Human Services
Whether you have years of experience in human services or are just starting your career, the UWW Interdisciplinary Studies program will help you finish your bachelor’s degree online with a focus in human services.
You can tailor your degree with courses in child development, adult development, substance abuse services, child psychology, abnormal psychology, family systems, intellectual disabilities, social work, domestic violence, sociology of mental health, juvenile justice, public policy issues, financial management, program evaluation and more.
Program Benefits
- You’re in the Driver’s Seat: Design your own degree concentration through your perfect mix of 100% online courses, and optional blended and on-campus offerings to fit your busy life. Plus, most of our courses are asynchronous, meaning you can complete them on your schedule.
- Accelerate Your Degree: Bring in or earn up to 105 credits for your prior coursework, prior learning, and life and work experience to accelerate your degree, saving you time and money.
- Cross Disciplinary Boundaries: Craft your individualized degree concentration to suit your goals and interests, from taking online courses in health to study health and human services, to focusing on online business courses to learn about human services administration.
- Community College Friendly: Learn about the Mass Transfer Gen Ed Foundation and benefit from our 50-year history of support for community college students.
- Boston Children's Hospital and Mass General Brigham employees: Receive a 10% discount and more. Learn more about how you can benefit from our employer partnerships.
Your Future in Human Services
With an Interdisciplinary Studies degree focused in human services, you will advance your career in high-demand human services and social services jobs in human services administration, child and youth services, child protective service, victim advocacy, social work, disability services, family support, elder care, counseling, mental health, and substance abuse.
We are not a social work, counseling, human services, or psychology licensure program in the state of Massachusetts. For out of state students, it has not been determined whether our program meets your state’s requirements for professional licensure in these fields. If you are seeking any type of licensure, our staff member Siobhan Henderson is happy to help you identify the state board or agency you will need to contact to determine if our program meets your state’s requirements.
- 22%: Projected employment growth for substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health counselors from 2018 to 2028—much faster than average
- $50,470: Median annual wage for social workers (while some categories of social worker/human service worker only required a bachelor's, some require more advanced education).
- $67,150: Median annual wage for social and community service managers.
Flexible, Cross-Disciplinary Courses
You will take courses taught by distinguished instructors from the UMass School of Public Health and Health Sciences, the UMass Isenberg School of Management, the UMass College of Education, the departments of Psychology and Sociology, and more.
To give you an idea of the types of online human services and related courses that you could choose from, here is a sampling offered over the past few years.
Dept | Number | Title |
---|---|---|
EDUC | 306 | Educational Psychology |
EDUC | 325 | Introduction to Special Education |
EDUC | 529 | Foundations of Multi-Tiered Systems of Support |
EDUC | 562 | Abnormal Child & Adolescent Psychology |
EDUC | 591F | Leadership & Organizational Behavior: Theory and Practice for Counselors, Educators, and Mental Health Professionals |
EDUC | 594M | Child and Adolescent Development For the Helping Professional |
PSYCH | 281 | Eating Disorders |
PSYCH | 327 | Disability Advocacy and Its History |
PSYCH | 350 | Developmental Psychology |
PSYCH | 355 | Adolescent Psychology |
PSYCH | 365 | Psychology of Aging |
PSYCH | 368 | Health Psychology |
PSYCH | 387 | Autism Spectrum Disorder |
PSYCH | 391DG | Disability Identity: Intersections of Race, Gender and Sexuality |
PSYCH | 391MT | Multicultural Perspectives on Mental Health |
PSYCH | 391ND | Neurodegenerative Diseases and the Aging Brain |
PSYCH | 395E | Introduction to Early Intervention |
PSYCH | 395N | Autism, Neurodiversity and Identity |
PSYCH | 480 | Intellectual Disability: Concepts and Controversies |
PSYCH | 535 | Drugs and Behavior |
PUBHLTH | 129 | Health Care For All |
PUBHLTH | 340 | LGBTQ Health |
PUBHLTH | 372 | Maternal and Child Health |
HPP | 507 | Violence as a Public Health Issue |
SOCIOL | 103 | Social Problems |
SOCIOL | 106 | Race, Gender, Class & Ethnicity |
SOCIOL | 222 | The Family |
SOCIOL | 224 | Social Class and Inequality |
SOCIOL | 242 | Drugs & Society |
SOCIOL | 328 | Introduction to Social Work |
SOCIOL | 345 | Juvenile Delinquency |
SOCIOL | 364 | Sociology of Mental Health |
SOCIOL | 374 | Gender, Crime, and Families |
SOCIOL | 382 | Sociology of Childhood |
SOCIOL | 395K | Domestic Violence |
SPP | 590STC | Topics in Disability Policy |
UWW | 304 | Introduction to Counseling |
UWW | 361 | Introduction to Deaf Studies |
UWW | 362 | Contemporary Issues in Human Services |
UWW | 375 | Sexual Violence: Multidisciplinary & Anti-Oppression Approaches |
UWW | 377 | Child Abuse & Neglect: Multidisciplinary Approaches |