History and Development of the Ph.D. Program

Dr. Gerald Powers, inaugural director

The doctoral program in social work has the distinction of being the first Ph.D. program on the IUPUI campus outside the medical science area. Both the Indiana University Board of Trustees and the Indiana Commission on Higher Education approved the program in 1993. It was later reviewed and accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools in 1994 prior to the arrival of the first cohort of five doctoral students in the fall of that same year. It remains the only doctoral level program in social work in the State of Indiana.

Prior to the onset of the Ph.D. Program, the school had, for the most part, viewed its charge as one of educating professional social workers with the knowledge and skills necessary to assume interpersonal practice, planning, and management positions, primarily within the State of Indiana. Within that context, the school’s mission had focused more on the dissemination of existing knowledge than on the creation of new knowledge. In addition, the research that had been conducted by faculty was largely of an entrepreneurial nature, primarily reflecting the idiosyncratic interests of individual faculty members rather than that of the school as a larger entity. With the emergence of the Ph.D. Program, and the impetus provided by the school’s developing research center, the mission has broadened considerably. As the school enters the new millennium, its mission now reflects a more unified corporate research agenda. That agenda not only embraces the individual interests of faculty, but also the school’s larger vision of itself as an urban center of social work education -- responsible not only for disseminating but also contributing to the body of knowledge that informs its curriculum.

As is true of most Ph.D. programs, the primary focus is one that emphasizes the primacy of research as the basis for the advancement of theory and the development and validation of knowledge for the improvement of professional practice. The overriding goal, therefore, is to prepare professional social workers for leadership roles in areas such as: social work research, education, social welfare policy development, high level administrative positions, and the development of knowledge for practice.

The program is built around a flexible interdisciplinary model that includes an intentionally integrated series of didactic and experiential learning experiences. While grounded on the historical and experiential ideological values of the social work profession, the program is designed to take full advantage of the relevant human service professions and related academic disciplines available throughout the University. As such, students are able to tie their research interests to related areas such as, education, public and environmental affairs, sociology, psychology, business, philanthropy, law, etc. Given its strong multi-disciplinary thrust, the program utilizes a “committee approach” that is intended to draw upon the professional expertise of scholars throughout the University whose intellectual and research interests parallel those of the students enrolled in the program.

The doctoral program is intended to support and sustain this larger vision through an organized curriculum designed to prepare future generations of social work scholars equipped to carry this tradition forward. Specifically, the Ph.D. Program consists of 90 credit hours (including up to 30 transfer credits) organized around five major curriculum components:

Component I: An exploration and critical assessment of the current state of the knowledge, values and skills upon which the profession of social work is based. (27 credit hours)

Component II: (External Minor):An intensive and focused specialization in which the student affiliates with one or more of the social or behavioral sciences/professions within the University that are directly related to the social work profession. (12-18 credit hours)

Component III: A solid foundation in research and epistemology, including a mastery of quantitative and qualitative methods, measurement and statistics, and the related technologies. (27 credit hours)

Component IV: A guided research internship that provides the opportunity for students to apply their developing knowledge and skills to the investigation of a viable practice sensitive research issue. Typically, this component is tied directly to a research assistantship and/or the student’s place of employment. (6 credit hours)

Component V:A doctoral dissertation that demonstrates the student’s capacity for independent knowledge-building, including the ability to identify, organize, and empirically solve problems that are of both practical and theoretical significance to the profession of social work. (12 credit hours)

Indiana University Graduate School, under whose aegis all Ph.D. programs fall, permits the transfer of up to 30 graduate credit hours from other universities to be counted toward the 90 credit hours required for the Ph.D. degree. With this provision, it is possible for students to complete the formal course work component of the program (excluding the dissertation) in approximately two to three academic years, if they are enrolled on a full-time basis. Similarly, part-time students can typically complete their course work in a three to four year period depending upon their level of involvement in the program. The length of time required to complete the qualifying process and the dissertation varies from student to student.

In the fall of 1997, the Ph.D. Program Committee initiated a Pre-Doctoral Exploratory Option designed to enable qualified graduates of MSW programs to complete up to nine credit hours of doctoral coursework before having to formally apply to the Ph.D. Program. This Pre-Doc option serves a dual function. It provides prospective Ph.D. students with an opportunity to explore their interests in and potential for doctoral education while enabling faculty to evaluate and mentor them with respect to the rigors of pursuing an advanced research degree. The Ph.D. Program Committee also provides an External Minor in social work that enables students pursuing doctoral degrees in schools or departments other than social work to take Ph.D. courses available through the School of Social Work Ph.D. Program.