The doctoral program of the Adelphi University School of Social Work prepares students to assume leadership in the social work profession. The course of study is designed to expand students’ capacities to conceptualize, develop, evaluate, and disseminate knowledge of the problems that impact the human condition and strategies designed to change those conditions. In becoming social work scholars, doctoral students must develop a critical and sophisticated understanding of the historical, global, national, and community forces that shape contemporary human experience and social work practice. The Adelphi doctoral curriculum is grounded in an evolving knowledge base and is designed to foster the critical thinking that will prepare its graduates for leadership in the development of knowledge for all levels of social work practice.
Organization and Structure of the Ph.D. Program
The Ph.D. program is designed to meet the needs of students who continue to work as social work professionals during their course of study. To obtain the doctoral degree, students must complete the 48-credit curriculum with at least a 3.3 grade point average and successfully defend a dissertation that is the product of original, independent research.
The program offers students a part-time and full-time option. In the part-time option, students take two courses per semester on one afternoon and evening a week for eight semesters. Students who have completed the first two years of study with a minimum grade point average of 3.3 are eligible to take qualifying examinations based on their first two years (eight courses and 24 credits) of course work. If they pass all four examinations, they may proceed with the remaining eight courses and development of a proposal for their dissertations.
Students who elect the full-time option take four courses a semester on two days a week, also in the late afternoon and early evening. They are eligible to take the qualifying examinations after the first year of study and completion of eight courses and 24 credits with at least a 3.3 grade point average. After passing the qualifying examinations, they take eight courses (24 credits) in the second year of study.
Dissertation advisement may begin while students are enrolled in courses. For advisement after completion of their course work students enroll in SWK (0404) 895 - Continuous Matriculation with Advisement , for a maximum of six semesters. For semesters they remain in the program and for which they are not receiving advisement, students must enroll in SWK (0404) 896 - Continuous Matriculation Without Advisement .
Within two years of the completion of their course work students in both full- and part-time programs must have an accepted dissertation proposal.
They have 10 years from the date of matriculation to complete and successfully defend a dissertation.Questions regarding the Ph.D. program may be directed to Philip Rozario, Director of Ph.D. Program, rozario@adelphi.edu or call (516) 877-4385.