Today, professional social workers continue to advocate for their clients along with performing a wide range of needed services.  Some search out adoptive and foster homes for children.  Some counsel patients and families experiencing traumatic illnesses.  Some social workers do rehabilitative work with emotionally or physically impaired people.  Others organize citizens to improve the quality of life in their neighborhoods or work for policy changes at the local, state, or federal level.  Still others assist senior citizens to make new life adjustments.  Today's social workers belong to a dynamic, involved, growing profession which struggles with social concerns as varied as child abuse, drug addiction, housing and homelessness, aging, and mental illness. They work in diverse settings such as government agencies, private industry, schools, faith-based organizations, neighborhood centers, and health care organizations.

Calvin College, with its commitment to Reformed-Christian, liberal-arts education, sees its mission as educating its students to live "the Christian life."  Jesus taught through what he said and did that the Christian life requires us to reach out to others without any thought for our own reward.  It seems natural then, since social work too is dedicated to meeting the needs of others and has learned so much through the years about professional helping, that Calvin would offer a social work curriculum.  Actually, Calvin first offered social work classes in 1934.

Today, we offer a full Bachelor of Social Work Degree Program (BSW) and are accredited by the Council on Social Work Education.  Calvin's B.S.W. curriculum integrates the teachings of the Bible with the knowledge of the social work profession to best prepare our graduates to serve others in professional settings.  This handbook includes information that Calvin students interested in social work should know about.