Human Services Concentration

Develop the knowledge you need to make informed decisions when improving the lives of individuals and creating positive lasting changes in society. Prepare for a career promoting physical and mental health through prevention, outreach, community efforts, and public administration.

Why Study Human Services at Albion?

The Human Services Concentration was established in 1976 to provide students with an experience that allows them to apply their academic experiences in applied helping professional settings. As a human services concentrator at Albion, you’ll pursue an interdisciplinary program of study designed to prepare you for a career in a helping field.

You’ll take courses in four different areas of competence–client populations, health, organizational structures, and public policy and diversity in human services–and learn about underrepresented populations, administration, public policy, ethics, and practice. Then, you’ll have the opportunity to start doing the work of improving lives–all before you graduate.

Community Collaboration

You’ll take a survey course that explores the many roles and functions of the human service professional, the types of agencies where human service professionals are employed, and the problems and prescriptions for social care, social control, and social rehabilitation. You’ll work on a project with community members as you develop your professional identity as a human service professional.

Practicum

As part of your concentration requirements, you’ll gain hands-on experience in a one-unit practicum internship. Human services concentrators have previously interned in private social agencies, family agencies, public health offices, community health centers, institutions serving children and teenagers, churches and church-related institutions, crisis intervention agencies, state and local governments, and other community organizations.

Research

As a human services concentrator, you’ll have the opportunity to pursue research independently or in collaboration with faculty mentors. You can share your findings with the campus community at the Elkin R. Isaac Research Symposium, Albion’s annual celebration of excellence in student research, scholarship, and creative activity.

What Will You Learn as a Human Services Concentrator?

You’ll learn the foundations of human services, including its philosophy, methods, and applications, and examine the values that animate a career in a helping field.

You’ll take courses from a range of disciplines and departments–communications studies, psychology, sociology, economics and management, kinesiology, philosophy, religious studies, and education–creating a pathway that compliments your unique interests and career goals.

You’ll apply all you’ve learned to an internship in the field of human services.

The study of human services opens up a broad range of career opportunities in fields that empower individuals and improve society, from counseling and advocacy work to healthcare and policy development. Many of our students go on to pursue graduate school, while others begin their professional careers straight out of college. Below are examples of some of the professions our students choose, as well as graduate programs our students have recently attended.

Job Titles

• Case Worker
• Counselor
• Family Court Advocate
• Crisis Support Worker
• Social Worker
• Public Policy Consultant
• Childcare Provider
• Probation Officer
• Behavioral Management Aide
• Occupational Therapist
• School Psychologist

Graduate Schools

• Master of Social Work Master’s programs at the University of Michigan, Michigan State University, Wayne State University, and Western Michigan University
• Ph.D. in School Psychology programs at Michigan State University and Central Michigan University
• M.A. in Forensic Psychology at Roger Williams University
• Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology programs at Wayne State and the University of Massachusetts
• Speech Pathology program at Central Michigan University
• Psy.D. Program at University of Hartford, CT