Forging new paths

School explores benefits of adding BSW program

by Matthew Smith

For its more than 100-year history, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Social Work has served the state in a unique way with its graduate school programs. 

Since becoming an accredited member of the Council on Social Work Education in 1952, the School has developed generations of social workers through its master’s programs — now totaling four pathways with its online MSW degree — and, since 1993, its doctoral program. 

Carolina is the only campus in the state to solely offer graduate degree programs in social work, but that may be about to change. 

Due to extreme demand from both the state’s workforce and potential students, School leaders are exploring the opportunity of adding a Bachelor of Social Work program.  

After forming in 2022, the School’s BSW Feasibility Task Force — made up of faculty, staff and community partners — will see its labor come to fruition this fall when faculty members vote on whether to approve a bachelor’s program at November’s Faculty Senate meeting. 

The historic vote could not only change the trajectory of the School, but reshape an untold number of lives across the state. 

Why now? 

The biggest question from students, faculty, staff and alumni during the feasibility study process has been straightforward — why now? 

Simply put, it comes down to demand.  

The study has identified tremendous need by the state for social workers. The field is forecasted to grow by 12% by 2030 in North Carolina, averaging more than 2,000 job openings per year.  

While older forecasts suggested an oversupply of social workers in the United States, changes in behavioral health care since the COVID-19 pandemic have altered that view. The pandemic increased demand for social workers in child welfare, juvenile justice, and mental health care sectors. 

In K-12 education alone, the North Carolina State Board of Education said that it needs nearly 4,000 more social workers to meet national standards. The board’s 2023 School Mental Health Policy Report noted that there’s one school social worker for every 1,033 students instead of the goal of one for every 250 students. 

“As the flagship university of our state, we have an incredible responsibility to address social work workforce demands at all levels of practice and across multiple service domains,” Dean Ramona Denby-Brinson said. 

Another key reason? The program would offer more opportunities for North Carolina students. 

The UNC System, the governing board of the state’s 16-member public university system, set a 10-year goal to increase enrollment and access. The System believes that “broader access encourages potential students to pursue higher education and provides academic, financial and cultural support for students from all walks of life.” 

The new BSW program would allow the School to help the System meet at least four of its stated goals, including serving undergraduate students, providing a new degree that can be completed in four years, offering a direct pipeline to an accelerated MSW degree, and contributing directly to workforce needs in the state.

Amy Levine, a clinical assistant professor who serves as the chair of the BSW Feasibility Task Force, sees the program as a new access point for learners. 

“Adding a BSW degree could expand access to the social work profession to students at Carolina, while also addressing the pressing needs of our state’s workforce,” she said. “Additionally, we are considering a BSW degree to respond to the University’s priority to grow our student enrollment. A BSW degree could create a clear pipeline to support enrollment in our MSW program as well.” 

Student, community benefits 

The task force shared some of the the benefits of adding a BSW program for students and community members, including access to a proven practicum program and learning under some of the top social work researchers in the country. 

School leaders believe the positives of adding a BSW program are wide-ranging, including: 

• Students: Expands access to social work careers or undergraduate students and creates a clear pathway for students who may want to explore an MSW degree in their future career.
• School: Allows the School to continue to increase its impact, expand its reach, and live out its core mission and values.  
• Community: Provides highly-trained and competent social work professionals to address the needs of individuals, families and communities across the state. 

Levine added that the School’s practicum program, which places students in real-world settings to put their knowledge into practice, will be bolstered by the addition of undergraduate students. The program contributes more than 130,000 hours to agencies and organizations throughout the state, adding an estimated value of $1.2 million in social work services annually.

“In our school, we have faculty, lab, center and institute-based researchers who are conducting research and community engagement projects in all these service domains,” Denby-Brinson said. “A Carolina BSW student will have the benefit of studying with faculty whose research is being translated locally into the programs, policies and interventions that will guide their professional careers. You cannot ask for better career preparation than that.” 

Addressing concerns 

While adding a BSW program seems to provide numerous benefits to the School, leadership continues to address concerns and considerations heading into the fall. 

Increasing pressure on faculty and staff workloads is a key concern, along with curriculum development. 

“One of the things I’ve heard most commonly from faculty and staff are concerns about the stress that a BSW degree might put on our current faculty and staff,” Levine said. “To address this, we will need to build an infrastructure to support a BSW program, as our faculty and staff are at capacity now in the work that they are doing. 

“The goal for building the BSW degree would be to progress in a way that doesn’t strain our faculty and staff in terms of research focus and teaching load. We are looking carefully at what types of roles and structures would need to be in place to effectively support a new degree program within the School.” 

The feasibility group said that the BSW major will start with existing MSW generalist courses and the School will hire or reassign faculty dedicated to the BSW degree. Hiring will start during the program development and accreditation process and scale up as the program is launched. 

New practicum sites will also be secured as capacity for placements increases.  

What’s next? 

The task force spent the summer preparing and refining financial models, engaging community partners, and using new artificial intelligence tools to prepare for expansion of the School’s practicum program. 

Denby-Brinson believes that the School can continue to achieve greatness with the addition of a BSW program. 

“We can do big and important things in all three of our mission domains — teaching, research, and outreach and engagement — and we can do them simultaneously and with excellence,” she said. “The two-year BSW feasibility study process has been methodical, inclusive, and driven by school and community expertise.  

“Although it is impossible for us to know all that is required to implement the degree program, these past two years have pointed us in the direction of being able to find answers in the most unexpected ways.” 

Levine laid out a roadmap for the decision-making process this fall, including: 

• Updating faculty and staff on progress towards financial modeling, enrollment projects, and
  practicum expansion;
• Synthesizing and delivering information gathered over the past two years and providing it to faculty and staff members;
• Hosting three virtual School-wide town halls in September and October;
• Holding the November faculty vote for program approval. 

“If the faculty agrees to pursue the program, we then enter into multiple levels of approval processes for the degree, including approval at the University level, the broader UNC System level, and CSWE accreditation,” Levine said. 

“We anticipate that these approval processes will take several months of time.” 

Levine said one of the leading goals of the task force has been to be open with the School community about the process and take feedback into consideration to strengthen the School’s approach. 

“We’ve wanted to be as transparent as possible with the information we are gathering; be responsive to questions and concerns from our School community; and engage in an inclusive information gathering and decision-making process on whether or not to pursue the BSW degree,” she said.  

“If the faculty votes to move forward with creating the degree, we would also be intentional about building enrollment cohort sizes over time so that we can address infrastructure concerns and the needs of students, faculty and staff as we build the program.”