Welcome from the Chair

Since its inception in 1950, the doctoral program at the Columbia University School of Social Work (CUSSW) has trained leaders in social work practice, social work education, and social policy. Graduates of CUSSW have become world-renown scholars at prestigious universities, government agencies, and research institutions.

One of the Ph.D. program's greatest strengths is its faculty who are among the most innovative and productive scholars in the country, and whose research projects present students with opportunities to immediately engage in cutting edge research. CUSSW also has close ties with other schools and departments at Columbia, providing students with access to world-renown scholars in many disciplines from which social work draws, such as psychology, psychiatry, neurology, sociology, economics, political science, and statistics, just to name a few. Since the doctoral program at CUSSW is highly selective, students not only learn from faculty mentors, but from one another. The program fosters intellectually and socially rewarding interactions at all levels.

Being in New York City—one of the most diverse communities in the world and an immigration gateway—provides an unparalleled learning environment, particularly since CUSSW, through its faculty and staff, runs many community based interventions and centers in New York. The opportunities for participation in these centers through practica and research assistantships abound. Students also have access to data on new treatments, interventions, and policies, through ongoing School research projects.

Increasingly, Columbia is becoming a truly global institution as well. At CUSSW, this is exemplified by recent projects on HIV prevention in Kazakhstan, micro-credit programs in Uganda, youth risk behavior in the Dominican Republic, racial and ethnic disparities in the U.K., and a clearinghouse on international social welfare policies, just to name a few. So international research opportunities abound as well. Students are an integral part of all of these projects.

If you are interested in experiencing the excitement that comes with being at the cutting edge of science, get in touch with us. We would love to hear from you.

Julien Teitler
Doctoral Program Chair