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Any student can declare social work a major. We encourage you to do so as early in your academic career as possible. The Chairperson will create a "Social Work Program of Study" for you that outlines what classes you need to take in what semester in order to graduate. While this does not replace the status sheet your counselor fills out with you, it does give you a sense of being able to plan what you will do up to three years in advance.

Once you declare social work as a major you have the status of "tracking major." After you complete the OLC Core Curriculum and Sowk 203 - Foundations of Social Work, you will fill out the "Advanced Major Application." You can download that application by clicking on the link in the column to the left. You must meet the criteria listed in the first page of the application to be admitted to "Advanced Major."

Please be clear about the difference between "Tracking Major" and "Advanced Major."

Stipends Anyone???

The Department of Social Work is working with the South Dakota Department of Social Services (DSS) to create an opportunity for students to be paid a stipend for going to school. For each year of financial support (tuition, fees & books) the student agrees to work for DSS for a year. Once the contract is signed there will be enough funding to support three students full-time for two years or six students full-time for one year.

Accreditation News:

At their June 2007 meeting, the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) voted to admit the OLC Social Work Program into candidacy. ON April 7 & 8, 2008, we had our second CSWE Commissioner visit and the program was found to be in compliance with all standards. The Commission will vote to accept OLC's Benchmark II document in June 2008. If they do this, the department will prepare Benchmark III, a draft of the final self-study due in 2010.

We have one more commissioner visit in 2009, and then a full site visit in winter 2010. If we continue to meet the benchmark standards, we expect the Commission to vote to accredit us in June, 2010. Once accreditation is earned, all graduates of the program will be considered to have graduated from a CSWE accredited program.

Message from the Chairperson:

The social work program at OLC is seeking to change the face of social work on the reservation. We are working with students and community to found social work in a vision of the future. This vision forms what we do in the program.

We do our best to create the program within the understanding that everything is inter-related and sacred. While all systems of belief are honored in the OLC Social Work Program, the guidance offered by Woope Sakowin, the seven sacred laws is foundational. What professional social work within the Lakota world looks like will take a number of years to form.

Vision Statement

In line with the OLC vision, the Department of Social Work seeks to educate students to be part of social change processes that more equitably distribute scarce economic and social resources as part of making life better for members of the Oglala Lakota People on the Pine Ridge Reservation.

Mission Statement

The Department of Social Work’s mission is to facilitate students to develop the necessary ethics, skills and knowledge to (1) enter beginning professional social work practice, and (2) over time creatively move into leadership roles within tribal, state, and federal organizations that focus on the health and well-being of the Lakota people.

I welcome any inquiries concerning the program.

Jeffrey Olson, MSW, Ph.D

Department of Social Work

Oglala Lakota College

PO Box 490

Kyle, SD 57752

605-455-6055 - Office

605-454-1513 - Cell

jolson@olc.edu