BORICUA COLLEGE | MASTER OF SCIENCE DEGREE

Human Services Program

(HEGIS: 2101)
Minimum Required Credits: 40

Goal: Graduates can demonstrate self-awareness and competency in human services management policy making and research.

 Objectives:

  1. Demonstrate mastery of an integrated framework of intellectual competencies necessary for advanced training and research in human services.

  2. Demonstrate mastery of an integrated framework of affective skills and system of humanistic values necessary for leadership, in human services.

  3. Demonstrate mastery of an integrated framework of intellectual and affective competencies used in human service research, policy making and program implementation.

  4. Demonstrate mastery of an integrated framework of intellectual, affective and psychomotor competencies used to understand and master complex social problems, public policies and public programs.

  5. Demonstrate mastery of an integrated framework of intellectual, affective and psychomotor competencies used to comprehend multicultural social problems, public policies and human services programs.

NOTE: The Human Services Program (M.S.) requires completion of a minimum of 40 credits of course work described below with a 2.0 GPA, on a mastery level-based on assessment rubrics developed for each course.

Academic program plan for Boricua College's Master of Science in Human Services, including fall and spring cycle courses, requirements, and study modules.

  • Students will be able to demonstrate their ability with the affective skills of receiving, responding and valuing as the means for understanding “small-group” theory, group membership, formation, growth, and termination, as well as the application of techniques appropriate to each stage of group development.

  • Students will be able to demonstrate a high level of affective competencies, through the examination of the philosophical, economic, and political forces that shaped the social welfare systems of the U.S.

Colloquium

Small group colloquia are designed to provide students with an opportunity to demonstrate their self-awareness and Mastery of the Affective Skills of receiving (listening and reading), responding (speaking and writing) and expressing their values, feelings and emotions in understanding the generic principles of the liberal arts and sciences.

Experiential Studies

These courses concentrate on the “psychomotor” dimension of learning and  compliments the cognitive and affective skills developed in individualized instruction and colloquium.  These sequences of courses evolve from perceptual enrichment through sensory awareness and physical development to instrumental and complex skills where the cognitive and affective dimensions integrate with the psychomotor.

  • Through five structured workshops, students will develop through practice competency in the research techniques of data collection and data analysis as applied to social, demographic and clinical practice; field observation techniques, creation of interview schedules, introduction to the software application package SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Science) and its use in Statistical and demographic data analysis; and the use of the DMS IV criteria for clinical diagnosis.

  • Through the use of carefully selected, supervised clinical internships, students will demonstrate their ability to use highly sophisticated strategies of the “helping process” to assist client systems: individuals, groups, and communities.

Theoretical Studies

  • At the end of this course, students will be able to demonstrate research methods in sociology, psychology, and economics as applied to Human Services planning. Special attention will be given to high level techniques of questionnaire development, statistical sampling and analysis, survey analysis (descriptive and explanatory types) and the use of computer assisted software packages for social research.

  • A comparative study of Personality Theory including those with a psychoanalytic-dynamic orientation (Adler, Horney, Sullivan, Fromm); cognitive oriented theories (Rogers, Lewin, Piaget), and behaviorists theories (Dollard and Miller, Skinner).

Cultural Studies

The College believes that affirmation of students’ culture is essential to their learning process; Cultural Studies courses supplement as context for the learning processes of the previous four types of courses.

  • Students will be able to demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of the social, economic and political systems in the urban environment of New York City, and how these systems can contribute to a healthy quality of life, and how public health policy and practice responds appropriately to particular client populations.

  • Students will be able to demonstrate understanding of and skill in the “oral history” methods of research. Biographies, personal documents and testimonies are utilized. Students will also identify ethical issues linked to oral history and reports and identify their relationship to descriptive research methodology.

Independent Studies

  • By written approval of the Academic Administration based on a comprehensive study plan related to counseling practice, program management or project plan.

Individualized Instruction

The Individualized Instruction courses in the Generic Studies Core Curriculum program require students to demonstrate self-awareness and mastery in the use of critical, intellectual skills necessary for understanding the generic principles of the liberal arts and sciences. At Boricua College, the study of these mental processes is referred to as Cognitive Science.

  • Students are expected to complete a set of three Instructional Modules that demonstrate their ability to integrate the intellectual skills of Comprehension and Application; Analysis and Synthesis, and Evaluation. The subject matter of the Modules focus on the historical antecedents and philosophical principles underlying Social Welfare Policy in the U.S. leading to the emergence of social services and the profession of Human Services.

  • Students will be able to demonstrate understanding of the psychological forces in the urban environment that shape the delivery of human services. Works of Robert Gifford, Harold Proshansky, Leanne Rivlin, Kurt Lewin, Roger Barker and others are presented, and understood through the application of the College’s taxonomy of critical thinking intellectual skills. The student will be able to demonstrate competency in the joint mental processes of comprehension-application, analysis-synthesis, and evaluation by internal evidence-evaluation by external criteria.