Social Work

Associate Professor Michael Sherr, Head

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, values, and skills informed by the principles outlined in the NASW Code of Ethics and globally transferable among diverse human service settings and population groups.

Social work faculty and students are committed to working together to engage in scholarship, continued learning, and community service partnerships with individuals, groups, and organizations from diverse cultural, social, and economic backgrounds reflecting the UTC mission as an engaged metropolitan university.

Pre-Social Work

Students must meet the same admission requirements as all other applicants to the University. Academic advising for students declaring pre-social work as a major may be done by a member of the social work faculty. Admission to the University does not ensure acceptance into the social work major.

Admission to the Social Work Major

Eligible pre-social work majors seeking admission to the Social Work program must complete the following admission process by February 15th of the sophomore year:

Complete the Application to the UTC Social Work Program available on the program website: www.utc.edu/SocialWork
Have a cumulative Grade Point Average (GPA) of 2.0 or higher on a 4.0 point scale.
Have a social work major Grade Point Average (GPA) of 2.50 or higher on a 4.0 point scale in all pre-Social Work courses (SOCW 1100 and SOCW 2070 ).
Earn a minimum grade of C in the following pre-social work courses: SOCW 1100 and SOCW 2070 .
Complete the following cognate courses with a passing grade: BIOL 1110 , POLS 1010 , PSY 1010 , SOC 1510 . Note: Biology 1110 is a pre- or corequisite for SOCW 3060 , SOCW 3080 , SOCW 3120 and SOCW 3330 .
Complete a criminal background check process.
Discuss the above application materials in a scheduled group interview with the Social Work Program faculty.

After the interview, students are notified in writing of their acceptance status in the Social Work program. There are two levels of acceptance:

Full Acceptance: student has met the above requirements and is accepted into the Social Work program in good standing.
Conditional Acceptance: student has not met at least one of the admission requirements stated above and is accepted into the program on conditional status. The student and faculty then develop a plan of correction addressing the unmet areas and the student has the semester immediately following the admission interview to address the unmet admission requirement(s). If, at the end of the semester, the admission requirements are not satisfied, the student must completely reapply to the Social Work program.

Admission to Field Education

Students wishing to enter field education must meet the following requirements:

Complete all prerequisites for Field Education I (SOCW 4120 ) as listed in the university catalog.
Achieve a 2.00 overall grade point average.
Satisfactorily complete all incomplete grades.
Submit a completed Field Education Application to the field education coordinator which includes a recent transcript, current resumé, and peer evaluation form.
Participate in the annual Field Fair.
Complete a criminal background check process.

NOTE: Field agencies usually have a separate application and background check process required. Students must complete these agency processes in addition to the UTC Admission to Field Education requirements.

Expenses and Transportation

In addition to regular education costs, social work students must meet the following expenses: liability and insurance for field education, and others as required. Since field experiences in social work are obtained in a variety of health care and social service settings in local and remote areas, students are individually responsible for transportation to these sites.

Continuation Standards

The nature of the social work profession requires the following program continuation standards:

To progress in the social work program,students are required to:
1. Achieve grade of C or higher in all Social Work courses;
2. Maintain a minimum cumulative grade point average of 2.00;
3. Maintain a Social Work major grade point average of 2.50 or higher on a 4.0 scale in all Social Work courses.
To enroll in 3000-level and 4000-level Social Work courses, a student must be a Social Work major formally accepted into the program and in good standing.