Welcome to the North Carolina Central University Department of Social Work! The department is one of 11 units that make up the College of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities. We offer both undergraduate (B.S.W.) and graduate (M.S.W.) programs. The M.S.W. program offers two options; a traditional two-year option and an advanced standing option. Advanced standing allows students who hold the B.S.W. degree from a program accredited by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) to earn the M.S.W. degree in one year if they meet the requirements for admission. Both the B.S.W. and M.S.W. programs are accredited by CSWE, the governing body for all social work education programs in the United States.
The number one priority for faculty in the Department of Social Work is student success. We are equally committed to student retention, graduation and preparing students to compete in the workforce. Advisement is critical to retaining and graduating students. In the fall of 2022, one of the faculty took on the task of starting a mentoring program as an additional effort to retain students. Twenty-six students completed the mentoring program, Transforming Social Work Through Mentoring (TSTM). A pinning ceremony was held in the spring of 2023 to recognize the student mentees and the alumni who served as mentors.
The department is home to over 120 graduate students and over 100 undergraduate students. We have very talented faculty who are engaged in scholarship, teaching and service, including three full-time tenure track faculty, four full-time faculty who are tenured and seven full-time clinical lecturers. Our adjunct faculty are licensed clinical social work practitioners who work in various social work settings and/or are in private practice.
Our primary goal is to prepare our students to be culturally competent and ethical social work practitioners at the generalist level of practice (B.S.W.) and at the advanced generalist level of practice (M.S.W.). Both our B.S.W. and M.S.W. students benefit from the experiential learning that occurs in their field practicum experience. We are fortunate to have dedicated social workers from more than 80 agencies who volunteer their time to supervise and prepare our students for the profession of social work.
These are exciting times in the department as we think about the future and growth. We are in the planning stage of offering an online doctorate in social work (D.S.W.) degree and an online part-time option in the M.S.W. program.
Our efforts to ensure that our students are successful and prepared for the workforce will always be at the forefront of our work in academia.
Blenda R. Crayton, Ph.D., M.S.W.
Chair, Department of Social Work