PhD Program

Academics

Our rigorous PhD program prepares researchers, scholars, and educators to advance the field of social welfare and social work practice.

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Deadline: Dec 1

Learning Outcomes

Research training is at the core of our program. Students develop mastery of:

A substantive area, providing the foundation for advanced social work research
Theoretical perspectives that furnish insight about social issues, social welfare, and social work practice
Research that identifies causes, dynamics, and outcomes of social work practice and interventions
Various research methods that enable the students to build and advance knowledge relevant to the field of social work and to excel as researchers and teachers at leading academic and social welfare institutions around the world
Teaching methods that actively engage the next generation of scholars and practitioners in building the social work knowledge base and in identifying effective, evidence-based practice
Communication skills that scholars use to raise awareness of important social issues and to disseminate findings of their own scholarship

Mentorship

Mentorship is an important component of the doctoral program. Incoming students are matched with faculty members who share their research interests and can provide support in the areas of research, career preparation, and other areas throughout the doctoral program journey.听

Equity, Justice and Inclusion

The program recruited the most diverse incoming class for 2021-22 with more than 83% AHANA students.
集美麻豆has a monthly program designed to bring together and support doctoral students of color from across campus.
The Pinderhughes Fellowship offers additional financial support to Black doctoral students.

Research Opportunities

Students are encouraged and financially supported to submit abstracts to national research conferences. 63% of the doctoral students had papers accepted for presentation at SSWR in 2020.听
Students have opportunities to participate in informal research groups with other SSW doctoral students across cohorts who share research interests.
Students have co-authored articles and co-presented at conferences in areas such as immigration, aging, adoption, and food security.

Teaching Skills

Students develop strong teaching skills through required teaching courses, teaching practicums, paid teaching assistantships, and adjunct teaching opportunities.
Many of our doctoral students complete the Apprenticeship in College Teaching offered through BC鈥檚 Center for Teaching Excellence.

Class Profile

PhD students in BCSSW

54%

AHANA Students听
(African-American, Hispanic, Asian, and Native American)

94%

Of our recent grads over the last five years have secured employment as assistant professors, researchers, or post-doctoral fellows within a year of graduation听

Countries of citizenship

PhD Curriculum Plan

PhD in Social Work

The fulltime PhD in Social Work program typically takes four years. Each student is assigned a faculty mentor with similar research interests. Students spend two years gaining research skills, then two years conducting independent scholarly research.

30 required credits and 15 elective credits (45 credit hours) required for PhD in Social Work.

First Year

FIRST YEAR
Fall	CR	Spring	CR	Summer	CR	Requirements Completed
SCWK9951 Survey of Research Methods in Social and Behavioral Science听	3	SCWK9956 The Dialectics of Social & Behavioral Theory	3	Optional: Elective	3	Research internship for 10 hours/week 17 required credits and a minimum of 3 elective credits completed
SCWK9950 Professional Development Seminar	3	SCWK9960 Regression Analysis for Social and Behavioral Sciences	3	听	听	听
SCWK9964 Intro to Statistics	3	Elective	3	听	听	听
SCWK9993 Research Internship	1	SCWK9993 Research Internship	1	听	听	听

Second Year

SECOND YEAR
Fall	CR	Spring	CR	Summer	CR	Requirements Completed
SCWK9992 Theories & Methods of Teaching in Professional Education (must be taken with SCWK9991)	3	Elective	3	听	听	Research internship for 10 hours/week Area Statement committee approved by Program Director by August 1 before start of fall semester Area Statement submitted by April 1 Teaching practicum approved during fall semester Total of 23 required credits and minimum 15 elective credits completed
Elective	3	Elective	3	听	听	听
Elective	3	CWK9981 Area Statement	0	听	听	听
SCWK9991 Doctoral Teaching Practicum (must be taken with SCWK9992)	1	SCWK9993 Research Internship	1	听	听	听
SCWK9993 Research Internship	1	听	听	听	听	听

Third Year

THIRD YEAR
Fall	CR	Spring	CR	Summer	CR	Requirements Completed
SCWK9994 Dissertation Preparation Seminar	3	SCWK9995 Dissertation Direction I	3	听	听	Dissertation committee approved by Dean Dissertation proposal approved & defended Total of 27 required credits and 18 elective credits completed before registering for Dissertation Direction I
Elective听	3	Optional: Audit course needed for dissertation	1.5	听	听	听
SCWK9991 Doctoral Teaching Practicum*	1	听	听	听	听	听

*SCWK9991 Doctoral Teaching Practicum in year three will be assigned either in the fall or the spring.

Fourth Year

FOURTH YEAR
Fall	CR	Spring	CR	Summer	CR	Requirements Completed
SCWK9996 Dissertation Direction II	3	SCWK9911 Doctoral Continuation	1	听	听	Dissertation defended & filed

University-Wide Policy on Dissertation Submission Requirements

Management of dissertations at Boston College is online-only. The public dissemination of research fits with university social justice values supporting global access to scholarship. The University policy with regard to dissertations is as follows:

All final dissertations must be submitted and published online through ProQuest/UMI, as well as BC鈥檚 open access institutional repository, by the University required deadline.

The ProQuest ETD Administrator system is used for student submission, school administration approval, and library management of the process, as it is at the vast majority of Carnegie Tier 1 schools. 集美麻豆also supports an institutional repository (IR) as its system of record, in which we are legally obligated to preserve all dissertations, and where materials are made available Open Access online according to Creative Commons licensing of the student鈥檚 choosing. For both repositories, embargoes may be placed for up to two years. Embargoes can be extended up to five years with school approval. Each system carries its own set of licenses, terms and options (e.g. ProQuest license, 集美麻豆IR license.)

Exceptions to the requirement to submit digitally will be based on decisions made by individual schools or by the Provost. 集美麻豆Libraries provide support, instruction, and infrastructure to enable the collection, approval, description, security, access and preservation of all Boston College dissertations and theses.

集美麻豆

Resources

Preparing Tomorrow's Scholars