AHANA Students
(African-American, Hispanic, Asian, and Native American)
PhD in Social Work
Our PhD in Social Work program prepares scholars committed to the pursuit of knowledge that advances the field of social welfare and social work practice.
To best equip students for available tenure track positions and other professional research careers, we designed our curriculum to combine quantitative research courses with theory and methods classes and instruction. Students also gain practical skills by teaching and tutoring in an MSW classroom.
Most of our graduates work as faculty researchers.
Research training is at the core of our program. Students develop mastery of:
A substantive area, providing the foundation for advanced social work research
Theoretical perspectives that furnish insight about social issues, social welfare, and social work practice
Research that identifies causes, dynamics, and outcomes of social work practice and interventions
Various research methods that enable the students to build and advance knowledge relevant to the field of social work and to excel as researchers and teachers at leading academic and social welfare institutions around the world
Teaching methods that actively engage the next generation of scholars and practitioners in building the social work knowledge base and in identifying effective, evidence-based practice
Communication skills that scholars use to raise awareness of important social issues and to disseminate findings of their own scholarship
Faculty Expertise
PhD Curriculum Plans
Students Starting in September 2018 recommended Study Plan. Required courses are in bold. The program requires 45 course credits and 6 dissertation credits (51 total credits) to earn the PhD in Social Work.
| FIRST YEAR | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall | CR | Spring | CR | Summer | CR | Requirements Completed |
SCWK9951 Survey of Research Methods in Social and Behavioral Science |
3 | SCWK9956 The Dialectics of Social & Behavioral Theory |
3 | Elective | 3 |
|
SCWK9950 Professional Development Seminar |
3 | SCWK9960 Regression Analysis for Social and Behavioral Sciences |
3 | |||
SCWK9964 Intro to Statistics |
3 | Elective |
3 | |||
SCWK9993 Research Internship |
1 | SCWK9993 Research Internship |
1 | |||
| SECOND YEAR | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall | CR | Spring | CR | Summer | CR | Requirements Completed |
SCWK9959 Doctoral Publishable Paper Writing Project |
3 | SCWK9992 Theories & Methods of Teaching in Professional Education (must be taken with SCWK9991) |
3 | SCWK9993 Research Internship or SCWK9990 Independent Study | 3 |
|
Elective |
3 | SCWK9991 Doctoral Teaching Practicum (must be taken with SCWK9992) |
1 | |||
Elective |
3 | Elective |
0 | |||
SCWK9993 Research Internship |
1 | SCWK9993 Research Internship |
1 | |||
| THIRD YEAR | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall | CR | Spring | CR | Summer | CR | Requirements Completed |
SCWK9994 Dissertation Preparation Seminar |
3 | SCWK9995 Dissertation Direction I |
3 |
|
||
Elective (not needed if 5 electives have been taken) |
3 | Optional: Audit course needed for dissertation |
1.5 | |||
SCWK9993 Research Internship |
1 |
|
||||
| FOURTH YEAR | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall | CR | Spring | CR | Summer | CR | Requirements Completed |
SCWK9996 Dissertation Direction II |
3 | SCWK9911 Doctoral Continuation |
1 |
|
||
“Our faculty is committed to ensuring that our doctoral students are well prepared to respond to the challenging social problems of our day. We are dedicated to promoting the values of social justice, human dignity, and diversity.”
Expand Your Knowledge
The Boston Consortium
Access courses and other learning opportunities through a consortium with area universities, including Boston University, Tufts University, Brandeis University, and MIT Women's Consortium.
Boston University
- Biostatistics
- Intro to Epidemiology
- Logistic Regression and Survival Analysis
- Strategic Planning and Communication for Health Program Development
- Needs Assessments
- Immigrant Family Health
- Children at Risk
Tufts University
- Resilience: Conceptual Issues, Empirical Research, Intervention, and Policy Implications
- Personal and Social Development
Brandeis University
- Approaches to Political and Organizational Analysis
- Gender, Class and Race
- Applied Structural Equations
- Working with National Data Sets to Inform Policy Analysis and Recommendations
- Gender and Globalization
MIT Women's Consortium
- Gender and Poverty in the United States
- Workshop for Dissertation Writers in Women's and Gender Studies
- Gender, Race, and the Complexities of Science and Technology
Class Profile
73%
100%
Of the 2018 graduating class employed as assistant professors or post-docs
9
Countries of citizenship