** Beginning in the Fallof 2006 PhD Classes will be held on Wednesday and Thursday Evenings

     The WSSW program can be classified as one which is "practice based," that is, a program which is intimately connected to practice yet one which does not strive for a direct or immediate impact on the practice skills of the students. A "practice based" program is one which seeks to generate practice-relevant theory and understanding which enhances or builds upon the specific practice experiences of the student. The "practice-based" nature of the program can be seen in the list of dissertations whose topics and central research questions, in most instances, grow directly out of the practice experiences of the students.

     The curriculum is designed so that course work can be completed in two years. However, with approval, students may elect to complete their first year of study over a two year period. A Quantitative Lab is offered in the third full-time year to assist students who are working on their dissertation proposals or the methodology section of their dissertation; this course is in the form of individual consultation, the schedule of which is determined between student and instructor. Students also have the option of taking one of two electives: Social WorkEducation or Administrative Practice in their second or third year. In recent years, we have also instituted elective labs to assist students with the processes of completing their proposals and/or addressing the methodological components of their dissertation studies. In addition, other electives may be offered from time to time in such areas as advanced quantitative methods, advanced qualitative methods, comparative social welfare policies, and the like. All students are expected to be able to write clear, organized scholarly prose.

The curriculum can be divided into three stages, roughly corresponding to the years of study: 

First Year Curriculum

     The first stage is concentrated in the first year which can be characterized as a time of "directed and structured study".  The competent social work professionals who are students acquire the skills and standards of doctoral scholarship. They integrate new learning with their existing knowledge, learning how to question favored assumptions and to formulate questions as a basis for inquiry.  They acquire a foundation of social work theory which can help to analyze the dilemmas and contradictions of social work practice.

     This first year consists of four courses, each of which covers two semesters.  The courses are designed to help students acquire the competencies, including skills of critical thinking, necessary for scholarly work on a doctoral level.

     The four courses are:  Ideology, Patterns of Practice, Theoretical Foundations of Social Welfare, and Strategies of Inquiry.  A description of the content of these courses is included in the Wurzweiler catalogue. Faculty members seek to help students acquire the competencies in research and writing that will facilitate the successful completion of course work and, later, the proposal and dissertation. In this sense, each class paper is seen as a practice run of the later dissertation proposal, sort of "dress rehearsal" eventually leading to the successful completion of the larger work.

     At the end of the second semester of the first year, students take a comprehensive exam which assesses mastery of the first year content. Enrollment in second year classes is contingent upon passing the comprehensive exam.

Second Year Curriculum

     This is the year of movement from structured study toward "independent study", in which the student develops a topic for the dissertation and writes a proposal for its implementation. The open-ended expansion of knowledge and discovery which is the focus of the first year becomes much more targeted as students work with their advisors to define and develop their dissertation topic. In their course work, the conceptual frameworks and research incorporated in course papers become part of the foundation necessary to initiate and complete the dissertation proposal.

     The second stage also includes "preparation for career pathways". Students in their second year of classes take one of two courses -- Administrative Practice or Social Work Education. Both span two semesters. These courses prepare students to take on teaching responsibilities in social work education and to assume advanced positions in the administration of social welfare organizations.  As noted earlier, students may opt to take these electives in their third year. Students who wish to take both Administrative Practice and Social Work Education may do so, with the credits counting toward the 60 required for the degree.  However, students may not take one semester of Social Work Education and one semester of AdministrativePractice to fulfill the elective requirements. 

     The Fall semester of the second year consists of four required courses: Social Policy I: Policy Practice; Research Methodology;Statistics Laboratory; Social Work Education I or Administrative Policy and Practice I; and elective courses that is offered in that semester (i.e. Fundamentals in Applied Statistics). The courses are designed to have a direct impact on the student's ability to prepare and complete an acceptable dissertation proposal.  Assignments in each of these courses are oriented toward the development of the proposal.

     The Spring semester of the second year consists of four courses: Social Policy II: Policy Analysis; Research Methodology II; Statistics Lab II; and elective courses that is offered in that semester (i.e. Public Health in Social Work; Global Issues in Social Work and Social Policy). These courses and their assignments are meant to help students obtain sufficient knowledge about their substantive areas of interest and the requisite methodological skills for collecting and analyzing related data.

Third Year and Beyond 

     In the Fall semester of full-time study, students must register for Dissertation Proposal Seminar. This course provides students with the first formal opportunity to draft their dissertation proposals. The school's expectations are made clear through a detailed examination of the Guide to the Preparation of the Dissertation Proposal which serves as a basic text for the seminar. The final course assignment is completion of a draft of the dissertation proposal. Students can also register for any electives that are offered. From here on, the program can best be characterized as "autonomous study" in which the student works on improving the dissertation proposal and, after receiving committee approval and clearance from the University’s Committee on Clinical Investigations (CCI), on the dissertation itself. Once the proposal has been approved, the actual conduct of the research and completion of the full dissertation can be expected to take from one to two years.

     To provide assistance to students in the preparation of their proposals and/or the conduct of the dissertation studies, a Quantitative Lab is offered to third year students in the spring semester and to fourth year students in the fall semester. This required lab is tailored to the specific needs of students and provides consultation and technical assistance specifically oriented to the dissertation proposals or dissertations. Most of the sessions of the two-semester Quantitative Lab are on an individual consultation basis with the instructor.

     Because some students need or desire a more structured environment in which to complete their proposals, two elective courses are offered. The first, the Dissertation Proposal Writing Lab, builds on the content covered in the Dissertation Proposal Seminar.  Intensive instructor and peer-to-peer review and feedback are offered on the preparation of the proposals. This course is offered intermittently in the spring semester, contingent on the number of students who anticipate requesting or actually request it. Since it relies on peer-to-peer review, a minimum of five students is necessary for the course.

     Another elective offering is a Methodology Lab open to students in their fourth year or beyond. Students working on their proposals or dissertations may enroll in this course, in which one-on-one consultation and assistance are offered in study design and statistical analysis.

     Other electives, such as Advanced Quantitative Methods, Advanced Qualitative Methods, Comparative Analysis of Social Welfare Policies and Programs, and Ethics will be offered from time to time and may require prerequisites. In general, such courses will be open to third-year and beyond WSSW students and they may be course-referenced with other programs throughout the YU community. 

Here is the sequencing of courses for full and part-time students:

SAMPLE PROGRAM FORMAT - DOCTORAL PROGRAM

FIRST YEAR FULL-TIME STUDENTS

FIRST YEAR PART-TIME STUDENTS

FIRST YEAR PART-TIME STUDENTS CONTINUING THEIR STUDIES

SECOND YEAR STUDENTS (Prerequisites: Successful completion of all first year courses and Comprehensive Exam)

THIRD YEAR & BEYOND STUDENTS (Prerequisites: Successful completion of all second year courses)

**Note: Students must re-register for Proposal Planning until they have their proposal accepted and  then APPROVED by CCI - only then can they go on to Doctoral research. Likewise, at the dissertation stage, students MUST register for Doctoral Research until the Dissertations are ACCEPTED by their dissertation committee members AND APPROVED signed off on by the Doctoral Program Director, the Dean of the School of Social Work, and the librarian at the Pollock Library- even if they go well over the 60 credits required as a minimum for program completion.