phd social work university of chicago

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The Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice

The Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice is dedicated to working toward a more just and humane society through research, teaching, and service to the community. As one of the oldest and most highly regarded graduate schools of social work, the Crown Family School prepares professionals to handle society’s most difficult problems by developing new knowledge, promoting a deeper understanding of the causes and human costs of social inequities, and building bridges between rigorous research and the practice of helping individuals, families, and communities to achieve a better quality of life.

Professional Purpose

In January 2021, the School received a $75 million gift from James and Paula Crown and the Crown family—the largest ever in support of a school of social work. In recognition of this significant gift, the school, long known as the School of Social Service Administration, was renamed the Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice. The gift will expand financial support to students, accelerate faculty hiring and research initiatives, and deepen our ambitious community-engaged research, especially our work on Chicago’s South Side.

Founded in 1908, the Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice is regarded as one of the world’s foremost schools of social work, ranking anywhere from first to third in reputational surveys. Through a combination of research, teaching, and practice, the Crown Family School has shaped the field for more than 100 years.

The School’s first leaders advanced a vision of social work as a real discipline, reimagining and revolutionizing the social work profession and social work education. They created a School that embodied the University’s core mission of civic engagement, striving to enact social reform and make enduring impact through rigorous research. The School conducted the first empirical investigations of social welfare problems and solutions; established the first, and still leading, scholarly journal for the profession ( Social Service Review ); offered the first university-based graduate professional degrees in social work; and established the world’s first PhD program in social work and social welfare (celebrating its centennial in 2020). Today, scholars conduct research on public policies, human service organizations, social programs, and social work practice, studying such topics as child welfare, urban education, criminal justice disparities, homelessness, health care, policing, youth violence prevention, urban politics, low-wage employment, immigration, child and family policy, and substance use and abuse.

In July 2019, the Crown Family School became the academic home of UChicago’s Urban Education Institute (UEI). Through four integrated units, UEI conducts rigorous research (UChicago Consortium), trains educators (UChicago UTEP), operates school campuses (UChicago Charter), and provides research-based learning tools (UChicago Impact). The Crown Family School and UEI share a commitment to integrating research, education, and professional practice, with direct impact on communities, families, and individuals. Their history of significant collaborations includes work in education policy research, engaging students to improve K-12 public schooling, and translating research to practice as evidenced by the To&Through Project, a partnership between the Crown Family School’s Network for College Success and UEI.

The Crown Family School offers two Master's Degree Programs: Social Work, Social Policy, and Social Administration (SW), a two-year full-time program, and Social Sector Leadership and Nonprofit Management (SSL), a one-year full-time program. Both offer an integrated approach that prepare students to be a force of positive change in people's lives, but each program is distinctive. The Master of Arts Program has been accredited by the Council on Social Work Education and its predecessor organizations since 1919. The Crown Family School was reaccredited through June 2028. Our AM degree is equivalent to an MSW, but with a broader educational and experiential foundation that combines direct social work practice with policy development, interdisciplinary research and social science theory. The School also offers a combined AB/AM degree for University of Chicago undergraduate students in The College, Advanced Standing, Evening, and Part-time programs, and joint degree programs (AM/MBA, AM/MDiv, AM/MPP) for the Social Work, Social Policy, and Social Administration AM; a Part-time option for Social Sector Leadership; a dual AM SW/SSL program; a PhD program, and a PhD/AM program.

The Crown Family School also offers a minor,  Inequality, Social Problems, and Change , exclusively for students in the College. The minor, which is open to all majors, examines the underlying causes and consequences of—and innovative solutions to—society’s most pressing social problems. The minor places particular weight on understanding social issues that disproportionately affect marginalized and disadvantaged populations. It also helps students understand the ways in which social markers influence mass incarceration, immigration policy, access to health care, political power and participation, and physical and mental health.

Since 1920, our Doctoral Program has provided training for those interested in pursuing an academic career in social work and social welfare. The Crown Family School’s doctoral graduates are leaders in the field of social work and social welfare scholarship. The program is designed to deepen students' mastery of both social science theory and research methods so that students are prepared to contribute to scholarly knowledge in innovative ways. The program accommodates students who are interested in developing and evaluating practice methods and interventions as well as those interested in understanding social problems and accompanying institutional and political responses. The diverse theoretical approaches of the Crown Family School's faculty make it uniquely positioned to support an interdisciplinary course of study.

In 2020, to honor the legacy of Professor Allison Davis, the Crown Family School and the Division of the Social Sciences announced a call for applications from doctoral students for the 2020-21 Allison Davis Research Awards. Davis studied systems of stratification and segregation between and within racial and ethnic groups in the United States. He documented the effects of social stratification and segregation on family life, language use, educational attainment, and the development of personality and character of children and adolescents in American minority groups. He also aimed at discovering social policies and practices that promised to promote the healthy development of all children and youth. Six awards of up to $10,000 were given to students who are conducting research related to the ones Davis studied throughout his life.

The Crown Family School’s educational program is informed by the values of the social work profession. As such, we prepare professionals who are committed to improving the lives of vulnerable and diverse populations and promoting social and economic justice locally, nationally, and globally. Social work values ensure that service is driven by a humanistic perspective that values difference and asks us to consider the impact of our ideas and our work on the well-being of our clients, of our colleagues, of our agencies, and on society as a whole. Our values require that we treat others with dignity and respect and make human rights and social justice central to our work. As a School, the Crown Family School strives to be an exemplar of social work education, committed to fostering an inclusive, engaging, and rigorous educational experience, welcoming to all.

Our values require that we behave ethically in both our personal and professional lives. Our ethical precepts encompass such matters as treating our clients with dignity, honoring human diversity and differences, never exploiting clients for our own interests, and always acting in the best interest of clients. This is accomplished through human relationships, honoring the value of integrity, and giving graduates the competence to achieve professional goals of the highest quality. Similar precepts govern our relationships with other professionals. We recognize our responsibilities to the organizations for which we work, but we also have the obligation to question policies and practices in the workplace that may not be aligned with the best interests of our clients. We value scientific inquiry and the use of scientific evidence, as well as the development and implementation of evidence-based policy and practice. Finally, our values require continued professional growth and development through lifelong learning.

Program Context

University of chicago.

Since its founding, the University’s mission has been expressed in its motto,  Crescat scientia; vita excolatur , “Let knowledge grow from more to more; and so be human life enriched.” The University is committed to the development of new knowledge, both for its own sake and for the common good. The link of its mission to the mission and purpose of the Crown Family School is clear. As social problems become more complex, interconnected, and sprawling, the Crown Family School is building upon its distinctive interdisciplinary and applied traditions to generate more robust knowledge and to educate the most talented social work leaders, thereby achieving even greater social benefit, both locally and globally.

The Crown Family School’s first dean, Edith Abbott, said in 1920 when it became a full-fledged professional school, that “only in a university, and only in a great university, could a school of social work get the educational facilities that advanced professional students must have if they were to become the efficient public servants of democracy.” Robert Zimmer, the University's 13th president, shares her sentiment and stated during his address during the 487th convocation, “The University of Chicago, from its very inception, has been driven by a singular focus on inquiry…with a firm belief in the value of open, rigorous, and intense inquiry and a common understanding that this must be the defining feature of this university. Everything about the University of Chicago that we recognize as distinctive flows from this commitment.”

The Mies van der Rohe-designed building that is home to the University of Chicago’s Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy and Practice was dedicated in honor of Edith Abbott, PhD 1905 on March 17, 2021 and is now named Edith Abbott Hall.

City of Chicago

As a great American city, Chicago and its surroundings provide a superb context for learning in the field. It is one of the nation’s most diverse cities—a kaleidoscope of social and cultural traditions and populations. Chicago experiences all of the significant problems of the modern metropolis: poverty, violence, crime, dysfunctional schools, inadequate health services, drug use, family breakdown, social exclusion, and community disruption. Our students are able to witness, learn from, and contribute to this complex of activity.

Chicago has notably been at the forefront of pioneering movements in social work, community organizing, women’s rights, urban planning and architecture, labor organizing, and African American politics. Building on this tradition, recent initiatives such as the University of Chicago Urban Labs, including its Health Lab; the Network for College Success; the Employment Instability, Family Well-being, and Social Policy Network (EINet); the STI and HIV Intervention Network (SHINE); CalYouth; the Smart Decarceration Project; the Chicago Center for HIV Elimination; and the Chicago Center for Youth Violence Prevention (one of six national Academic Centers of Excellence funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)—all led or co-led by Crown Family School faculty—yield both knowledge for the field at-large and tangible benefit to the citizens of Chicago, as well as offer opportunities to expand the University’s partnership with the City of Chicago. Our ever-deepening partnerships with the neighbors in our community serve to enhance the quality of life and economic development of Chicago’s South Side, as well as the City of Chicago more broadly and beyond to the national and international levels. With this, the Crown Family School plays a very visible role in materially advancing the University’s larger purpose to “enrich human lives.”

To further advance our community commitment, the Crown Family School added an Assistant Dean of Civic Engagement to lead new initiatives and deepen relationships with community partners. These mutually-beneficial partnerships are designed to enrich the academic experiences of our students and expand opportunities for research, while including and responding to the voices and needs of our community neighbors. In fall of 2018, the Crown Family School partnered with other campus entities when the University hosts the annual Clinton Global Initiative University. The summit welcomed more than 1,000 undergraduates and graduate students from around the world, subject matter experts, and other public figures, who addressed urgent social, economic, and environmental issues. At the conclusion of the summit, attendees participated in a “day of action” to support a project in an adjacent neighborhood.

The Crown Family School launched Civic Treks, a new partnership with the Institute of Politics, which gives students an inside look at how Chicago works through discussions and meetings with civic leaders. Treks focus on pressing social issues, including educational inequality, police accountability, community organizing, and urban segregation, and gentrification. With the Booth School of Business, the Crown Family School has launched a partnership that expands social entrepreneurship programming for Crown Family School students. Through co-hosted extracurricular workshops on social entrepreneurship, combined with existing courses, students are working to develop innovative solutions to social, economic, and environmental challenges. Crown Family School students also have the opportunity to compete for venture capital funding to put their ideas into action.

Through another partnership, the Crown Family School and UChicago’s Office of Civic Engagement now is offering a Certificate in Nonprofit Management. This two-year program is geared to early to mid-stage nonprofit professionals working in or focused on Chicago’s South Side. It equips participants with the hands-on skills and theoretical knowledge needed to manage effective organizations. Students take workshops at the Community Programs Accelerator and complete a nonprofit management course taught by a Crown Family School professor.

The Crown Family School has been a chief architect in developing other University urban efforts, including the Mansueto Institute for Urban Innovation, which draws on the strengths of the University of Chicago, as well as the Crown Family School’s approach in applying multiple lenses to complex social problems. As a hub focused on the possibilities of urbanization, the Institute will accelerate urban scholarship through seed funding for such issues as health care, youth development, and violence reduction research – areas where the Crown Family School plays a major role. And as home to urban scholars trained in a dozen different disciplines, the Crown Family School also is vital to UChicago Urban, a newly launched University commitment that strives to understand urban issues and create positive impact on urban life. 

The Global Context

As social problems become more globally interconnected, the Crown Family School implemented a strategic international social welfare program agenda. Our program integrates cross-national and comparative content into our curriculum, including study-abroad and internship placement opportunities for students, lectures by international scholars visiting Chicago, and scholarly and student exchanges in partnership with peer institutions. One outgrowth of our growing visibility on the global stage is an acceleration of our international student enrollment.

With support from the University’s Provost’s Office, the Crown Family School has expanded its faculty ranks, bringing in faculty with explicit expertise in global and international social welfare. Our first of several faculty hires in this emerging domain joined us in July 2012; since then, the Crown Family School has hired additional faculty members, allowing the School to forge a defining role in the globalization of social welfare concerns and problems. Our faculty examine social welfare policy and practice across Asia, Central/Latin America, the former Soviet Union, and Africa, which also complements work in Europe. The Crown Family School faculty also serve on the Steering Committee of the University’s Center in Delhi, the University’s Beijing Governance Committee, and the international advisory board of the  Indian Journal of Social Work . We are completing our seventh year of a concentration in international social work, which builds out field experiences in India, China, and Hong Kong, and through the University’s Human Rights program. In addition, this year, we welcomed a second cohort of students to the global social policy and practice certificate.

We run an annual, intensive, one-month study-abroad program on urban poverty and community practice for our master’s students in collaboration with the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) in Mumbai, India, the oldest established school of social work in that country. This program combines classroom instruction, field experience (pairing the Crown Family School with TISS students in a small set of community placements), seminar discussion, and informal engagement with students and faculty from both schools. The program includes a reciprocal exchange in Chicago, in which TISS students engage in a parallel program to the one in India, strengthening comparative learning across institutions and countries and building meaningful peer relationships. This work has also begun to generate research collaboration among faculty at both institutions.

In China, the Crown Family School has established a relationship with colleagues at Peking University (PKU), the home to mainland China’s oldest and most well-established social work program. We have hosted PKU faculty at Chicago on two separate occasions and have visited PKU to share insights and orientations to social work curriculum and field education as well as to explore common research interests. We are also partnering with PKU as part of the China Collaborative, an effort jointly sponsored by the Council of Social Work Education in the United States, China Association of Social Work Educators in China, and the International Association of Schools of Social Work to foster the advancement of social work education and the professionalization of social work in China during a time of rapid development. In addition to co-organizing with PKU two workshops in Beijing, the Crown Family School hosted, in fall 2014, a delegation of faculty from some of China’s leading social work programs, introducing them to a week-long immersion in the Crown Family School’s robust educational fieldwork-classroom integration.

We established, in 2013, an intensive Institute in China in partnership with Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) that focuses on responses to social exclusion in Hong Kong, mainland China, and the United States. The annual program allows students from the Crown Family School and PolyU to learn from and gain perspectives from each other. The intensive institutes have included local site visits in Hong Kong and Mainland China, where students have examined local social welfare issues facing migrants, asylum seekers, and tenant farmers, including housing shortages, health inequality, and economic development policies. As with the TISS program, this exchange is designed to maximize interaction and learning between students from Hong Kong, China, the U.S., and elsewhere, through a range of formal curricular, field-oriented, and informal interactions, and to leverage the comparative perspective such an exchange might provide to think critically about social work practice and social welfare.

The Crown Family School, with our counterparts at Peking University, co-sponsored and hosted a series of scholarly seminars and strategic planning workshops with support from the University of Chicago’s recently established Beijing Center. Over the past few years, the Crown Family School hosted a series of symposia and workshops, in collaboration with colleagues at Peking University, the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, and Seoul National University, focused on the challenges of globalization and urbanization. These symposia explored international perspectives on social policy and urban problems, bringing together scholars from China, the United States, India, and South Korea to explore knowledge about, policy responses to, and enduring questions focused on urbanization and globalization across particular substantive themes—education, health, children and youth, and poverty and development—as they are playing out across these four national contexts. The symposia provided a foundation for collaborative research exploring the theme of inequality and social exclusion and how it is generated, reproduced, and responded to cross-nationally in the context of globalization. An edited volume based on this work,  Social Exclusion in Cross-National Perspective: Actors, Actions, and Impacts from Above and Below , is now available from Oxford University Press.   

Further galvanizing our efforts is the Tripartite Collaboration for Advancing Social Work in China, launched in 2016, which establishes an endowed joint social work educational exchange program in partnership with PKU and Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Working together, the three universities seek to promote the development of graduate social work education and research in China; facilitate international collaborative graduate education and research among the participating universities; and improve the quality of social work education in China, promoting a rigorously professionalized, effective, and ethical social work workforce and service system. In 2017, the Collaboration launched the  Enduring Foundation  project, an on-the-ground effort to address the needs of migrant families affected by rapid urbanization. This community-based project seeks to promote the positive development and mental health of rural children and adolescents through parenting training workshops, mentoring programs, and community programs. In addition to these developing relationships, the presence of the University of Chicago’s Beijing and Paris Centers and the recent opening of the University’s Centers in Delhi and Hong Kong offer exciting opportunities for cross-national exchanges, seminars, and conferences, including hosting students and scholars from China, India, the United States, and other countries for varying periods of time.

In February 2021, the Crown Family School announced a $25 million gift from the Kiphart Family Foundation that will establish the Susan and Richard Kiphart Center for Global Health and Social Development, led in partnership with the Biological Sciences Division. The Kiphart Center will serve as the University’s gateway in bringing together teams from around the University and partner communities to address social determinants of health and improve infrastructure to promote community health and well-being around the world.

Guiding Principles of the Crown Family School Master’s Curriculum

The Crown Family School's curriculum promotes social justice through its commitment to pluralism, rigorous inquiry, engaged interdisciplinary scholarship, integrative practice, critical thinking, and informed action. These curricular commitments prepare students to understand the complex contexts and power structures that maintain and reproduce inequality and injustice, and to take action to promote individual, social, and structural change.

1. Social Justice

The Crown Family School supports students to analyze the social, historical, political, economic, and organizational factors that reinforce inequity and injustice. Students and faculty consider their own and others’ positionality within those structures, with an appreciation of how identities and affiliations may intersect to compound or mitigate privilege and oppression. We work to increase access, opportunity, and agency in order to dismantle systems of oppression and to help meet the basic needs of diverse individuals, families, and communities with compassion and humaneness.

2. Intellectual Pluralism

Intellectual pluralism is at the heart of the Crown Family School’s teaching. The curriculum reflects the intellectual diversity of our faculty, who come from an array of academic disciplines and professions and represent a variety of political perspectives. This pluralism allows our students and faculty to appreciate multiple ways of knowing, to be critical of what counts as knowledge and research, and to be more inclusive of perspectives that have not traditionally been centered in social work curricula. Our intellectual pluralism also encourages ongoing interrogation of the concept of social justice, which is central to the mission of social work. It also provides us with the tools and flexibility to engage effectively with a broad range of individuals, communities, and social institutions.

3. Engaged Scholarship and Teaching

Crown Family School faculty are committed to promoting social justice and social equality through engaged scholarship and education. Scholarship at the Crown Family School emerges from interactive engagement with practitioners, policy makers, and communities. Crown Family School faculty members actively integrate their research into curricula and teaching. Students are educated to identify and analyze the causes, consequences of, and approaches to ameliorating human suffering and social injustice.

4. Integrative Practice

Our curriculum is built on the assumption that all social workers need to understand and act to mobilize change with and within individuals, families, communities, organizations, public institutions, and political and economic systems. Drawing upon and integrating field and classroom experiences, students will develop skills to practice across multiple levels. In addition, students are trained to use integrative frameworks that move beyond the micro-­macro dichotomy.

5. Critical Thinking

Students learn to effectively question, assess, evaluate, and respond to assumptions, claims, and values, including those from social science and social work research. Students learn to consider a range of perspectives; carefully assess their assumptions, validity, and implications; and become skilled and insightful evaluators of their own thinking. This process includes reflection on how one’s own affiliations and identities may lead to blind spots and biases. Students learn to integrate a critical sensibility into practice so as to make meaningful contributions to the profession, the client base, and to the analysis and resolution of social problems.

6. Theory to Action Students prepare for positions of leadership and to be stewards of change while working in dynamic sociopolitical and fiscal contexts in hundreds of vetted field placements throughout Chicago and its surrounding communities. Chicago has a rich history of social reform, social service innovation, and community organizing that gives context and continuity to students' field experiences. The field model provides opportunity for students to engage in coursework and field work concurrently, challenging students to assess, understand and address the extraordinary range of needs that bring people into contact with nonprofit, public and private agencies. Simultaneously, students learn from the tremendous strength, resilience, and knowledge held by the individuals and communities they serve. Students are encouraged to identify practice questions that lead to analysis, research, and new approaches toward ameliorating social exclusion through community-­engaged fieldwork.

While we strive to create conditions that will largely negate the need for a social work profession, we realize that social service programs and organizations serve vital safety net functions and can aid in societal transformations toward equity and social justice. Crown Family School faculty recognize that individuals, families, and communities are rarely helped by mediocre interventions and programs. Similarly, society is rarely served by poorly conducted research or poorly crafted social policies. Therefore, the Crown Family School strives towards excellence in our practice, teaching, and scholarship.

Goals of the School

Carrying out the Crown Family School’s mission to enrich human life through scholarship, education, and service dedicated toward advancing a more socially just and humane society, we tackle the most intractable and costly of social problems by developing rigorous knowledge and rigorously trained professionals, as well as by leading and informing the field in ways that advance our society and the concerns of those who are most vulnerable. In keeping with its mission, the School’s goals are:

• To educate competent and effective professionals able to apply clinical, analytical, and organizational knowledge and skills to solve social problems and relieve the distress of vulnerable individuals through ethical practice in a rapidly changing global environment. This requires a learning environment that models respect for diversity and lifelong learners who can think critically about the world around them.
• To produce scholarship that enhances our understanding of the nature and sources of problems of individuals, families, communities, and society and of effective means of preventing and intervening with those problems.
• And to use the School’s resources to advance social justice and to serve its immediate community and the field of social welfare through the translation of knowledge into action. We aim to provide leadership both institutionally and through the efforts of individual faculty.

Graduates of the Crown Family School should be able:

• To understand that the foundation of effective service lies in a grasp of the environment. Individual distress occurs in a social context involving the interaction of biological, psychological, familial, economic, community, and cultural factors.
• To understand that theories supported by empirical evidence serve as conceptual frameworks for examining individual distress, organizational functioning, community contexts, and social policies. These theories are drawn from multiple disciplines and become the foundation for a coherent framework from which to respond to human needs and promote social justice.
• To think critically and challenge the underlying assumptions, core values, conceptual frameworks, and evidence on which our professional knowledge is based.
• To engage in competent, ethical, and effective social work, clinical practice, or social administration.
• And to become effective leaders in the fields of social work and social welfare.

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Advancing a More Just and Humane Society

Having professors who are literally the leading voices in a lot of conversations within social work is awesome. It’s invaluable. It’s something that I don’t take for granted. Choosing the Crown Family School and applying for the GSDP certificate are decisions that have paid off exponentially.

Faculty Research Identifies Strategies for Implementing Work Scheduling Laws during Economic Uncertainty

Professor  Susan Lambert  delivered the third installment of an employer-side evaluation of the implementation of the Seattle’s Secure Scheduling Ordinance (SS0) to the Seattle City Council in December 2022. The report details retail and food service managers’ staffing and scheduling practices and implementation of SSO requirements as the pandemic unfolded.

The Social Work, Social Policy, and Social Administration program prepares students to become leaders in the fields of clinical social work and social administration practice.

The SSL program examines the complexity of social problems while developing the capacity to more effectively address social change.

The Dual Degree program combines an accredited social work degree and a degree in management that demonstrates leadership and experience.

The Doctoral program advances a uniquely interdisciplinary approach to social work and social welfare scholarship.

May 3 Strategic Planning and Change Management  May 03, 2024 9:00am (CDT) More about the event

May 6 Master's Degree in Social Sector Leadership Webinar May 06, 2024 4:00pm (CDT) Learn more

May 8 Introduction to Harm Reduction: An Everyday Approach to Promoting Health and Well-Being May 08, 2024 9:00am (CDT) More about the event

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Jane Addams College of Social Work

Phd in social work, educating leaders and scholars of social and economic justice heading link copy link.

The mission of the Jane Addams College of Social Work is to educate professional social workers, develop knowledge, and provide leadership in the development and implementation of policies and services on behalf of the poor, the oppressed, racial and ethnic minorities, and other at-risk urban populations.

Consistent with this mission and Jane Addams’ Hull-House tradition, the PhD Program in Social Work responds to the urgent demand for more effective human services, the need for changes in social policy and the growth in social work education at all levels.

The program is designed to support the development of scholars of social and economic justice, providing students with the knowledge and skills for advancing social work treatment theory and research and for development and direction of social welfare programs. It provides for two broad research tracks: social planning, policy and administration, and social work practice scholarship within which a more specialized area of individualized study is selected.

The first cohort of students enrolled in 1973 and more than 120 persons have been awarded doctoral degrees since then. Most graduates of the program either teach in colleges and universities or hold positions as agency executives. Smaller numbers are working in research positions, with a very few in direct practice. Students are prepared for leadership in one or more of the following careers:

• Teaching in colleges or universities,
• Conducting and directing research,
• Administrating large-scale social welfare programs, and/or
• Analyzing and advising on social policy.

Program Options Heading link Copy link

Full-time Study

A full-time student enrolls for a minimum of 12 semester hours per term. However, an optimal full-time load is considered to be 14 hours per term, in order to complete the program within 3 years.

Part-time Study

The option of beginning the program on a part-time basis is available to holders of the Master of Social Work. Initially, a part-time student may take less than 12 hours of credit per term, usually 6 per term. Part-time students will be expected to start their programs of study with the core courses especially designed for the Doctoral Program in Social Work. There are no special course offerings in the College of Social Work for PhD students in the summer session.

Interdepartmental Graduate Concentrations Heading link Copy link

Students in the doctoral program are eligible to participate in the following UIC Interdepartmental Graduate Concentrations:

• Gender and Women’s Studies  – Learn More »
• Violence Studies – Learn More »
• Black Studies – Learn More »
• Latin American and Latino Studies – Learn More »
• Survey Research Methodology – Learn More »

Watch Our Video Info Session

In the words of our graduates heading link copy link.

“JACSW was my first and only choice to pursue doctoral studies, and as I’m nearing the end of my doctoral education, I can truly say that the college really walks the talk of its mission. I’m proud to have been intellectually nurtured in this environment and empowered to take action on issues I truly care about.” Janae Bonsu, PhD '21  |  Senior Research Associate at the National Black Women’s Justice Institute

“Students that attend the Jane Addams PhD program will participate in a well-designed program that will equip them with the skills and experiences they will need to work in many different environments, doing many different kinds of jobs.” Stephanie Schmitz Bechteler, PhD ’15  |  Director, Special Projects & Program Services, Illinois Student Assistance Commission

“In my three years in the program, I benefited from continuous support and guidance, including when applying for awards and scholarships, preparing for presentations, and conducting my dissertation.” Susanny J. Beltran, PhD '19  |  Assistant Professor at University of Central Florida

“In Jane Addams’ doctoral program, I have been fortunate to work with well-respected researchers, teach a master’s level course, and gain service experience as a student representative on the doctoral committee.” Andrew I. Repp, PhD '21  |  Assistant Professor at St. Ambrose University

Apply to the PhD Program

Phd links heading link copy link.

• PhD Requirements
• PhD Plan of Study
• PhD Cost & Financial Aid

For Additional Information Heading link Copy link

For further information on the PhD program, contact us by email, or call:

Chang-ming Hsieh, Director of PhD in Social Work Program Jane Addams College of Social Work (MC 309) University of Illinois Chicago 1040 West Harrison Street Chicago, Illinois 60607-7134 Email: [email protected] Phone: (312) 996-4928

Meet Our PhD Students Heading link Copy link

Learn about our current PhD students, their backgrounds and their research interests.

The Doctoral Dispatch Heading link Copy link

The Doctoral Dispatch is a regular newsletter written and edited by PhD student Livvy Gerrish, who invites you to see what our PhD students have been doing.

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PhD in Social Work

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Admission Requirements

The program is open to students who have obtained a master’s degree in social work (MSW) and have demonstrated leadership and scholarly potential. A limited number of persons with advanced degrees in other human service professions or in related social sciences are also considered for admission. Persons admitted without the MSW degree are required to complete all requirements for the master’s degree before beginning doctoral courses.

Applicants are considered on an individual basis. Transcripts from all colleges attended must be submitted. In addition to the Graduate College minimum requirements, applicants must meet the following program requirements:

• Prior Degrees Master’s degree required. Most applicants have a Master of Social Work degree; applicants with advanced training in other human service professions or in related social sciences are also eligible for consideration. Applicants must have satisfactorily passed a course in college-level statistics. 
• Grade Point Average At least 3.00/4.00 in the final 60 semester (90 quarter) hours of undergraduate study and for all work beyond the baccalaureate.
• Tests Required None.
• TOEFL 80, with subscores of Reading 19, Listening 17, Speaking 20, and Writing 21 (iBT Test); 60, with subscores of Reading 19, Listening 17, Writing 21 (revised Paper-Delivered Test), OR ,
• IELTS 6.5, with subscores of 6.0 for all four subscores, OR ,
• PTE-Academic 54, with subscores of Reading 51, Listening 47, Speaking 53, and Writing 56.
• Letters of Recommendation Three letters of recommendation required, ordinarily including former instructors and work supervisors. Contact the Jane Addams College of Social Work for more information.
• Personal Statement Required. Applicants must submit a statement of their interest in social work, their long range career goals and scholarly interests, and how those fit with the mission of the college.
• Other Requirements Applications must be submitted electronically through the UIC Graduate Admission Upload Process. Admissions are restricted to the fall semester.
• Deadlines Application deadlines for this program are listed on the Graduate College website.

Degree Requirements

In addition to the Graduate College minimum requirements, students must meet the following program requirements:

• Minimum Semester Hours Required 96 from the baccalaureate.
• Course Work At least 9 semester hours must be earned at UIC in each of two consecutive terms. Students are expected to complete the residence requirement during the first or second year of their study. Students without a Master of Social Work may apply for admission if they have advanced training in other human service professions or in related social sciences. If offered admission, such students must complete all requirements for the Master of Social Work degree before beginning doctoral courses.
• Qualifying Examination Required.
• Preliminary Examination Required.
• Dissertation Required.

Interdepartmental Concentrations

Students earning a graduate degree in this department may complement their courses by enrolling in select concentrations after consulting with their graduate advisor. Interdepartmental concentrations available for this degree include:

• Black Studies
• Gender and Women's Studies
• Latin American and Latino Studies
• Survey Research Methodology
• Violence Studies

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Joint and Dual Degree Programs

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With more than 100 graduate degree programs, the University of Chicago is uniquely able to offer students the advantages of combining opportunities through interdisciplinary work or by pursuing multiple degree programs. The details vary from program to program, and in most cases require applications to both programs. Please review the information provided by both departments to determine the application and course requirements for each pair of degrees.

Definitions:

• Dual degree—completing requirements for two separate degrees, including, for Ph.D., producing two dissertations. Degrees may be within the same academic unit or across academic units.
• Joint degree—completing requirements for two degree programs with possibly overlapping or coordinated degree requirements. Degrees may be within the same academic unit or across academic units.

Joint/Dual Programs

Biological Sciences Division

• ISTP (MD/PhD ) – Interdisciplinary Scientist Training Program
• MD/MPH – Master of Public Health degree

Chicago Booth School of Business

• MBA/MPP –  Harris School of Public Policy
• MBA/JD –  Law School
• MBA/MD –  Pritzker School of Medicine
• MBA/MPCS –  Master’s Program in Computer Science
• MBA/AM – Crown Family  School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice
• MBA/AM (International Relations) – Social Sciences Division
• MBA/AM in Area Studies ( Eastern Europe/Russia ,  Middle East ,  South Asia ) –  Social Sciences Division
• PhD joint programs in  Business and Psychology  or  Financial Economics  –  Social Sciences Division
• PhD/JD –  Law School

Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice

• AM/MBA –  Booth School of Business
• AM/MPP –  Harris School of Public Policy
• AM/MDiv –  Divinity School – Chicago Theological Seminary ,  Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago ,  McCormick Theological Seminary ,  Meadville/Lombard Theological Seminary , and the  Catholic Theological Union

The Divinity School

• MDiv/AM – Crown Family  School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice
• MDiv/JD –  Law School
• MDiv/MPP –  Harris School of Public Policy

Harris School of Public Policy

• MPP/JD –  Law School
• MPP/AM – Crown Family  School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice
• MPP/MDiv –  Divinity School
• MPP/MBA –  Booth School of Business
• MPP/AM (Middle Eastern Studies) –  Social Sciences Division
• MA/MA (International Relations) –  Social Sciences Division

Humanities Division

• Doctoral Joint Degree Program

The Law School

• Law School Dual Degree Overview
• JD/MBA –  Booth School of Business
• JD/PhD  – Booth School of Business and Social Sciences Division
• JD/MPP –  Harris School of Public Policy
• JD/MDiv –  Divinity School
• JD/MA (International Relations) –  Social Sciences Division

Pritzker School of Medicine

• MD/MBA – Booth School of Business
• MD/MA in Public Policy – Harris School of Public Policy
• MeSH (MD/PhD) – Medicine, the Social Sciences and Humanities
• MSTP (MD/PhD) – Medical Scientist Training Program
• GDDTP(MD/ PhD ) – Growth, Development and Disabilities Training Program
• MD/MS – Biomedical Informatics

Social Sciences Division

• JD/MA (International Relations) – The Law School
• MPP/MA (Middle Eastern Studies) –  Harris School of Public Policy
• MBA/MA – International Relations with Booth and CIR
• MBA/AM in Area Studies ( Eastern Europe/Russia ,  Middle East ,  South Asia ) – Booth School of Business
• MA/MA (International Relations) –  Harris School of Public Policy
• PhD in Anthropology and Linguistics – Humanities Division
• PhD in Cognition and Linguistics – Humanities Division
• PhD in Financial Economics – Booth School of Business
• PhD in Psychology and Business – Booth School of Business
• JD/PhD – Law School
• PhD in Social Thought and Classics – Humanities Division
• PhD in Social Thought & Philosophy  – Humanities Division

Doctoral Program 

• Doctoral Program
• Program of Study
• Graduate Student Research Support
• Recent Dissertations

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Loyola University Chicago

School of social work, phd in social work.

We accept applications to the Ph.D. in Social Work program for a Fall term start only. Applications are due January 1.

You must submit:

• A Completed Application Form You may submit your application form  online . 
• Official Transcripts Applicants must submit official transcripts for all undergraduate and any graduate work. To be eligible for admission, your transcript must show an earned MSW degree or an MSW degree in progress, as well as a minimum GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale .  Certified copies of transcripts are acceptable; faxed copies of transcripts are not considered official. If you attended Loyola University Chicago previously, you do not need to request these transcripts; we have them on record.
• Three Letters of Recommendation If you supply your recommender's email address as part of your completed online application form, then your recommendation letters may be submitted online. Or, your recommenders may mail them to: Graduate & Professional Enrollment Management 820 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 1200 Chicago, IL 60611 We ask that you submit only three letters of recommendation.  Recommendation letters can come from academic, professional, or volunteer sources.  One of each is recommended.  If you graduated less than 5 years ago, at least one reference should be from an academic source.
• What are your areas of professional specialization or interest?
• What are your research interests and activities?
• How have these interests evolved from your prior educational and/or professional activities?
• Within your area(s) of interest, what do you consider to be the major psychosocial, service delivery, social policy, and/or research issues for the social work profession to address?
• What do you hope to gain through your doctoral study and your likely professional activities after you have completed the Ph.D. program?
• At this stage in your professional career, what do you regard as your greatest strengths, abilities, and accomplishments?
• What are the areas in which you have the most to learn?
• How do you think enrollment in the Ph.D. program will build on your strengths and/or help you grow in new areas?
• Test Scores As of September 2021, the GRE is neither required nor considered for application to the SSW Doctoral program. This change is consistent with the School of Social Work's commitment to anti-racism, diversity, equity, and inclusion of local and international students.
• Research Paper/Writing Sample The ability to communicate effectively is essential for the successful completion of the Ph.D. Program. The writing sample will be used to evaluate an applicant’s analytic skills, writing style, critical thinking, and ability to deal with complex material. Applicants need to prepare an 8-10 page literature review with citations in proper APA format on a topic they are interested in pursuing as a dissertation topic. Review the current literature in the field to demonstrate your knowledge in this area and how it supports the research ideas you might wish to pursue in your doctoral studies.
• International Students:  Admission Requirements

For more information

Contact: [email protected]

Scholarships/Fellowships

Doctoral students are eligible to receive tuition waivers to cover their first two years of required course work.  Health insurance is included.  The School of Social Work may also match the tuition waiver with an $18,000 stipend per year.  The stipend requires the doctoral student to work 10 hours per week with a faculty member who shares similar research interests. 

Financial assistance may be available through grants depending on the availability and needs of the principal investigator. There are a number of opportunities for students to apply for and receive financial assistance and scholarships .

Individual research fellowships and scholarships within the School of Social Work are awarded on a merit basis and must be applied for via the director of the doctoral program.

• Undergraduate
• Graduate/ Professional
• Adult Education

2023-2024 Academic Catalog

Loyola university chicago, 2023-2024 catalog.

The Academic Catalog is the official listing of courses, programs of study, academic policies and degree requirements for Loyola University Chicago. It is published every year in advance of the next academic year.

School and Academic Centers and Institutes

Undergraduate academic standards and regulations, arrupe academic standards and regulations, professional license disclosures, accreditation, social work (phd).

The PhD in Social Work program, established in 1986, extends the tradition of educating students skilled in clinical research, scholarship, and teaching with the Jesuit ideals of service to others and commitment to social justice as its foundation. The doctoral program prepares students for leadership roles in diverse practice and academic arenas.

Our mission is to educate and train doctoral students to be independent scholars who conduct rigorous social work research and deliver effective teaching strategies to future social workers. The Ph.D. Program at Loyola University Chicago School of Social Work builds on its clinical reputation by preparing doctoral students to create and evaluate practice-informed, client-centered interventions and policies that impact practice at the micro, mezzo, and macro levels. Doctoral students are trained in these practice-informed approaches to understand and respond to the complex social, racial, and economic justice issues that impact the most marginalized and oppressed in our society. The doctoral program reflects the social justice mission of our university by training doctoral students to engage in reflective and intentional study to become scholars who transform themselves, their community, the profession, and their world.

Program Goals

The specific goals of the PhD Program at the School of Social Work at Loyola University Chicago and consistent with national goals as outlined in the Group for Advancement of Doctoral Education are to prepare professionals for:

• Scholarship and research in areas that include but are not limited to theory building, the effectiveness of practice interventions, and program evaluation.
• Academic teaching in the content areas of theory, practice, research, and policy.
• The advancement of the social work profession in a context that is global, and multi-cultural, requiring and addressing global-based human rights violations and inequalities.
• Leadership in the profession’s commitment to remedying the growing and profound inequality with a commitment to policies, practices, and research that remedy those inequalities and their immediate negative effects on vulnerable populations.
• Inter-disciplinary scholarly work through course electives taken outside the SSW (School of Social Work) to enhance student’s learning toward the completion of their dissertation.

The PhD in Social work requires 48 credit hours of coursework, a comprehensive examination, and a dissertation.

Coursework Requirements

The PhD in Social Work courses expand on student's understanding of social work research methodology and teaching. 

The goal of elective courses is to enhance the quality and scholarship of the dissertation. The Director of the Doctoral Program should be consulted to provide advising about potential elective courses.

All PhD students and students in thesis-based Master's degree programs must successfully complete UNIV 370 Responsible Conduct in Research and Scholarship or other approved coursework in responsible conduct of research as part of the degree requirements. It is strongly recommended that students complete this two-day training before beginning the dissertation/thesis stage of the program.

Once a student has completed coursework, they are registered for SOWK 827 Doctoral Study or SOWK 600 Dissertation Supervision to maintain standing in the Graduate School. It is not necessary for students to register for either of these courses during the summer term, but it is imperative that they register for either of these two courses every fall and spring term until graduation.

Suggested Sequence of Courses

After coursework listed below is complete, students begin taking SOWK 827 Doctoral Study  or SOWK 600 Dissertation Supervision until dissertation defense.

The below sequence of courses is meant to be used as a suggested path for completing coursework.  An individual student’s completion of requirements depends on course offerings in a given term as well as the start term for a major or graduate study.  Students should consult their advisor for assistance with course selection.

Comprehensive Examinations

Once students have completed the core curriculum (the second year of course work) they prepare for the Comprehensive Exam which is taken during the fall semester of their third year and prior to developing a dissertation proposal.  The written and oral exam tests knowledge and critical thinking in research and micro/mezzo/macro theories and practices in the context of social justice applications.

Dissertation

Students are encouraged to begin thinking about specific areas for scholarly inquiry early in their course of study and to discuss these interests with full time faculty members who have similar interest and expertise. The educational experiences are planned to facilitate the development of skills of intensive investigation and the application of research techniques to clinical phenomenon, process and/or services. A dissertation proposal chairperson may be selected as early as the second semester of study. The selection of the Chairperson is normally a matter of mutual agreement between the student and the faculty member involved. The development of the dissertation proposal is a continuous process of focus, modification, and refinement until the proposal is developed to the satisfaction of the student and the dissertation chairperson.

The following criteria will be applied by members of the Dissertation Proposal Committee in determining acceptability of the document and in granting final approval:

• Proposals must have as their ultimate objective a contribution to the knowledge of the practice of social work. This objective may be in the advancement of relevant theory, the improvement of practice, the process out outcomes, or synthesis of existing knowledge.
• The formulated research question must be based on informed and extensive knowledge of theory and prior empirical study in the specific area of pursuit.
• Clear concepts and well articulated research questions must be formulated.
• Client systems, other social systems, and social service delivery systems are acceptable foci for subject matter within the context of practice related problems, situations, interactions, processes, and outcomes.
• Replication of other studies is acceptable provided theory is advanced by way of its application to practice. This implies thinking though of alternative explanations of prior findings, the formulation of questions and hypotheses which reflect this thinking and the development of designs which take into account the gaps and/or limitations of prior work.
• Proposals must include an acceptable plan and methodology of inquiry. No single research methodology is favored or prohibited. The proposed study may be exploratory, experimental or historic in nature. Appropriate guidelines for the collection of data and data analysis must be stated.
• Sample size must be appropriate to the nature of the study, the questions asked and methods to be used. Intensive case study (individual, group or family) and single subject approached may be acceptable. However, replication over series of cases may improve the potential for committee approval as a dissertation topic and would provide opportunity for comparative analysis.
• When agency accessibility and cooperation is essential to the study, a plan based on preliminary negotiations when attention to feasibility must be presented.
• Proposals must accord with the policies and procedures of all relevant review boards for the Protection of Human Subjects.

When the Chairperson is satisfied that a report is reaching a stage at which approval from the Committee is likely, the Chairperson will request the Director of the Doctoral Program to schedule a Dissertation Hearing which will be open to the public and advertised to the students and faculty and the School of Social Work.

After the Dissertation Committee has given final approval to the Dissertation, the student must bring the manuscript form into conformance with official specifications and to submit all appropriate abstracts and forms. Students should be aware that they will not be allowed to graduate unless the Graduate School is satisfied that they have met all the requirements related to the submissions of the final document.

Graduate & Professional Standards and Regulations

Students in graduate and professional programs can find their Academic Policies in Graduate and Professional Academic Standards and Regulations under their school. Any additional University Policies supercede school policies.

Learning Outcomes

At the completion of the program, doctoral students in the PhD program should be able to demonstrate the following competencies as practice-informed researchers and teachers in the field of social work.

History of the Profession and its Influence on Current Practice, Policy, and Research

• An advanced understanding of the history and current issues of the social work profession, including their relevance for policy, practice, research, and theory development.
• An advanced understanding of the social work profession in a social-economic-political global and multicultural context that addresses human rights violations and inequalities.
• An advanced understanding of the purpose, use, and misuse of theories across the micro, mezzo, and macro continuum of social work.
• Ability to understand the evolution and integration of theory as it applies to practice-informed research and research-informed practice.
• An advanced understanding of how theory influences the shape and design of research, its analysis, and its interpretation.
• Ability to critically analyze theories to contribute to the development and operationalization of theories that best address social problems.
• An understanding of multiple quantitative and qualitative research methodologies.
• Advanced skills in a particular methodology as demonstrated in dissertation work.
• Skills and experience in data analysis and preparation of data for dissemination, such as with conference presentations and manuscript submissions.
• Capabilities as an independent research scholar, able to contribute to a body of knowledge in one’s area of interest.
• Skills in academic teaching such as syllabus development, delivery methods, assignments, organizational methods, and grading criteria in both in-person and online formats.
• Developing a personal pedagogical style and teaching strategies for the classroom to develop and maintain an inclusive classroom tailored to the learning styles of diverse students and their intersectional identities.
• Develop a portfolio of teaching experience across content areas.
• Realize, recognize, and manage personal fallibility, vulnerability, and positionality as the instructor of a course.

Organizations, Leadership, and Social Change

• Theorize and evaluate how macro practice methods are used to advance social change and social justice
• Identify how interdisciplinary theories relate to power, representation, political and civic participation, critical consciousness, and youth development
• Critically analyze when, why, and how progressive theories of social change can create synergy or conflict
• Understand the evolution and development of service delivery within organizations

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Graduate Study

• Curriculum and Handbook
• Fellowships and Resources
• Graduate Student News and Awards
• PhD Student Trajectories
• Society for Social Research

The Department’s central focus in graduate training is doctoral education.  In years one and two, students are focused mostly on coursework and producing their own independent empirical research project for the qualifying paper. In years three and four, students work on their exams and their dissertation proposal. Years five and six are spent researching and writing. Later years also emphasize specialized training, particularly in two special field areas, helping prepare students for  graduate scholarship  and, later, their  initial job placement . While Ph.D. students are funded fully for seven years, many students complete their Ph.D. in year six.

Students not yet ready to make a commitment to the Sociology Ph.D. may explore several more specialized M.A. programs, which allow one to take courses across the social sciences, strengthening a future application to a Chicago Ph.D. program. For example, see the  Master of Arts Program in the Social Sciences . The Ph.D. program receives over 200 applications each year, out of which it gets an entering class of about 6-8 students. If you have any questions about the information provided under  curriculum , click  here .

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Alumni Weekend: Sarnat Lecture 2024

Crown Family School, Lobby 969 E. 60th Street Chicago, IL 60637  

The Crown Family School will host the 2024 Rhoda G. Sarnat Lecture: Preparing Social Workers to Meet the Moment with Psychedelic Assisted Therapy (PAT), featuring Heidi L. Allen, MSW, PhD., Associate Professor, Columbia School of Social Work. This lecture will outline the research and regulatory landscape of psychedelics, describe the treatment protocols in psychedelic-assisted therapy clinical trials, identify implementation opportunities and challenges for MDMA Assisted Therapy, and explain the critical role of educating social workers to meet the demand for these new treatments.

Professional Development Credit is available.

This lecture will provide 1.5 hours of Continuing Education Units (CEUs) for attendees seeking professional development. 

*There is a fee for those attendees seeking Professional Development Credit

This event is free* and welcomes participants from all backgrounds.  Attendance is open to all.

Learn More about the Keynote Speaker

Heidi Allen , MSW, PhD is an Associate Professor at Columbia University in the School of Social Work and Mailman School of Public Health, Department of Health Policy and Management. She has a certificate in Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies and Research from the California Institute of Integral Studies (2023) and completed the MDMA Therapy Training Program offered by the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) in 2022. In partnership with faculty from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, Dr. Allen is developing curriculum for psychedelic assisted therapy (PAT) specific to within- degree training programs for social workers and nurses. Columbia School of Social Work is welcoming the inaugural cohort of students for the Psychedelic Assisted Therapy Training Program (PTTP) in fall 2024.

Dr. Allen serves on the Clinical Advisory Board at the Usona Institute, which is in Phase 3 clinical trials of psilocybin for Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). Dr. Allen was a speaker at Horizons New York, and Psychedelic Science 2023. She studies access and affordability of health care in America, particularly for under-served populations. Her research has been published in prestigious journals such as Science, New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA and Health Affairs. Dr. Allen is a Commissioner on the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission, a non-partisan government agency that advises Congress and the Secretary of Health and Human Services on issues related to Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program.

If you have any questions about access or to request a reasonable accommodation that will facilitate your full participation in this event such as ASL interpreting, captioned videos, Braille or electronic text, food options for individuals with dietary restrictions, etc. please contact the event organizer.

Upcoming Events

May 18 CASE Program Networking Event May 18, 2024 9:30am (CDT) Learn more

May 18 Crown Family School’s Class of 2019 - 5th Reunion Party May 18, 2024 4:30pm (CDT) Learn more

May 18 Crown Family School’s Class of 2014 - 10th Reunion Party May 18, 2024 4:30pm (CDT) Learn more

• News & Events

Grad Student Wins National Science Foundation Fellowship

Shanequewa Love, a doctoral student at Northwestern University’s School of Education and Social Policy, has been awarded the highly selective National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship to support her work looking at the relationship between Black mothers and the child welfare system.

Read the list of NSF fellows.

“The child welfare system is a critical area where the government has historically and presently overstepped, and we must understand the implications of this,” she wrote in her proposal. “I am particularly interested in how the over-policing of Black communities by child welfare authorities shapes political behavior.”

Love’s work and concern over the child welfare system began before her arrival at Northwestern. A Compton, Calif. native, she worked as a mentor and residential counselor for foster children at the Los Angeles Youth Network (now called Youth Emerging Stronger).

Her journey back to higher education began after a conversation with one of her mentees. Her young charge said, “every day you come into work telling us to go to school and motivating us to want to do better, but you aren’t going to school,’” Love recalled. “It was that conversation–– along with a close friend who I consider an older sister–– that made me consider going back.”

At age 27, as a first-generation college student, Love attended Cerritos Community College before transferring to Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, where she majored in African American Studies. There she was part of the McNair Scholars Program which prepares undergraduate students for future graduate work.

During her undergraduate study, Love received several scholarships and fellowships. In 2021, she attended the Ralph Bunche Summer Institute Program at Duke University, an intensive five-week program to introduce underrepresented students to doctoral scholarship in the field of political science.

Though Love was still uncertain about going to graduate school, several mentors, including Stefan Bradley, now the Charles Hamilton Houston 1915 Professor of Black and History at Amherst College, simply told her “You can do this.”

And while school never seemed to be the answer to her concerns for her community, she found a home at the School of Education and Social Policy.

With overlapping interests in policy, sociology, humanities, and political science, she felt the interdisciplinary approach of the Human Development and Social Policy program would let her mix fields and work with the community she cares about.

“This prestigious award is a public signal of what many of us already know: Shanequewa is an amazing scholar and person and well-deserving of this award,” said Love’s advisor, Tabitha Bonilla, a political scientist and associate professor of human development and social policy at the School of Education and Social Policy. “Her work will model how to do interdisciplinary research and have an incredible impact on how we understand child welfare policy.”

Love added: “My research is a piece of a puzzle, and the National Science Foundation grant allows me to add other pieces and build it out. The fellowship allows me to feel heard and seen and provides the encouragement to continue this necessary and important work.”