Bachelor of Liberal Arts – Human Services Concentration
Unique Offerings
You can take courses in each of the following six core subject areas:
- Personal and Professional Development Seminar in Human Services
- Life Span Development
- The Counseling Role
- Community Organizing and/or Social Movements
- Literature (focus on the human experience)
- Social Issues
General Requirements
The degree requirements for graduation are satisfied when you complete:
A total of 180 quarter credits (at least 45 credits taken at Antioch University), including:
- Up to 48 credits of prior learning
- At least 60 upper division credits
- Three required core courses:
- Liberal Studies Seminar; Diversity, Power & Privilege; Inquiry & Research
- An area of concentration (six required courses)
- Four quarters of study at Antioch University Seattle (or more)
- A portfolio of your work reflecting academic progress
- A Senior synthesis project and Symposium presentation
Length of Program
Most students graduate from the B.A. completion program in two years or less. Completion of 180 quarter credits is required for graduation.
Tuition & Fees
- Tuition: $560 per credit
- Required fees: $145 per quarter
- $6,865 tuition and required fees per quarter, full time (12 credits)
- $27,460 typical annual tuition and fees
- Credits documented for Life Experience: $140 per credit
Annual tuition and fees based on 2013-14 rates for four quarters. Antioch University Seattle students typically attend classes all year.
Career Opportunities
Opportunities may include case management; advocacy; community organizing; service delivery and policy related work; social justice work; within the field of education as a family or child advocate.
Program Summary
The goal of the Human Services concentration is to prepare you for work within the field of human services. This could include case management, advocacy, community organizing, service delivery, and policy related work. If you are interested in social justice work within human services or if you want to work within the field of education as a family or child advocate, this concentration would be a good fit.
Core Coursework
Personal and Professional Development Seminar in Human Services
This seminar includes the study of systems, specifically an examination and critique of the human services delivery system, an overview of models of service, exploration of various perspectives on human behavior, health and healing including indigenous approaches, and an in-depth examination of one specific sector of human services in Seattle.
Life Span Development
A broad perspective of human development across the lifespan is offered. This encompasses historical and theoretical views of developmental tasks from birth to death. With a backdrop of physical, cognitive, and psychosocial aspects of development, this course examines development and the effect of subjectivity on the individual’s life experience. The aim is to increase empathy and understanding of any individual’s developmental challenges and achievements throughout life.
The Counseling Role
Students explore the counseling role with its unique implications and value across personal and professional disciplines. Students develop an understanding of the stages of the counseling relationship and gain insight into their own strengths, weaknesses, and desires as a helping professional.
Community Organizing and/or Social Movements
A course in this area provides students with the opportunity to study and experience aspects of community organizing ranging from the initiative process in Washington State to lobbying for a specific legislative action. It also would help students develop an historical understanding of social movements in the U.S. as well as conceptual frameworks and their application. The student is encouraged to develop connections between these aspects of community work and basic human needs. Sample courses that would meet this requirement include:
- Community Organizing in Action
- Nonviolent Social Movements
- Globalization, Development, and Grassroots Movements
- Creating a Just, Peaceful, and Sustainable Future
Literature (focus on the human experience)
A course meeting this requirement explores the value of the literary lens as it contributes to students’ understanding of the human experience. Sample qualifying classes include:
- Border Crossing: A Multicultural Journey Through Film and Literature
- Contemporary Black Women Writers
- The American Family in Literature and Film
Social Issues
Courses in this area explore the application of historical, sociological, and psychological perspectives to a specific social problem such as domestic violence, poverty, or homelessness. The learning goals for courses in this area include both an examination of the factors which have contributed to the development of the problem as well as diverse approaches to addressing the issue on local, regional, and national levels. Sample classes that would meet this core requirement include:
- Children and Social Policy
- Wealth and Poverty in America
- Women’s Health in Developing Countries
- Women and Mental Health
Sample Electives
- Literature classes
- History classes
- Wealth and Poverty in America
- Facilitating Democratic Participation
- Group Facilitation
- Community Organizing
Sample Community/Field-based Learning Experiences
- Service learning project working with Antioch University Seattle’s Homeless Women’s Education Program
- Volunteer with one of Fremont Public Association’s many programs — such as housing for low-income families or the food bank
- Undergo a training in child advocacy and then serve as a volunteer advocate
Sample Synthesis Projects
- Volunteer with Shanti (providing emotional support to people living with AIDS)
- Design a school for homeless high school age youth
- Analyze services of a senior center from the perspective of serving clients from different ethnic/racial backgrounds and make recommendations for programs that are more responsive to cultural/racial differences
- Write a thesis that examines government trends in funding for human services
- Write an extended essay that addresses changing social needs across lifespan stages
Aaron Dietz
BA Liberal Studies, 2007
Antioch has a good reputation, he says, for being able to educate self-learners and for keeping students involved in the learning process. He says he was able to create classes geared toward writing and publishing his own book, something he says would have been much harder to do at a state college.
Bob Hasegawa
B.A. Liberal Studies, 2003
Now Eleventh District Democratic Representative, he says his experience at Antioch surprised him by pushing him beyond his areas of concentration and stretching him in directions he'd never thought of going.
Carson Marshall
B.A. Liberal Studies, MA Whole Systems Design, 2001, 2003
He learned the program supports everyone's unique exploration. He said he realized he could create the way he wants to present himself to the world.
Cheryl Honey
BA Liberal Studies , 2004
It was serendipitous that she ended up going to Antioch. She says her advisers taught her she had special gifts to offer this world and she didn't have to ask for permission to make her unique contribution.
Chris Plyman
BA Liberal Studies, 2009
He happened to be walking along Sixth Avenue in Seattle's Belltown neighborhood when he came upon Antioch University. It looked like a place where he could do some exploring, so this retired Army warrant officer decided to give it a try.
Colleen Crotty
BA Liberal Studies, 2007
Antioch teaches you to look at things differently and to get involved in the community. She says she wouldn't trade her experience for anything.
Danielle Cameron
B.A. Liberal Studies, M.A. Psychology, Art Therapy with Mental Health Counseling, 2002
She says the more she learned about Antioch, the more she realized it was a school most likely to help her get where she wanted to go. She says it is the school for students who are independently motivated.
Debra Sund
BA Liberal Studies - Individualized Program: Holistic Early Childhood Education , 2008
She very much appreciates the freedom at Antioch and the smaller class size. She says it has a supportive and comfortable atmosphere for an adult learner
Dimitri Azadi
BA Liberal Studies - Individualized Program: Leadership and Diversity Studies, 2009
When many of his friends came to Antioch for their undergraduate studies, they told him it was a wonderful experience. He says he feels as though he is putting energy into his own well-being at Antioch.
Dollviola Eldred
B.A. Liberal Studies - Current student, M.A. Psychology - Mental Health Counseling, 2007
The only thing she needed to succeed was a good education and — thanks to Antioch — she has advanced in her career and predicts she will continue to climb.
Lance Wischler
BA Liberal Studies, 2007
He says the personal attention he experienced from his first phone call to the admissions department was a factor in coming to Antioch. The personal touch allowed him to feel like he mattered, and that he was not simply another number to be shuffled through the process.
Margie King Bloch
B.A. Liberal Studies, M.A. Whole Systems Design — Organization Systems Renewal, 1997
She chose Antioch because she wanted to learn more about the changing face of leadership, and she wanted to do it in an experiential educational setting
Maria Teresa Blankenship
BA Liberal Studies - Individualized Program: Psychology, Health Healing & Herbalism; MA Psychology, Mental Health Counseling, 2006
With a background in nursing and her interest in health healing, herbalism and psychology, she created a program for herself that she describes as an unforgettable journey.
Mary Sherhart
B.A. Liberal Studies, 1999
She says Antioch is an intense experience, a great place for self-motivated and well disciplined people with lots of meaty life experience under their belts.
Oliver Chadd
BA Liberal Studies, 2007
He was up for the unique method in which Antioch educates. He says he was always a quiet student and knew Antioch was set up in such a way he would be in situations where he could not just fade into the background.
Patricia Cavit
BA Liberal Studies, 2005
She says her independant study was an excellent experience. She was able to investigate exactly the areas she was interested in and receive mentoring from the advisers who were supervising.
Rachel Beals
BA Liberal Studies, Spiritual Studies concentration, 2009
Antioch's Spiritual Studies concentration, she says, is a one-of-a-kind undergraduate program. Her priority? She wants to reduce the isolation and despair so many people face today.
Richard Long
BA Liberal Studies, 2007
He chose Antioch because of its commitment to adult education and its social ideology. He says if the concept that a student, through study, research and relationships, obtains the basic philosophies of the institution they attend, then he is a better student, friend and person.
Stephanie McDonald
BA Liberal Studies - Individualized Program: Depth Psychology; MA Psychology, Mental Health Counseling, 2007 & 2011
Antioch is a transformational place where you can find your voice, build confidence and thrive, according to Stephanie McDonald. After completing her BA, her desire to continue learning was on fire and she entered Antioch University Seattle's graduate program in mental health counseling.
Tina Grant
BA Liberal Studies, 2007
Antioch is a place where you can find what it is you want to do with the rest of your life. She says it is not that the teachers will tell you, but that they create a space for you to explore, experiment and find what it is that fills you with passion.
Young-wha Coulter
B.A. Liberal Studies, 2007
Getting credit for life experience was validating for Coulter, who had been a para-educator working with elementary special education children in the Highline School District.
