Pre-major students interested in advancing to the Social Work major must complete a minimum of 50 hours of volunteer time at an approved social service agency (This usually happens in the Intro course). By volunteering in a social service agency, students will gain a beginning understanding of the application of social work values, ethics and roles in a diverse society. This experience helps to prepare students for the experience of field placement and gives students exposure to various agency settings.

Students are expected to arrange their own volunteer hours with the approved agency and ensure that all documentation is submitted within a timely manner. Students may log volunteer hours on OrgSync, but a hard copy detailing the volunteer hours must also be submitted to the Social Work office. In order to advance to Social Work major status, All 50 hours must be fully documented in hard copy format and filed in the student's Social Work file.

A partial list of approved agencies is included on this page.  Students interested in volunteering at an agency that is not included on this list must receive approval from the Volunteer Liaison, Ginger Gummelt at 880-8568 or ginger.gummelt@lamar.edu. An agency list and the form for documenting volunteer hours are also located on the kinks below:

Agency List Volunteer Form