be made
regarding increased job opportunities in child welfare, mental
health, substance abuse programs, school systems, and services
for the elderly, as well as increased opportunities in rural areas.
Social Work Education
Courses