Social Service

The Social Service minor requires five credits in courses focusing on topics central to careers in social work, such as contemporary racial/ethnic issues in society, social inequality and social class, and governmental institutions and their relations to social services.

A core element of the Social Service minor is actual work with a socially disadvantaged group in the community. Students pursuing a minor in social service complete an internship with a social service agency in Galesburg. Recent internships in Galesburg have been conducted at:

• Initiative for Girls, a program for teens
• Safe Harbor, a domestic violence agency
• Knox County Housing Authority
• Lutheran Social Services' Single Parent Program
• Department of Children and Family Services

Resources

Aside from the minor in social service, a great majority of Knox students get involved in giving back to the Galesburg community and to their hometown communities. The resources that are greatly beneficial to Social Service minors are also available to students campus-wide.

At Knox, students have a number of clubs and organizations that revolve around social service:

• Alpha Phi Omega
• Habitat for Humanity
• KARES (Knox Advocates for Recycling and Environmental Support)
• Student Health Advocacy Group

Knox also has a Center for Community Service to coordinate on- and off-campus volunteer opportunities for students.In addition to campus-wide resources—such as libraries and technology—that are available to all students and faculty, students in the Social Service program are provided with equipment and work spaces for transcribing social interviews, extensive reading material on career planning, and files of information on opportunities for graduate study, field schools, off-campus programs, internships and the like.