Overview

The Minor in Social Work & Community Development promotes active learning and students’ understanding of the dynamics of the social work and community development. The minor is an interdisciplinary program intended to provide LAU students with the knowledge, tools, and practical experience to play a proactive role in social work and community development. The program is designed in response to the mounting needs of local and international NGOs for community social workers. In particular, a minor in Social Work and Community Development complements majors in the social sciences, communication arts, education, economics, business, political science and management.

Program Objectives

At the completion of the Minor in Social Work & Community Development, graduates should be able to:

1. practice social work by serving communities as guided by professional ethics,
2. integrate scholarship into practice through an evidence-based process, and
3. embrace the principles of lifelong learning, social justice, and human diversity.

Learning Outcomes

Graduates of the Minor in Social Work & Community Development should be able to:

1. explain how social work in a variety of areas is practiced with various population groups, with special emphasis on community development skills within a life-long learning framework (e.g., capacity building, need assessment, conflict resolution and resource mobilization as well as other intervention modalities),
2. describe how the person-environment perspective is used to work with communities of various backgrounds,
3. recognize how the necessary values and ethical principles of the profession of social work are applied (e.g., social justice, human dignity, and equality), and
4. apply intervention modalities such as capacity building, need assessment, conflict resolution and resource mobilization.

Curriculum

A total of 18 credits are required to graduate with a Minor in Social Work & Community Development, distributed as follows:

• Core Courses (9 credits)
• Elective Courses (9 credits)

Core Courses (9 credits)

• SWO201 Introduction to Social Work
• SWO210 Introduction to Community Development
• SWO322 Field Work Experience I

Elective Courses (9 credits)

• SOC201 Introduction to Sociology
• SOC203 Citizenship & Leadership
• SOC311 Social Problems: Stratification & Marginalization
• SWO301 Sociological Perspectives in Social Work
• SWO302 Psychological Perspectives in Social Work
• SWO313 Family & Child Welfare
• SWO350 Social & Welfare Policies
• SWO411 Sustainable Community Development: Theories & Practice