Human Services

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  • Story Spotlight

    Millikin University's Big Blue Pantry provides non-perishable food items, hygiene products and school supplies to students who are food insecure. Through their work, students can spend their time focusing on academics instead of worrying about their next meal.

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Career Paths

Program Highlights

This major provides you with the cross-disciplinary perspective necessary for launching a career or graduate study in the fields of social work or human services. Work practice in these fields applies values, principles and techniques to:

  • help people obtain tangible services;
  • provide counseling and psychotherapy with individuals, families and groups;
  • help communities or groups provide or improve social and health services; and
  • participate in legislative processes.

To be effective in the field of social work, you must have knowledge of several distinct domains of study, including:

  • human development and behavior;
  • social, economic and cultural institutions; and
  • the interaction between each of these factors.

    Students earning a degree in human services often are attracted to one of several career tracks:

  • Personal services, such as counseling, rehabilitation, recreation or religion.
  • Protection services, such as public health service, courts, law enforcement, consumer protection or firefighting.
  • Information or advising services, such as financial counseling, hotlines or libraries.
  • Maintenance services, such as child care, unemployment assistance, public welfare or Social Security programs.

  • Human services is a broader field of study than social work, largely because it includes other social services such as law enforcement, library services and housing code enforcement, as well as programs traditionally classified as social welfare services.

    Plans of Study

  • Human Services, BA
  • Human Services, BS

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