Mission
of the Doctoral Program
The main objective of doctoral education
at Berkeley is to inspire independence and originality of
thought in pursuit of knowledge. The School's Ph.D. program
aims to develop scholars who will make significant contributions
to the field of social welfare through excellent teaching,
research, policy development and analysis, administration
and direct practice. Doctoral students become proficient
in research methodology and ultimately demonstrate this
research competence in their dissertations. Most graduates
of the Ph.D. Program become faculty members in schools of
social work and social welfare or hold positions in policy-making
agencies or research institutions.
Program
of Study
The Ph.D. program allows students to pursue individualized
courses of study tailored to their intellectual interests.
Each student's academic work is designed to focus on knowledge
in three fields of study: (1)
a social problem field (e.g., children, the family, mental
health, status and roles of women); (2) a social science
theory field (e.g., theories of human development, psychopathology,
theories of planning, economics of social welfare), and
(3) a field of social welfare intervention (e.g., policy
analysis, social welfare planning, social casework, family
therapy, administration).
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