Social Work and Divinity

This dual degree program offered by the School of Social Work and Union Theological Seminary, leads to a Master of Science in Social Work and a Master of Divinity. Its graduates work in parish ministries, education, hospitals, with private or public social work agencies, in social action organizations, and with issues such as immigration, human rights, and economic development. This is a four-year program, with the first two years at UTS and the last two years at SSW.

Social Work Course Requirements:

>> Advanced Clinical Practice

>> Advanced Generalist Practice & Programming

>> Social Enterprise Admnistration

>> Policy Practice

Core Requirements - UTS

Bible Content:

• Those without good knowledge of the Bible are required to take one-point elective courses, one each in the content of the Old Testament and New Testament.

• Students may opt-out of these courses by passing the Bible content exam(s). These content courses are also open as electives to students not required to take them for their program.

Bible courses (9 pts):

• OT 101 (3 pts) in first year

• NT 101 (3 pts) in first year

• OT/NT Exegesis (3 pts) taken in the second year in tandem with relevant three point course in the Arts of Ministry field.

History of Christianity (6 pts):

• CH 107 (2 pts) History of Christianity Part 1: The Church of the First Millennium (100-1000)

• CH 108 (2 pts) History of Christianity Part 2: Intro. to Western European Church History (c. 1000- c. 2000)

• CH 109 (2 pts) History of Christianity Part 3: Since the Reformation.

Theological Field (6 pts):

• ST 103 or 104 (3 pts)

• One additional 3pt course (can be ST 103 or ST 104)

Arts of Ministry Field (6 pts):

• CW 201 or another 3 pt course in tandem with the Exegesis course, taught in the second year

• One additional Arts of Ministry course

Field Education (6 pts):

• FE 103-104, normally completed in the second year

• 3 points in a WORLD RELIGIONS course

Thesis or Senior Project or Additional Electives (6 pts)

Program Focus

A feature of the new M.Div. degree called "program focus" will allow the student to concentrate studies on a professional track or specialized interest. After the First Year (or finishing the first third of the program if on a part-time basis), the student selects a program focus from several the faculty will have approved. Templates of foci will be developed by the faculty to guide students and advisors in organizing programs of study. Examples might be parish or pastoral ministry, or theology and arts, a particular academic discipline, or liberation theologies, or psychiatry and religion. In every case a program focus will attempt to provide for coherence around an organizing idea for one's study plan. If no template for a focus is set up, a student will be able to devise a unique focus with careful planning with a faculty advisor and the approval of the academic dean.

Much of that which new students will accomplish in a program focus can be achieved through the current catalog's provisions for an option of a specialization. If you are presently working on a specialization, continue planning your studies with your advisor.

City Courses

Perhaps the newest thing in the new curriculum is the requirement that new students will take two courses, in our short-hand called "the City courses." One course, to be offered only to new students in the fall will be "Christianities in the City." Starting year after next, in spring 2006, the second course, "Other Religions in the City" will be offered. For students entering in '04, the first of these courses will be required. For students entering fall '05 both shall be required. Note that they are not located within a particular Field and that it is the faculty's plan that many professors will participate in taking a turn in planning and teaching these courses on the City. An important aim here is to put this course and the M.Div. curriculum firmly in Union's urban and pluralistic context.

Because these classes would become too large, continuing students will not be permitted to enroll in the City courses.

Time Line

The M.Div. is a three-year program, but some students pursue studies on a part-time basis. Still, the faculty has devised the new curriculum as in three segments, usually First Year, Second Year, Third Year. For the part-timer, the first third of the program will ordinarily be completed before proceeding to the next stage, at whatever pace one might be working. The new requirements will normally be completed as follows:

• First Year or First Third - OT 101 and NT 101, "City 1" and "City 2", ST 103 and/or ST 104 or CH 107-108-109.

• Second Year or Second Third - completion of all required foundational courses and field education.

• Elective courses (including those courses toward a program focus) can be taken each year, especially the third year.

The new M.Div. curriculum will have some flexibility for part-time students, but it obviously intends to give more specific direction to the student about when certain courses are to be taken. For continuing students, rules in place when you started the degree are the ones that apply to you.

For more specific information about being a dual degree student at UTS contact Jennifer Thompson, Director of Admissions at [email protected].

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