Human Services, B.S.

The Bachelor of Science in Human Services program is designed to prepare students for entry- and mid-level positions in a wide array of human services organizations. Coursework is designed around three primary areas: general education core, human services core, and electives.

General Education core courses help students develop broad skills specifically identified by employers throughout our region as being essential for success in the human services field. Those include writing, public speaking, ethics, and computer literacy, among others.

Human Services core courses help students develop competence in the broader areas of the human services profession such as conducting intakes and assessments, interviewing and counseling, case management, and advocacy. These competencies are used by human services professionals in a wide array of careers and are generally applicable to the broad spectrum of human services positions.

Electives, chosen in conjunction with the advisor, enable the students to focus their degree on a specific area of interest within the profession. These include, among other areas: children and youth, disability studies, substance abuse, domestic violence, veterans service and services, rehabilitation, criminal justice and gerontology.

Early in their program, students will have exposure to the field through a 180-hour internship where they will apply their recent learning at a local human service organization and experience first-hand the day-to-day practices of human service professionals. During their senior year, students will participate in a capstone project. For this project, students will:

• Perform a 120-hour fieldwork experience where they will integrate the knowledge, theory, skills and professional behaviors that they have learned and developed in the classroom; and
• Concurrent with a second fieldwork experience of 60 hours, use these experiences, together with research of current human services issues, to identify and conduct a comprehensive, yet focused, research project. The project will identify an issue, problem, information gap, or creative endeavor that the student will explore, research, evaluate, and present in a final paper.

Through our extensive connections to the regional human service community, we seek to match students for their internship and field work experience with organizations that offer the services that they would ultimately like to provide during their careers.

Students earning a Bachelor of Science in Human Services degree are prepared to make a significant contribution to the human services workforce, the people they serve, and their community. Others may choose to continue their studies in a range of master’s level programs including Human Services, Counseling, Social Work, Psychology, Rehabilitation, Youth Development, Gerontology, Criminal Justice, and Education among many others.

Program Outcomes

Upon successful completion of all program requirements, graduates will be able to:

1. Describe key historical events in the development of human services and their implications for practice.
2. Analyze human systems theories and their interactions.
3. Distinguish among the conditions that promote or inhibit human functioning.
4. Analyze service system needs, develop plans of actions, and evaluate outcomes.
5. Design person-centered intervention plans and programs that honor the individual’s right to self-determination.
6. Evaluate information resources to optimize service provision.
7. Employ interpersonal skills that reflect an autonomy orientation to service provision.
8. Apply evidence-based models of organizational management and leadership in human services delivery systems.
9. Adhere to professional and ethical standards in practice.
10. Communicate ethically, responsibly, and effectively in writing and when speaking.

Graduation Requirements

Students must complete all the general Bachelor graduation requirements as stated in the catalog. In addition, students must complete all Human Services core courses and PHIL 105  with a minimum grade of “C” in each course and have a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.3.