Baylor to Offer Master's of Social Work Degree

WACO, TEXAS -- Baylor University will offer a graduate degree in social work starting in fall of 1999. The master of social work program will consist of 63 semester hours and will require two academic years of study including a summer program.
"A lot of people have been waiting a long time for Baylor to begin a graduate program in social work," said Dr. Preston Dyer, professor of social work and sociology and director of the social work division. "Baylor will be the only Baptist university to have a graduate social work program."
"The program will be unique because it seeks to prepare its graduates to address the relationship between faith and professional social work practice," added professor of social work and graduate program director Dr. Diana Garland.
Graduate students will concentrate their study in one of two areas, family services or health services, and can choose to specialize in one area of their concentration. Possible specializations include services to families and children, gerontology, death and grief, international social work and cross-cultural services.
Students also will be required to complete two internships, one during the spring and summer semester of their first year, and the other, a 16-week practicum, during their final semester. Additionally, students will attend three weeks of capstone seminars before graduation.
Garland emphasized that the graduate program will prepare students to work in the full range of social work settings, with a special emphasis on preparation for work with congregations and in religious organizations. Even though all graduates may not work in faith-based settings, all will be prepared to integrate faith with the knowledge, values and skills of the social work profession.
Projected enrollment for the graduate program will be 75 full-time students with 30 students projected to enroll in the fall of 1999.