All Human Services graduates have taken the following four courses:

HUM 101 – Introduction to Human Services
HUM 102 – Basic Helping Skills
HUM 201 – Models of Helping
HUM 202 – Human Services Systems

In addition, during each of their four semesters, our students are required to complete an internship (115 hours) in a community agency; this provides our graduates with direct, hands-on experience with clients and exposure to the rewards and challenges of careers in Human Services.

Following is a partial list of skills and knowledge developed in the core courses:

Skills

The ability to observe human behavior accurately and objectively, report findings orally or in written form.

A repertoire of basic helping skills including relationship building, active listening, confrontation, problem resolution, and crisis intervention.

Case Management, including organization of historical information, assessing client strengths and problems, goal setting and case planning.

Self Assessment; the ability to accurately evaluate personal effectiveness changes and make necessary changes.

Basic work skills including reporting to work on time, keeping appointments, preparing for supervisory conferences, planning and organizing work, meeting deadlines, and accepting criticism as part of the learning process.

Group participation skills: the ability to work together with others, playing various roles (i.e. leader, follower, enabler, etc.) in order to achieve common goals.

Knowledge

Self-awareness; through intensive and consistent work in seminars. Human services students examine their values and the relationship of their values to their career choice.

Group process; students study and observe group dynamics in class and at fieldwork.

Agency structure; through direct experience human services students study various roles and responsibilities of professional helpers as individual and team members.

Confidentiality/professionalism; human services graduates understand the concept of professional confidence and are able to handle confidential materials in a responsible way.

The Human Services System; human services graduates have a broad base of knowledge about community resources and services; the referral process, and how the various agencies relate to each other in providing services.

Models of helping; human services graduates have studied and evaluated various models of helping, as well as methods and techniques used by professionals in the community.

Community change; human services students study how change takes place in the community and understand the factors in individuals and institutions that promote or hinder change processes.

The politics of human services; human services graduates have studied various political and parapolitical organizations in the community and understand how they relate to the structure of, and events in, the community as a whole.

Community structure; human services students study the sub-populations within this community (ethnic, religious, urban, suburban, and special interest groups for example) and how they relate to the structure of, and events in the community.

In addition to their core courses, all human services graduates take an additional 44 credit hours in the social sciences, humanities, math, science and general electives. These courses are chosen carefully with the advice of department faculty.