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For a complete list of prerequisite, general studies, and BSSW Program required courses, please download a BSSW Program Advising Chart. The BSSW Program does not require a minor.
Applying to the Social Work Major
The social work major is fall-start only. To begin the major, students must apply to the BSSW Program during the spring prior to starting the fall courses. For more information, please visit our BSSW Program application page.
Required SWK Pre-Major Courses
The major requires 2 social work prerequisite courses to set the foundation for coursework in the major. Students must have all prerequisite courses complete prior to starting BSSW Program courses in the fall. The SWK pre-major courses must be completed with a grade of “C-” or better. More information on SWK pre-major courses can be found below.
Required Ancillary Prerequisite Courses
The major requires 4 ancillary prerequisite courses to set the foundation for coursework in the major. Students must have all prerequisite courses complete prior to starting BSSW Program courses in the fall. The required ancillary prerequisite courses must be completed with a grade of “D-” or better. More information on required ancillary prerequisites can be found below.
Electives, Agency Experience, and Field Placement Overview
The following electives have been approved by the Department of Social Work. Please note – not all electives will be offered every semester. If there is a term listed in parenthesis after the elective title, that indicates the semester the course is likely to be offered. It may be offered during other semesters as well. Make sure to check the course schedule for the current semester to see all electives being offered.
- SWK 3010 – Social Work Practice with Children and Youth (Fall)
- SWK 3030 – Social Work with Older People (Spring)
- SWK 3040 – Creative Approaches to Change (Fall)
- SWK 3070 – Environmental Justice in Social Work (Spring)
- SWK 3080 – Social Work with Families (Spring)
- SWK 3100 – Child Welfare and the Law (Spring, Summer)
- SWK 3130 – Social Work and Criminal Justice Issues (Fall)
- SWK 3150 – Social Work and Child Maltreatment (Fall, Summer)
- SWK 3400 – Leadership and Program Administration in Social Work (Spring)
- SWK 3500 – Social Work Practice with LGBTQ People (Spring)
- SWK 3510 – Spirituality and Religion in Social Work (Fall)
- SWK 3530 – Being Well in a Profession of Well-Being (Spring)
- SWK 3550 – Social Work with Grief and Loss (Fall)
- SWK 3590 – Centering Black Experience (Spring)
- SWK 3600 – Gender in Social Work Practice (Fall)
- SWK 3610 – Social Work and Addiction (Spring)
The following electives are cross-listed and based in other departments, so we cannot guarantee when they will be offered:
- SWK 3110 – Social Justice and Activism in the Chicana/o Community (Multicultural)
- SWK 3660 – Poverty, Race, and Gender
- SWK 4160 – Human Trafficking
Junior Year Volunteer Agency Experience
The Social Work Experience course is a requirement in the fall semester of a student’s junior year in the BSSW Program and must be taken alongside SWK 3410 – Generalist Practice I.
Social Work Experience, Practice, and Communication is a 3-credit course:
- 2 credits for the weekly class meetings, and
- 1 credit for the agency volunteer experience
Students will meet as a class on-campus for 2 hours or online every week to discuss readings and integrate the coursework with the agency experience. The focus of this course is to develop students as social work professionals – attending to professional roles and boundaries, examining your personal and professional values, developing effective written, verbal and non-verbal communication skills, demonstrating interpersonal skills, and practicing personal reflection and self-correction.
Students will have the opportunity to focus on these areas by completing 45 hours of volunteer service in a community agency whose focus is in providing human/social services. For more information and guidelines, please download the SWK 3350 Guidelines for Selecting an Agency
All students in this course in Fall 2024 must secure an agency to complete their 45 hours of volunteer service by September 9, 2024. The Classroom to Career (C2) Hub on the Auraria Campus has a database of agencies that may be suitable for this class. Please contact the C2 Hub if you have trouble accessing the agency database. There are resources for searching for a volunteer position through the C2 Hub or by using www.metrovolunteers.org or www.volunteermatch.org. Questions about how to access CareerLink will be addressed in the pre-recorded information session that you can access below. If you still have questions after attending an information session, please contact [email protected].
Additional Information about SWK 3350
To help students prepare for this course requirement, in advance of the semester, Dr. K Scherrer, course lead for SWK 3350, has recorded a video describing course requirements and resources that are available to students to identify a volunteer role/agency. All students are expected to watch this orientation video and review associated materials. This material can be accessed via the Junior Orientation in Canvas or watched below. After you have reviewed all of these materials, if you have remaining question you may reach out to your course instructor with additional questions.
SWK 3350 Guidelines for Selecting an Agency
SWK 3350 Information Session Powerpoint
Agency Confirmation
Once you have accepted a volunteer position at an agency, you must confirm your agency with your instructor by September 9, 2024 (note: the exact date may change each fall). This course has assignments throughout the class that involve your volunteer work. So in order to set yourself up for success in this class, please be proactive in securing your volunteer placement as soon as possible.
The field placement search process is overseen by the Office of Field Education. For more information about this process, click here.
During their senior year in the program, BSSW students enroll in SWK 4500 and 4510 – Professional Field Experience I & II, where they complete a field placement and a concurrent biweekly field seminar during both fall and spring semesters. The field placement is geared towards a generalist experience allowing students to develop practice skills working across micro, mezzo and macro levels of practice in a community-based agency. The field placement is completed at the same agency over both semesters allowing students to deepen their learning and increase their impact over the course of the academic year.
Students are required to complete 200 hours in their agency setting per semester (400 hours/year), the equivalent of approximately 13 to 14 hours per week during each of the 15 week semesters, both fall and spring. The accompanying field seminar course (offered face-to-face, online and in hybrid formats) meets every other week throughout the course of the two semesters of Field Experience. The seminar course is taught by a Faculty Field Liaison and provides a forum for students to critically reflect on their experiences out in the field in an environment geared towards promoting professional development.
SWK Pre-Major Requirements
The following social work courses must be completed prior to entry into the BSSW Program. All social work courses must be completed with a grade of “C-” or better.
- SWK 1010 – Introduciton to Social Work Credits: 3
- SWK 1600 – Community Engagement & Civic Responsibility § Credits: 3
§ Requires approximately 3 hours/week of volunteer work for a total of 45 hours per semester
SWK Required Ancillary Prerequisite Requirements
The following courses must be completed prior to entry into the BSSW Program. All ancillary courses must be completed with a grade of “D-” or better.
- One of the following: (can also fulfill Natural & Physical Science General Studies Requirement)
- BIO 1000 – Human Biology for Non-Majors Credits: 3
- OR BIO 1030 – General Biology for Non-Majors Credits: 4
- OR BIO 1080 – General Biology I AND BIO 1090 – General Biology Laboratory I Credits: 3 + 1
- PSC 1010 – American National Goverment Credits: 3 (can also fulfill Social & Behavioral Science General Studies Requirement)
- PSY 1001 – Introductory Psychology Credits: 3 (can also fulfill Social & Behavioral Science General Studies Requirement)
- One of the following: (can also fulfill Social & Behavioral Science General Studies Requirement)
- SOC 1010 – People, Power and Progress Credits: 3
- OR ANT 1310 – Introduction to Cultural Anthropology Credits: 3
- OR ANT 2330 – Cross-Cultural Communication Credits: 3
General Studies Requirements
These courses must be completed with a grade of “D-” or better prior to graduation from MSU Denver, although we recommend completing these courses prior to entry into the BSSW Program.
Students should consult the General Studies Requirements in the current catalog for a list of courses that fulfill the General Studies Requirements for degree completion.
- Written Communication (6 credits)
- Recommended: ENG 1010 – Composing Arguments and ENG 1020 – Research and Argument Writing are recommended for Social Work majors.
- Must be completed with a grade of “C-” or better per University policy
- Oral Communication (3 credits)
- Quantitative Literacy (3 credits)
- Arts and Humanities (6 credits)
- Historical (3 credits)
- Natural and Physical Sciences (6 credits)
- Recommended: BIO 1000 – Human Biology for Non-Majors, BIO 1030 – General Biology for Non-Majors, or BIO 1080 – General Biology I and BIO 1090 – General Biology Laboratory I are recommended for Social Work Majors.
- Social and Behavioral Sciences (6 credits)
- Recommended: PSC 1010 – American National Government and PSY 1001 – Introductory Psychology are recommended for Social Work majors. One of the following courses is also recommended: SOC 1010 – People, Power, and Progress, ANT 1310 – Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, or ANT 2330 – Cross-Cultural Communication.
- Global Diversity (0 or 3 credits**)
** Students will fulfill the global diversity requirement by taking an approved course within one of the following categories: arts and humanities; historical; natural and physical sciences; or social and behavioral sciences.
Additional Graduation Requirements
These requirements must be met in order to graduate from MSU Denver per university policy.
The Multicultural requirement will be fulfilled by SWK 3120 – Privilege, Oppression & Power, a required junior year BSSW Program course.
MSU Denver requires that students complete at least 120 credits in order to earn a bachelor’s degree. Because the BSSW Program does not require a minor, students must typically complete 18-24 credits of general electives. General electives are any college level course not already fulfilling a degree requirement (i.e. general studies and social work major courses). The number of general electives a student has left to complete must be evaluated individually.
Enrollment Options
Students may complete the Bachelor of Science in Social Work (BSSW) Program full time or part time.
Full time students will take 9-12 credits of required BSSW Program coursework per semester, plus 12 credits of upper division electives across any fall, spring or summer semesters. The BSSW Program upper division coursework takes 2 years to complete full time.
Part time students will take 6-9 credits of required BSSW Program coursework per semester, plus 12 credits of upper division electives across any fall, spring or summer semesters. The BSSW Program upper division coursework takes 3 years to complete full time.
Students will be accepted into either the full time or part time option at admission. If you need to change your enrollment option, please contact the Office of Social Work Student Services at [email protected].
Course Delivery Information
Students may complete the Bachelor of Science in Social Work (BSSW) Program in either the fully online or the mixed traditional course delivery option.
In the fully online course delivery option, students take all courses online and are guaranteed a spot in online sections of all required courses. Field placements and SWK 3350 agency volunteer hours are done in person, but can be done in the student’s local community. Please note: all online sections of upper division required BSSW courses have required synchronous meeting times.
In the mixed traditional course delivery option, students may take courses on campus, online, and/or in the hybrid format. While we guarantee that there will be a spot for students in a section of all required courses, we cannot guarantee that students will always get into their first choice of section. Field placements and SWK 3350 agency volunteer hours are done in person, but can be done in the student’s local community.
Students will be accepted into either the fully online or mixed traditional course delivery option at admission. If you need to change your course delivery option, please contact the Office of Social Work Student Services at [email protected].
To learn more about on campus, online, and hybrid course options, please visit our Course Delivery Information page.
Required Social Work Courses
Because the BSSW Degree is professionally-oriented, students must pass through the curriculum in a sequential manner with lower-level courses preparing them for the work and expectations of upper-level courses. The following social work courses are required after students have been accepted into the BSSW Program. Students must adhere to the required coursework. Upper Division Social Work Electives can be taken in any fall, spring, or summer term. The below plan includes suggestions of when to take upper division electives.
Required Junior Year Coursework
FALL - Junior Year
SWK 3410 Generalist Practice I (3)
SWK 3350 Social Work Experience, Practice & Communication (3) †
SWK 3050 Human Behavior & the Social Environment I (3)
SWK 3090 Philosophy of Social Work (3) *
TOTAL: 12 credits
SPRING - Junior Year
SWK 3420 Generalist Practice II (3)
SWK 3120 Privilege, Oppression & Power (3) *
SWK 3060 Human Behavior & the Social Environment II (3)
SWK 3780 Social Policy & Social Justice (3) *
Upper Division Social Work Elective (3) *
TOTAL: 15 credits
* These courses can be taken over the summer semester
† Requires approximately 3 hours/week of volunteer work for a total of 45 hours per semester.
Please see the BSSW Program Advising Chart for the part-time plan. If you need a plan that differs from the outlined full-time or part-time plan, please schedule an appointment to meet with an advisor by calling our Welcome Desk at 303-615-0555.
Required Senior Year Coursework
FALL - Senior Year
SWK 4300 Research Methods (3)
SWK 4400 Generalist Practice III (3)
SWK 4500 Professional Field Experience I (3) ‡
Upper Division Social Work Elective (3) *
TOTAL: 12 credits
SPRING - Senior Year
SWK 4310 Research Statistics (3)
SWK 4410 Generalist Practice IV (3)
SWK 4510 Professional Field Experience II (3) ‡
Upper Division Social Work Elective (3) *
Upper Division Social Work Elective (3) *
TOTAL: 15 credits
* These courses can be taken over the summer semester
‡ Requires approximately 14 hours/week of field work for a total of 200 hours per semester (400 hours per academic year)
Please see the BSSW Program Advising Chart for the part-time plan. If you need a plan that differs from the outlined full-time or part-time plan, please schedule an appointment to meet with an advisor by calling our Welcome Desk at 303-615-0555.