Program type:

Major
Format:

On Campus
Est. time to complete:

4 years
Credit Hours:

120
Make a difference in the lives of others.
Social work addresses societal concerns and the well-being of people to ensure they have equal access to resources, services and opportunities. Social workers encourage change by striving to end discrimination, oppression, poverty and other forms of social injustice.

Want more info?

We're so glad you're interested in UNT! Let us know if you'd like more information and we'll get you everything you need.

Request More Info

Why Earn a Social Work Degree?

Our program will provide you with a solid foundation in the knowledge, skills and values necessary in the social work field and will prepare you for the required state licensing exam.

Our faculty members are well-known researchers and practitioners with experience working in diverse areas, such as:

  • Aging
  • Child welfare
  • Mental health
  • Program evaluation
  • Relationship violence
  • Social welfare policy
  • Spirituality
  • Teenage pregnancy

Their research has been published in recognized journals and presented regularly at national conferences.

Marketable Skills
  • Collect and interpret data
  • Oral and written communication
  • Interpersonal communication
  • Ability to embrace change
  • Professional integrity

Social Work Degree Highlights

As part of our curriculum, we have service-learning projects in the introductory courses and practice courses that apply classroom knowledge to real-life situations.
The Social Work program is accredited by the Council on Social Work Education, which means we meet or exceed strict academic standards for excellence in social work education.
Internships could include working with women in a women's shelter, children, older adults, individuals experiencing relationship violence, or those battling AIDS, mental illness or chronic or acute illnesses.
The Department of Social Work offers scholarships to students each year, including the Fannie Belle Gaupp Scholarship and the Social Work/Title IV-E Child Welfare Scholarship.
You'll get to network and connect with other students in the major through student organizations like Preserve UNTil Success Happens (PUSH), the Social Work Student Association and the Phi Alpha Honor Society.
We offer many opportunities to work with the community, practice skills, get involved in social work organizations and network from the beginning of your studies.

Career Outlook

Social workers work in many different settings, including:

  • Child welfare and family service agencies
  • Community mental health or substance abuse treatment centers
  • Criminal justice systems and homeless shelters
  • Hospitals and other medical settings
  • Nonprofit, government or private human service programs
  • Retirement centers, nursing homes or other aging programs for older people and their families
  • School or community programs to meet the needs of children

Social Work Degree Courses You Could Take

Introduction to Social Work (3 hrs)
History and philosophy of social work in the United States; social welfare agencies in the community and social services offered; requirements for professional social work practice.
Foundations of Interviewing and Interpersonal Skills (3 hrs)
Prerequisite for admission into the social work program and serves as a foundation for direct practice courses. Explores the components of the engagement process to help students understand the importance of self-awareness and interpersonal skills. Students develop skills essential to building the professional relationship, interviewing techniques, and effective communication. Emphasizes the demonstration of skills through simulation activities in the classroom.
Human Diversity for the Helping Professions (3 hrs)
Promotes competence in the role of helping professionals with diverse and vulnerable populations. Focuses on sociopolitical, intrapersonal and socio-cultural factors affecting the complexities of the human experience. Enhances self-awareness and explores systematic processes of oppression.
Ethics and Professionalism in Practice (3 hrs)
Examines the knowledge base of ethics, values and professional social work practice. Students explore the impact of these processes from multiple practice settings, dynamics with client systems, and differing social contexts.
Child Welfare Practice and Services (3 hrs)
This course presents the history of child welfare practices, social institutions, policy development, and the social service delivery system. Utilizing a trauma-informed lens, the dynamics of child abuse and neglect, family structures, support systems and methods of intervention will be examined. Students will recognize that the impact of trauma is experienced not only by children and families in the child welfare system, but also by foster families, kinship caregivers, and social service providers.
Policies, Issues and Programs in Social Welfare (3 hrs)
Current social policies and issues affecting the development of social welfare services; relationships between basic societal values and social welfare services.

Learn More About UNT

Watch this video to learn more about what makes UNT great!