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Programs

The Doctoral Program

For nearly ninety years, the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration has provided advanced training for those interested in pursuing an academic career in social work and social welfare. The program is designed to deepen students' mastery of both theory and research methods so that they are prepared to contribute to scholarly knowledge in innovative ways. The program accommodates students who are interested in developing and evaluating practice methods and interventions as well as those interested in understanding social problems and accompanying institutional and political responses. The diverse theoretical training of SSA's faculty makes it uniquely positioned to support an interdisciplinary course of study. SSA's doctoral graduates are leaders in the field of social work and social welfare.

Curriculum

The doctoral program is flexibly structured so that students can pursue a curriculum matched to their individual interests. The curriculum is designed to ensure expertise in theory, research methods, and a substantive area of specialization. In consultation with a faculty advisor, each student develops a program of study that includes coursework, a qualifying examination, a pre-dissertation research project, and dissertation research. Doctoral students also have the opportunity to participate collaborate with faculty in their research and to serve as teaching assistants or instructors. 

The School offers courses in quantitative and qualitative research methods. In addition courses explore the theoretical underpinnings of social work scholarship from a variety of disciplinary perspectives and levels of analysis, including economic and political processes, human service organizations, social structures and social inequality, communities, culture, life course development, and individual psychological change processes. As an integral part of a major research university, the doctoral program at SSA enjoys full access to a rich array of course offerings within the University of Chicago. In addition to taking courses at SSA, students take courses in such departments as Sociology, Human Development, Anthropology, and Political Science, and in the professional schools of Business, Medicine, Law, and Public Policy Studies. The Traveling Scholar Program enables doctoral-level students to take advantage of educational opportunities at other CIC universities (http://www.cic.net/) without change in registration or increase in tuition.

Financial Support

All students entering the doctoral program are offered a financial aid package that includes a stipend, full tuition, and fees for four years. Students receive an $18,000 stipend in year one, $15,000 in years two through four. Fellowships are available, on a competitive basis, for dissertation completion.  Many SSA doctoral students receive additional funding through outside training and fellowship programs.

As part of their financial aid packages, students are expected in their first two years to work as research assistant with an SSA faculty member for 10-12 hours each week and in their third and fourth years to work as a teaching assistant. 

The doctoral program involves a full-time commitment. Stipend support is provided in order to allow students to concentrate their time and energy on fulfilling the requirements of the program, developing their scholarship, and completing their doctoral studies in a timely way. 

Requirements for the Ph.D. Degree

Students are required to take a minimum of fifteen courses: one in the history of the social work profession, five in statistics and research methods, and at least three in other departments or professional schools at the University of Chicago. These three courses would normally be chosen from a single discipline. 

Students must pass a qualifying examination that assesses their understanding of the major conceptual domains informing direct practice, policy or organizational research and their ability to use these frameworks to analyze social welfare problems. This take-home, open-book examination is completed during a one-week period at the end of the summer following students' second year.

Finally, students are required to successfully complete a dissertation research project. As the culmination of the doctoral program, the dissertation reflects the student's ability to use theoretical knowledge and analytic tools to add to what is known about social welfare and social work.

Details of the doctoral program requirements are provided to students in the SSA Manual for Doctoral Students.

Timeline

Because the time needed to complete the dissertation varies widely, the time required for completion of the Ph.D. program also varies. In general, students take from four to six years to complete all requirements. The table below outlines the suggested plan for progress in the program:

  First year Second Year Third Year Fourth and beyond
Coursework Coursework Coursework    
Qualifying Exam     Completed by beginning of year  
Dissertation Pre-dissertation research Pre-dissertation research Dissertation proposal Dissertation data collection, analysis, writing, and defense
Assistantships Research assistantship Research assistantship Teaching assistantship Teaching assistantship















Combined AM/PhD Program

Doctoral students who are preparing for academic careers are reminded that many schools of social work require faculty to have a master's degree in social work. Although most students enter the doctoral program with a master's degree in social work, the School has blended requirements so that students who do not have a master's in social work can complete this degree in the course of completing the doctoral program.