BSW program gains accreditation

After 2016, the BSW program will have to reapply for reaccreditation. 

The faculty in the BSW program started preparing for the CSWE accreditation in 2007 when their current coordinator Isiah Marshall Jr. came to Winston-Salem State.

Marshall said that when he came to WSSU his goal was to seek accreditation for the BSW program.  

Marshall said that he helped design new courses, new curriculum and hire new faculty for the Social Work program.

The CSWE approving WSSU's program for accreditation has been a rewarding accomplishment, he said. 

"I am very happy we reached this milestone," Marshall said.

"It's been a long time coming."

During the five years the CSWE was reviewing the BSW program, it came to evaluate WSSU's social work study's major several times.   The accrediting team decided during its most recent trip  in February that the social work program had met the commission's standards and  was ready to be fully accredited.  

"We had a [CSWE] reviewer come and she found our program to be in compliance with all of their standards," Marshall said.

"They then voted in June for us to have full accreditation."

Marshall said he hopes being accredited will bring more attention and recognition to 

e school's social work program.

"We have a strong program here," Marshall said.

The BSW program is offered in the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Social Work. 

"We are so proud to have students who have really achieved since they graduated."

In recent years, BSW graduates have been accepted into many different graduate schools including the University of South Carolina, the University of Central Florida, N.C. State University, and Wake Forest University's School of Law.  

WSSU's graduates are employed in various social work agencies throughout North Carolina.

Sonja Harry, a professor in the social work program, said being accredited will only add to the success of her students.

"It looks good to graduate from an accredited program," Harry said.

"Sometimes in the job market a job may require you to have a BSW degree from an accredited university."

Harry teaches the "Human Behavior in a Social Environment" and the "Social Welfare Policy" courses.

"Hopefully we'll get more students coming in to see that social work is a great major," she said.  The program has approximately 160 majors.

Marshall said becoming accredited enables WSSU's program to compete against other local   colleges and universities with accredited social work programs, including Bennett College, N.C. A&T,  and UNC-Greenboro.

"Students that come to WSSU will no longer have to worry about not graduating with an accredited degree," he said.

"They will have that now."