Overview

Introduction
Since its inception in 1950, the Columbia University School of Social Work Doctoral Program has provided its graduates with a timely, rigorous educational program of study and research. The program’s mission has consistently been to train scholars capable of initiating and carrying out innovative research and scholarship that is applicable to the field of social welfare.

The CUSSW Doctoral Program has long been considered a home of future social work leaders. Most graduates assume academic positions, while others pursue careers as researchers, clinical instructors, policy analysts or administrators in various government, private and nonprofit agencies. The Ph.D. in Social Work is conferred by the Columbia University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, but the Doctoral Program is administered by the School of Social Work.

The doctoral curriculum is designed to enable students to develop and demonstrate the capacity to conduct independent research while mastering and advancing the existing body of knowledge in a selected substantive field. Through concentrated coursework and independent study within and beyond the School of Social Work, students achieve a solid, intellectual grounding in the theory and history of social welfare, research methods and statistics, a social work method specialization, and relevant social science theories.

Successful completion of the Doctoral Program requires approximately two years of coursework (three semesters of full-time residency are required) and typically several additional years of dissertation work. The curriculum is comprised of three advanced social work method courses at CUSSW, as well as courses in research methodology, statistics and the social sciences taken both in CUSSW and at various graduate divisions of the University. In order to complete the requirements for the Ph.D., doctoral students must pass examinations in a social work method and a substantive field of practice, and must demonstrate mastery of social and behavioral science knowledge relevant to their field of study. Finally, students must prepare and successfully defend an original, scholarly dissertation that contributes to and advances knowledge in the field of social work.