Social Work (BSW)

A BSW degree from Binghamton University prepares students for generalist practice and will focus on understanding social work values, ethics, and professional behavior. Through a generalist lens, students will gain the knowledge and skills they need to work with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities. Students will:

• Explore historical oppression, and structural inequality and work towards navigating complex systems;
• Increase their awareness of social injustices and the impact that social injustice has on access to education, resources, and services; and
• Learn how to maximize the empowerment of clients and communities to reduce clients' and communities' experiences of oppression and institutional violence.

The curriculum is designed to create explicit linkages between practice, policy, and research. Students will:

• Build knowledge around basic concepts and principles of research and create an understanding that for social work practice to be effective, it is important that social workers be both consumers of, and contributors to, research efforts that aim to build knowledge and improve social work practice;
• Gain knowledge about human development across the lifespan and become familiarized with a variety of frameworks for interpreting the interactions among human biological, psychological, social, cultural, and spiritual systems as they affect and are affected by human behavior; and
• Be provided with a foundation for understanding social problems and social welfare policies in order to prepare them to become informed and competent providers of social welfare systems.

Internships, Research Opportunities, and More

Field Education is the social work profession’s signature pedagogy and a pivotal part of the BSW curriculum. All students in the BSW program will complete an internship in their senior year of the program that runs concurrently with courses and a field seminar. Students will spend 15 hours a week in their internship for a total of 510 hours for the year (240 hours in the Fall semester and 270 hours in the Spring semester). Students will receive weekly supervision through a licensed social worker throughout their internship experience.

Students may be placed in a variety of agencies (child welfare, criminal justice, substance use, healthcare, mental health, schools, etc.) throughout a 100-mile radius of the University. Students will have opportunities to serve the local communities and will work directly with individuals, families, groups, and organizations.

Binghamton University, State University of New York (SUNY), is the #1 public university in New York. We are a mid-sized university of 18,000 undergraduate and graduate students, including over 1,500 international students from over 100 countries. Binghamton provides top tier education in six schools and 130+ academic programs, with several exclusive honors programs and world-class research opportunities for students in every major.

On campus, there’s always something to do, with 21 NCAA Division I teams and 450+ student-led clubs and organizations. Binghamton University is nestled in picturesque rolling hills just minutes from a vibrant downtown area where students can explore the arts, local restaurants, and professional sports. We are just a few hours from major urban centers such as New York City, Boston, and Toronto, and our award-winning career center connects students to opportunities around the country and around the world.

Binghamton offers countless resources to support students learning and excelling both within and outside of the classroom. Combined with an affordable price, Binghamton University consistently earns a best value ranking among US universities.