The PhD Social Work program is a full-time online doctoral program with orientation and annual workshops held in person at the School of Social Work. 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 first two years. Coursework in the first year covers epistemology and philosophy of science (e.g., positivism/post-positivism, interpretive, critical theory, pragmatism), research methods and analysis (quantitative and qualitative) and history and theory in social work.
After first year coursework is complete, the student works on their comprehensive paper proposal, which must be approved by the student’s supervisor the following September (year 2) of the program. Once approved, the student is required to work independently to complete the comprehensive paper and pass prior to beginning their the Dissertation Seminar and working on their dissertation proposal. Normally, students will complete the comprehensive paper by January 1st in year 2 of their program. The comprehensive paper is assessed by the faculty supervisor and a faculty program reader from the School of Social Work. Please refer to the curriculum and courses tab and the student manual for more information.
