We are dedicated to educating scholars who can develop knowledge for the profession through quantitative methodologies, qualitative approaches, theoretical or conceptual analyses, and historiographic investigations. We also want to help our students become conversant with some of the excitement and turmoil in the epistemology of the profession-how professionals come to know what they know, how they put that knowledge into practice, and how it affects consumers. Our courses prepare students to function with conceptual and methodological sophistication. Proseminars focus on the intellectual history and current status of social work ideas and ideologies and on developing a critique and revision of that knowledge. In the research sequence, students learn both qualitative and quantitative methodologies, designs and advanced modes of analysis, and how to apply them in actual situations.
Students critically consider human problems and strategies for change and transformation.
Under the direction of a faculty member, some Ph.D. students help with research projects and at the same time may serve as field instructors for M.S.W. students who are providing service in the community or agency where the research is being conducted. It is part of the school's mission to focus teaching, inquiry, and practice on benefitting populations who suffer oppression of all kinds. The school is committed to diversity and multicultural perspectives. Many of the research and service projects of faculty members and doctoral students are committed to direct and positive impact on people of color, status, minorities, and oppressed peoples, individually and collectively. The program requires a minimum of 54 credit hours.