Social Work

• Ninety-eight percent of Gannon social work graduates apply and are accepted into graduate schools of social work, many of them top ten schools. In the past five years, graduates have been accepted to Columbia University, Case Western Reserve University’s Mandel School of Applied Social Science, the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work, University of Michigan School of Social Work, New York University Silver School of Social Work and the University of Geneva. 
• Students who graduate with a 3.0 GPA in the social work concentration can achieve advance standing upon acceptance into a graduate school of social work. Most students can earn their graduate degree in 12-18 months.
• Social work students have the opportunity each year to apply for and acquire paid internships.
• The Social Work Club hosts one of the largest single-day Christmas celebrations for the underserved and homeless residents of Erie, serving a hot Christmas dinner to 500-600 guests, while also providing gifts for children and clothing for individuals and families.

You Will Learn

The practice of professional social work requires an array of skills and knowledge that permits one to help individuals with personal or family issues, organize and empower community groups and affect local, state and federal policy. Students in our program, which is accredited by the Council on Social Work Education, are prepared to work competently in multicultural systems, to assess and evaluate organizations and communities and to conceptualize the interdependence and interrelationship of our global community. Students are encouraged to become community leaders, to passionately pursue excellence in the allocation and provision of needed services and to diligently and deliberately become advocates for the disadvantaged and clients in their ecologies.

You Will Experience

Field education has been designated by the Council on Social Work Education as the signature pedagogy within undergraduate social work curricula. Gannon’s urban location facilitates internship opportunities with a variety of health and human services agencies, many of them within walking distance of campus.  A growing number of our field education sites now offer paid internships. Internships are available for social work students at the following locations:

• Erie Community Correction Center 
• Erie County Office of Children & Youth
• Erie County Office of Mental Health & Intellectual Disabilities
• Erie Family Center for Child Development
• Erie School District
• Gaudenzia Erie
• L’Arche
• local government
• Martin Luther King Center
• Mental Health Association of NW PA
• Shriner’s Hospital for Children
• United Way of Erie County 
• UPMC Hamot
• YMCA

You Will Achieve

The social work program provides a solid foundation of knowledge, skills and critical thinking that prepares our graduates to work in various career areas. Such opportunities include, but are not limited to, the following:

• child and family development organizations
• child welfare organizations
• criminal justice
• forensic social work
• geriatric social work
• international social work
• medical and public health
• mental health organizations
• neighborhood revitalization and sustainability initiatives
• organizations for the developmentally disabled
• rehabilitation and recovery from alcohol and other drugs
• school-based social work
• substance abuse intervention

You Will Earn

Salaries in the field vary depending on the location and type of organization.

• Starting salary: $33,000
• Mid-career salary: $46,600

You Will Study