Bulletin 2000-2002

School of Social Work Education/Social Work Building (ES) 4135
902 West New York Street
Indianapolis, IN 46202-5156
(317) -274-6705
School of Social Work

Ph.D. Program

Admission Requirements

All applicants to the Ph.D. program must have a master’s degree in social work or a related field. Admission to the Ph.D. program is based on evaluations of
  1. the applicant’s professional resume,
  2. professional experience beyond the M.S.W. degree,
  3. undergraduate and graduate transcripts,
  4. three letters of reference,
  5. an example of the applicant’s scholarly writing,
  6. a 500-word statement of purpose, and
  7. Graduate Record Examination General Test scores.

Application Deadlines

Applications are accepted at any time, but a deadline of January 1 is required in order to be considered for a University Fellowship. All applications must be received by April 1 in order to be considered for admission to the program for the following fall semester. For application materials and further information, write to:

Ph.D. Admissions
School of Social Work
Education/Social Work Building 4138
902 W. New York Street
IUPUI
Indianapolis, IN 46202-5156
(317) 274-6724

Course Requirements

The student must complete a total of 90 credit hours, including dissertation and research internship. Candidates for the Ph.D. degree may offer up to 30 hours of graduate credit from other institutions as follows:
  1. Of the 30 graduate transfer credit hours counted toward the Ph.D. degree in social work, 15 of these credits must be in an area directly related to research (e.g., research methods, statistics, a mentored research project, etc.)

  2. Of these 15 research-related credit hours, at least 6 credits must have been completed within three calendar years prior to the date the student enrolls in his/her first doctoral class following acceptance into the Ph.D. program.

  3. All students must have successfully completed a graduate-level statistics course within three calendar years prior to enrolling in the required Advanced Statistics course. Students who have completed a statistics course more than three years prior to enrolling in the Advanced Statistics course may petition the director of the Ph.D. program to test out of this requirement.

  4. All 15 research transfer credits must have been successfully completed as prerequisites for the two advanced research methods courses (S726 and S727), the Research Internship (S725), and the Advanced Statistics course.

  5. Any or all of the 15 credit hours identified as research transfer credits may be taken prior to acceptance into the Ph.D. program and in addition to the 9 credit hours associated with the pre-doc program.

  6. Any research transfer credits not completed prior to acceptance into the Ph.D. program must be completed as part of the student’s doctoral studies in accordance with the above provisions.
All courses credited toward the Ph.D. degree must have a minimum grade of B and must receive written approval of the School of Social Work Ph.D. Program Committee and the dean of the University Graduate School. Specific program requirements include:
  1. professional social work component—33 credit hours,
  2. specialization component—18 credit hours,
  3. research component—21 credit hours,
  4. research internship—6 credit hours, and
  5. dissertation—12 credit hours.
All students in the Ph.D. program, with the approval of the program director, will select three faculty members to serve as their academic advisors throughout their doctoral studies, one of whom will represent the student’s area of specialization outside the School of Social Work.

Qualifying Examination Process

The qualifying examination process is comprehensive and integrative in nature. Specific guidelines for the completion of the qualifying process are available from the Ph.D. program director.

Admission to Candidacy

Following the passing of the qualification examination and the completion of all course work, the student’s advisory committee will submit a Nomination to Candidacy Form to the University Graduate School. Upon approval of the dean, the student will be admitted to candidacy and awarded a Certificate of Candidacy.

Research Proposal

After nomination to candidacy, the student, with the approval of the program director, will select a research committee of no fewer than three faculty members, including an outside member. This committee must approve the proposed dissertation topic.

Final Examination

The final examination is the oral defense of the dissertation.

Pre-Doc Exploration Option

The purpose of the Pre-Doc Exploration Option plan is to permit prospective doctoral students who are not yet able to, or not yet certain that they want to, apply to the Ph.D. program, to ‘‘test the waters’’ with respect to their interest and commitment to doctoral education. The program provides students with the time to gain the information and experience needed to make an informed decision about formal application to the program. This plan permits qualified students to enroll in up to three of the school’s regular Ph.D. foundation courses before having to make formal application to the program. Students can complete up to 9 credit hours of doctoral course work before deciding to apply formally to the program. If a student later applies and is accepted to the regular Ph.D. program, credits earned during the pre-doc phase will automatically apply toward the Ph.D. degree.

Participation in the Pre-Doc Exploration Option does not guarantee acceptance into the Ph.D. program. It does, however, provide a unique opportunity for students to explore that possibility. Courses counted toward the Ph.D. degree must be completed within seven years of passing the required qualification examination.

The selection of candidates for approval for enrollment in the Pre-Doc Exploratory Option program is based on the following set of criteria:

  1. An earned master’s degree in social work or a related field.

  2. A graduate grade point average of at least 3.5 on a 4.0 scale.

  3. Official copies of all baccalaureate- and master’s-level transcripts.

  4. A 500-word written statement that outlines the applicant’s reasons for seeking enrollment in the Pre-Doc Exploratory Option program.

  5. One letter of reference.

  6. A professional resume.

  7. Approval by the Ph.D. Program Committee.
Applications for the Pre-Doc Exploratory Option program must be postmarked by June 15 for fall admission and by October 31 for spring admission.

Students enrolled in the Pre-Doc Exploratory Option program are strongly encouraged to complete the S720 Philosophy of Science and Social Work seminar (3 credit hours) as part of their program of studies. The following is a list of other S700-level courses:

S710 Proseminar on Client Systems (3 cr.)
S726 Advanced Social Work Research Methods, Qualitative Research (3 cr.)
S727 Advanced Social Work Research Methods, Quantitative Research (3 cr.)
S730 Proseminar on Social Work Policy Analysis (3 cr.)
S740 Social Work Practice: Theory and Research (3 cr.) For additional information: Ph.D. Program Director
Indiana University
School of Social Work
902 W. New York Street
Indianapolis, IN 46202-5156
(317) 274-6724
 

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