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School of Social Work
Indiana University

Curriculum

PhD Program

Director: Barbara Pierce, Ph.D

Focus of Program: Research and knowledge building

Career Paths of Graduates: Research, teaching, consulting, and policy advocacy

Credits: Total of 90 credit hours (up to 30 may be transferred from MSW or related degree programs)

Admissions Deadline: December 1

Number of students admitted: 6-8 students are accepted per year

Number of students in program: 50+

IMPORTANT: Please email the Director at barjpier@iu.edu to let her know that you have submitted your application online.

Course requirements

  • Four Social Work core seminars (12 credits)
  • Four External Minor courses (12 credits)
  • Philosophy of science/research methods courses (12 credits)
  • Research Internship (6 credits)
  • Open electives (6 credits)
  • Dissertation (12 credits)

Qualifying Paper: Written qualifying paper and oral defense required for admission to doctoral candidacy

Dissertation requirements: Original piece of research, oral defense

Tuition Waiver: Tuition waived for full-time doctoral students on Research Assistantships or Fellowships.

Full time or Part time: Program available for both full and part-time students.

Length of study: 4 to 6 years depending on full or part-time study.

Research opportunities

Primary areas of faculty research expertise include mental health, race and culture, gerontology, family and children services, juvenile corrections, and housing and health care.

External Minor

All Ph.D. students complete an External Minor in a department or school other than the School of Social Work. This enables students to tie their research interests to another academic discipline (e.g., African American Studies, Psychology, Sociology, Anthropology, Women’s Studies, etc.) and professional schools (e.g., Education, Public and Environmental Affairs, Medicine, Philanthropy, Nursing) available on both the Indianapolis and Bloomington campuses.