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Bachelor of Arts
Staging new-Social Work
Major

Help People, and Change the Systems Around Them
Learn to walk with individuals and families, and to confront the causes of injustice.
Social Work at Goshen College prepares you to work with individuals, families, groups, and communities, while addressing the structural causes of injustice. The whole program is grounded in social justice and service.
This is a hands-on accredited program. As a result, it pairs academics with real practice. Agency-based learning is integrated throughout the curriculum, culminating with a 400-hour field placement. This intensive, supervised placement happens during your senior year. This means a significant part of your final year is spent learning in a real social work setting. Weekly seminars and close faculty mentoring support you throughout this professional training.

Is Social Work Right for You?
If you want to spend your life helping people, this is a strong fit. And the demand is always there. The degree equips you to sit with families in crisis. At the same time, it equips you to engage the systems that put them there to foster system-level changes. You’ll graduate as a beginning professional social worker ready to take the Licensed Social Worker (LSW) licensure exam.
Beyond that, the field is wide open. There are over 101 possible careers in social work. For example, some graduates work in schools or child welfare, others go into mental health, crisis counseling, criminal justice, and health care.
You won’t do it alone. Goshen College keeps its classes small. Its faculty bring real practice experience. And weekly seminars guide you through your senior field placement. As a result, you’re supported through a demanding program. We welcome students of every background. So you’re a fit if you want to care for others and the common good.

What You’ll Study
- Human Behavior & Ethics: Courses that help you understand people in context and the values the profession is built on.
- Policy & Research: Students learn how systems function, shape lives and how to study them.
- Practice: Put it to work with people by working effectively with individuals, families, organizations, and communities, capped by the 400-hour supervised senior field placement.
View the complete program requirements in our catalog

400 Hours in the Field
Your first agency-based experience (20 hours) occurs in SOWK 200 Introduction to Social Work so that from the beginning of your professional education you have real-life experiences to ground your learning. Your second agency-based experience occurs in SOWK 209 Social Service Field Experience (40 hours) broadening your understanding of the range of social work practice settings. Your senior field education (SOWK 409) includes 400 hours of closely supervised beginning level practice.
At each level, real social work settings focused on enhancing human well-being for all and meeting basic human needs provide a foundation for your professional development. Students are placed in schools and after-school programs. Other settings include child welfare organizations, community mental health organizations, and Clubhouses. Some students work in long-term care for older adults while others join host organizations where social workers serve on interdisciplinary teams.
Regardless of where you chose to complete your placement, you will graduate with a strong resume and a clear sense of where you’re headed.
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Paying for Goshen
This is worth asking about early. Social work students are eligible for institutional scholarships and need-based aid, and Goshen offers generous financial support to keep your education within reach. To see your own price after aid, run the net price calculator and talk with a real person in the financial aid office. Graduates who continue into Goshen’s Master of Social Work also receive a 10% alumni discount.
View the complete program requirements in our catalog.
Common Questions About Social Work
Graduates are equipped to take the licensure exam toward becoming a Licensed Social Worker (LSW). There are over 101 possible careers, including school-based social work, child welfare, mental health and addictions, crisis counseling, criminal justice, health care, community practice, and international social work. 100% of graduates are employed, in grad school, or in service within a year.
You’ll take foundational and advanced coursework in human behavior, policy, and practice, including Human Behavior and the Social Environment, Social Welfare Policy and Programs, working with individuals, families, and groups, working with communities and organizations, Research Methods in Social Work, and Social Work Ethics, alongside the 400-hour field placement.
Every senior completes 400 hours of supervised field education in a real setting, schools, child welfare, community mental health, long-term care, or host organizations like clinics, police departments, and public health departments. It’s supported by weekly seminars and close faculty mentoring, so you reflect on the work while you do it and graduate ready to practice.
Social work students are be eligible for institutional scholarships and need-based aid. Use the net price calculator on the financial aid page for your real number, and a counselor can help. Graduates also enter Goshen’s Master of Social Work at advanced standing, on an accelerated timeline and with a 10% alumni discount.
Start your application at the Goshen College apply page, or request information first if you’d like to talk through fit, the field placement, or careers in social work before committing. Schedule a visit to meet the faculty. Admission to Goshen is the first step into the major.
Students have completed their 400-hour field placement at organizations across the region, including Ryan’s Place, Goshen Intermediate School, Cora Dale House, the Elkhart Police Department, and Oaklawn. Placements span schools, family and grief support, community mental health, and law enforcement, so you can build hands-on experience in the setting closest to the population you want to serve.
Students have completed their 400-hour field placement at organizations across the region, including but not limited to:
- Bashor Children’s Home
- Boys and Girls Club of Elkhart County
- Elkhart County Unified Family Court
- Greencroft Goshen
- Healthy Beginnings, Elkhart County Health Department
- LaCasa
- Lexington House
Ready to get started?
Sister Veronica Adeduro
Associate Professor of Nursing
Phil Allman
Professor of Marine Biology
Andy Ammons
Professor of Biology
Hilary Arroyo
Assistant Professor of Nursing
Jessica Baldanzi
Professor of English
Department ChairManu Bhattarai
Assistant Professor of Physics
Amanda Borden
Assisant Professor of Public Health
Diana Boussom
Assistant Professor of American Sign Language
Rob Brenneman
Professor of Criminal Justice and Sociology
Deena Brissett
Assistant Professor of Nursing
Amy Budd
Associate Professor of Theater
Cheryl Caffee
Associate Professor of Nursing
Matthew Cloud
Visiting Assistant Professor of Chemistry
Andrew Clouse
Assistant Professor of Nursing
Brianna Conery
Assistant Professor of Nursing
Courtney Cotter
Assistant Professor of Social Work
Justin DeWeese
Assistant Professor of Kinesiology
Mark Douglass
Associate Professor of Music
Suzanne Ehst
Associate Academic Dean
Interdisciplinary Major Advisor
Patrick Farran
Associate Professor of Business
Nata Fontan
Assistant Professor of Social Work
Cristobal Garza Gonzalez
Associate Professor of Spanish
Colleen Geier
Professor of ASL Interpreting
Philipp Gollner
Professor of US History
Anna Groff
Associate Professor of Communication
Jeanette Harder
Program Director of the Masters Program of Social Work and Professor of Social Work
Jason Harrison
Assistant Professor of Business
Andrew Hartzler
Professor of Accounting
Matthew Hill
Professor of Music
Scott Hochstetler
Professor of Music
Michelle Horning
Professor of Accounting
Program Director
Department ChairDavid Housman
Professor of Mathematics
Department ChairKyle Hufford
Professor of Communication
Department ChairRoy Jackson
Associate Professor of Education
Luke Kreider
Associate Professor of Religion and Sustainability
Joe Kreider
Visiting Assistant Professor of English
Jewel Lehman
Professor of Kinesiology
Brooke Lemmon
Professor of Education
Director of Special EducationJeanne Liechty
Professor of Social Work
Department ChairAlysha Liljeqvist
Associate Professor of Business
Joey Lyon
Assistant Professor of Computer Science
Alicia Maldonado-Zahra
Scholar Activist Fellow
Kathryn Marsh
Visiting Associate Professor of Mathematics
Terry Martin
Associate Professor of Spanish
Sara Method
Associate Professor of Art
Elizabeth Miller
Director of the Institute for the Study of Global Anabaptism
Assistant Professor of History
& Convocation CoordinatorBeth Miller
Professor of Nursing
Raquel Montanez Gonzalez
Associate Professor of Biology
Jorge Montenegro Martinez
Assistant Professor of Business
Breanna Nickel
Associate Professor of Bible & Religion
Julie Reese
Professor of Psychology
Department ChairPaul Reimer
Professor of Physics
Department ChairJerrell Richer
Professor of Economics
Carl Kreider Chair and Co-Director of Global EngagementBrandon Sanchez Bravo
Visiting Assistant Professor of History
Jonathon Schramm
Professor of Sustainability and Environmental Education
Department ChairKatie Schramm
Assistant Professor of Nursing
Amanda Sensenig
Associate Professor of Psychology
Susan Setiawan
Professor of Nursing
Regina Shands Stoltzfus
Professor of Peace
Justice
and Conflict StudiesDan Smith
Professor of Chemistry
Department ChairRobina Sommers
Associate Professor of Education
Solomia Soroka
Professor of Music
Steven Thalheimer
Associate Professor of Education
Department ChairJennifer Van Fleet
Assistant Professor of Nursing
Randi Warren
Nursing Simulation Coordinator
Danae Wirth
Assistant Professor of Education
Roz Woll
Associate Professor of Music
Tiffany Wyse-Fisher
Associate Professor of Art
Jewel Yoder
Professor of Nursing
Department ChairKendra Yoder
Professor of Sociology
RJS and Co-Director of Global EngagementEyob Zeleke
Assistant Professor of Information Technology








































































