Social Work Major

Uplift families, empower individuals, and heal communities with Champlain's Social Work major.

Program Type: Major

School/Division: School of Social Innovation

Required Experiences: On-Campus Employment Opportunities; Internships; Study Abroad

Let us help you find...: Internships; Study Abroad; Admissions; Current Students College Catalog; Assessment of Learning Outcomes

Be a force for good

Accredited by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE), this ambitious and broad-based major is grounded in a social justice framework that will prepare you for change efforts with individuals, families, groups, communities, and organizations. You will graduate with the professional knowledge, values, and skills of generalist practice from a local to global perspective, along with over 400 hours of direct field experience gained through your senior internship.

Our local and global communities need more leaders who are knowledgeable and compassionate. If you are driven by a need for justice and equality, you will find no better launchpad than the Social Work program at Champlain College. Dynamic classrooms and engaging community experiences align to build the skills you need to contribute to a more just world.

What is Social Work?

As a student of social work, you’ll explore the practice-based profession of empowering people and communities of different backgrounds. You’ll train as a professional to help assist and empower vulnerable individuals, groups, communities, and societies in overcoming challenges in their environment and everyday lives. As a social work professional, you have the ability to work and practice in a wide variety of settings, from schools to healthcare providers to child welfare.

Why study social work at Champlain College?

We believe some of the best learning comes from experience, so we make sure you graduate with a background rich in real social work. With our combination of broad social work learning and extensive field experiences, you’ll be prepared for a career of building a better world for the people who need it most.

At Champlain, you will jump right into your Social Work education. In our Upside-Down Curriculum, you’ll be enrolled in your first Social Work class in your first semester, and will begin to connect with the professional community the following spring.

You’ll also be able to explore related disciplines—such as Social Justice, Law, Psychology, Global Studies, or Business—through a minor.

Fieldwork Opportunities in the Social Work Major

Because you’ll be taking field-relevant courses from the start, you’ll be ready for meaningful internships much sooner than students at most other institutions.

Much of your social work education will be hands-on in the greater Burlington community throughout your four years here. The city’s culture and environment unite perfectly with our social justice mission. You will have multiple opportunities for practical application of your developing skills, in agencies focused on physical and mental health, human rights, crisis response, poverty and homelessness, child and family well-being, and community development.

Because Champlain College’s Social Work program is accredited by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE), it meets the requirements for licensure in all fifty states and the District of Columbia.

While you are feeding your passion for social justice with all of these practical experiences, you’ll also be building a résumé that will impress future employers.

Different by Design

Accelerated Master’s

Through our CSWE-accredited Social Work program, you can apply to a Master of Social Work (MSW) program that will allow you to earn a master’s degree in one year instead of two.

Our Progressive Community

Burlington’s culture and environment unite perfectly with our social justice mission.

Apply Your Skills

You’ll have multiple opportunities for practical application of your developing skills, in agencies focused on physical and mental health, human rights, crisis response, poverty and homelessness, child and family well-being, and community development.

Facts & Stats

92%

of Social Work majors in the Class of 2023 achieved career success within six months after graduation. That’s success you can see.

Projected growth of overall employment of social work professionals 2023 to 2033, faster than the average for all occupations, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The Most

Champlain was named a “Most Innovative School” by U.S. News & World Report in its “America’s Best Colleges” 2024 ranking of universities in the North.

Sign Up for Helpful Info

Sample Courses in the Social Work Major

Our Social Work curriculum is designed to equip you with the applicable skills and knowledge you’ll need to be successful in your career. You’ll engage with community members and organizations that will offer you valuable experience and perspective. Check out some of the engaging and hands-on courses in our program.

First Year

SWK 150 Technology for Change

SWK 210 Community Health & Harm Reducti Abuse Studies

Second Year

SWK 250 Introduction to Antiracist Practice

SWK 245

Third Year

SWK 305 Social Justice: Oppression and Empowerment

SWK 470 Global Social Action

Fourth Year

SWK 420 Trauma and Resilience Families

SWK 490S Integrated Social Wk Field Seminar I

See the Learning Outcomes for the Social Work major

View Full Curriculum

Technology can be a force for good. Entertainment and media technologies have enormous potential to disrupt contemporary social problems, from depression to health behaviors to human trafficking. Students will explore opportunities for both utilization and creation of relevant technology such as gaming, YouTube, virtual reality, and mobile apps – to solve social ills.

Prerequisites
Credits	1

Engage with the fundamental concepts and principles of community health and harm reduction. This course explores pressing community health challenges and innovative approaches to reducing harm, spanning environmental health, pandemic response, maternal health, and substance use. Students will engage with the nuanced causes and impacts of substance use and co-occurring circumstances, taking a person-centered approach. Students will be exposed to effective, evidence-based strategies, like motivational interviewing and health screening tools, to address health challenges on individual and community levels.

Prerequisites
Credits	3

This course prepares students to engage in anti-racist professional practice across multiple settings. Students are introduced to the fundamentals of anti-racist theory, concepts, and practice. This course also examines the manifestations of systemic oppression, white supremacy, and anti-black racism in American culture. Moving from conceptualization to practice throughout the course, students learn to engage in anti-racist practice through direct action.

Prerequisites	Complete 25 credits.
Credits	3

Prerequisites
Credits

Students explore the origins and dynamics of discrimination and prejudice against certain racial, ethnic, age, and sexual orientation groups in American society and how power, influence, economic status and social policy contribute to and reinforce oppression against such groups. Such information will form the basis for understanding one’s own values, attitudes and beliefs about others. The course will also explore our changing population and celebrate the contributions and uniqueness that diversity brings to American social order.

Prerequisites	Complete 45 credits before taking this course.
Credits	3

With a focus on international awareness, students will optimize their field experience abroad by developing an understanding of the respective cultural, community, economic, social, and political forces that impact on their interactions with professionals, clients, and community members in the local environment. In addition to incorporating the core concepts of social work practice, students will use the international arena to integrate into their field experience the values and ethics of the profession as it is practiced in their host society, the relevant social issues and policies of the region, and the cultural forces of the surrounding community.

Prerequisites	Take SWK-300
Credits	3

Students focus on such social work perspectives as ecological, family systems and strengths-based models of social work practice with families in the context of trauma and resilience. They combine this information with human development, familial trends, and ethical considerations to develop trauma informed and culturally sensitive practice strategies to enhance resilience.

Prerequisites	Take SWK-310 & SWK-315 or permission of instructor
Credits	1

This course occurs concurrently with the first senior practicum and provides a forum for students to explore professional development and practice issues that arise within the auspices of the sponsoring agency, its staff and the clients served. Students develop skills based on the knowledge, values and ethics of the profession; practice peer supervision; monitor and evaluate their own and others’ practice skills; integrate classroom and field learning; and develop professional identities and the pursuit of lifelong learning.

Prerequisites	Take SWK-490
Credits	1

You might also be interested in these…

Based on your interest in the Social Work major, we thought you also might like to check out these other academic programs and opportunities.

Majors
- Applied Sustainability Major
  
  The way we think about the environment can’t be separated from the way we think about people, and vice versa. Learn the skills to cultivate a career in a growing field.
- Integrative Professional Studies Major
  
  Design your own major through Champlain’s Degree Design Lab. You’ll combine courses and real-world learning experiences to personalize your own education.
- Education Major
  
  Teaching is the ultimate way to shape the future. At Champlain College, you’ll be in classrooms during your first year, building deep expertise that leads to licensure.
- Psychology Major
  
  Study human motivations and the latest neuroscience in a career-focused Psychology major that prepares you for this dynamic field.
Minors
- Conflict Management Minor
  
  Develop a practical way of mediating conflict in your workplace, community, and personal life with Champlain College’s Conflict Management Minor.
- Criminal Justice Minor
  
  Justice at all levels is a keystone of a functional society. Learn the criminal justice process at multiple levels and how your knowledge of this system can benefit your career.
- Gerontology Minor
  
  Examine the physical, mental, and sociological aspects of aging, including the ways that society changes with an aging population with the Gerontology minor.
- LGBTQ Studies Minor
  
  Examine the complex histories, cultures, political activities, and expressions of LGBTQ people while exploring larger social and institutional foundations like media representation and human rights.
- Social Justice Minor
  
  See your work through the lens of social justice. Learn how social, economic, and political issues influence each other and affect an individual’s or community’s essential rights.
Areas of Study
- Individualized Studies & Undeclared
  
  Learn what you love, and love what you learn with one of these professional pathways.
- Education, Humanities & the Sciences
  
  The born educator, the team player, the change maker, the advocate. Which of these human-centered majors fits you career goals?
- Law & Society
  
  Want to uphold a system of justice through meaningful public service? Check out these majors that revolve around “doing good.”

cco masters student crying tears of joy while being awarded their hood at commencement

Accelerated Masters Degree in Social Work (MSW)

Through our CSWE-accredited Social Work program, you may apply to a Master of Social Work (MSW) program that will allow you to earn a master’s degree in one year instead of two. If accepted, you will save a year of graduate tuition costs.

Career Success

Social work students gain real-world skills and marketable experience. 91% of Social Work majors in the Class of 2023 were employed within six months of graduation.

two students crouching down to be with small children — Social work students pose for a photo with a group of smiling children

Your Career Outlook

Learn more about our career-focused education

By the time you graduate, you will …

Engage diversity and difference in practice.
Advance human rights, and social, economic and environmental justice.
Engage in research-informed practice and practice-informed research.
Engage in policy practice.
Engage with, intervene with, and assess individuals, families, groups, organizations and communities.

You’ll Find a Career In…

Outreach work
Case management
Probation
Child welfare
Substance abuse counseling
Social services
Behavioral and mental health

More Inside Social Work Major

Overview

Uplift families, empower individuals, and heal communities with Champlain's Social Work major.
Curriculum

Gain real-world experience with Champlain's Upside Down Curriculum.
Faculty

Learn more about the experienced professionals leading Champlain College's social work program who are dedicated to teaching and mentoring you.

Become Champlain Ready

Take the Next Step

Visit Us Request Info