PhD Program Overview

Program Requirements

The PhD In Social Work program is designed as a full-time doctoral program. Founded on civic engagement, graduates will be well prepared to assume leadership roles in higher education, research and practice. 

All students complete a minimum of seven three-credit courses during the two-year residency period. The courses are designed to give a full breadth of advanced research and practice knowledge in addition to a focus on pedagogy and leadership. In addition, a comprehensive proposal is due by April 15 of the first year. Once the comprehensive proposal is approved, the student is required to complete the comprehensive paper and oral examination.

Coursework in the first year introduces students to pedagogy, and to the history of Social Work and epistemology (e.g., positivism/post-positivism, interpretive, critical theory, pragmatism). Students will be encouraged to focus their assignments on their substantive area of interest so that the coursework supports the development of the comprehensive proposal due April 15 of the first year.

Students must pass a Comprehensive paper assessment as part of the Ph.D. program and prior to submitting their dissertation proposal for review.  Normally, students will complete the Comprehensive paper by January 1st in year 2 of their program.  The Comprehensive paper is directed by a Faculty advisor and a program reader from the School of Social Work.  The comprehensive paper is based on a proposal that must be approved by the student’s Faculty Supervisor normally by September 1st in year 2 of their program.

The dissertation proposal is then due at the end of the second term in the second year. The second term builds on these courses by addressing the methods typically used in social work research and the underlying philosophies or research methodologies (mixed, qualitative, quantitative).

Course Sequencing

Specifically, coursework in the first year introduces students to pedagogy, and to the history of Social Work and epistemology (e.g., positivism/post-positivism, interpretive, critical theory, pragmatism). The second term builds on these courses by addressing the methods typically used in social work research and the underlying

Fall 2017 Course Sequencing and Dissertation Progression

Course Descriptions

Please refer to the University of Windsor Graduate Calendar for official course descriptions.