Joint PhD Program

Associate Professor Daphne Watkins was selected as the new Director of the Joint Doctoral Program. Her appointment will begin on 1/1/2017 following the successful tenure of Professor Berit Ingersoll-Dayton who has served in this position since 1/1/2010.

Babe Kawaii-Bogue successfully defended her dissertation entitled, “Multiracial Perspectives: Multiracial Young Adults Experiences with Racial Microaggressions and Coping Strategies” and obtained her PhD in Social Work and Psychology. Her committee consisted of Mary Ruffolo, Lorraine Gutierrez (co-chairs) and Michael Spencer.

Elizabeth Rhodes (PhD Social Work and Political Science ‘16) was formally announced as the lead researcher for the Basic Income study at Y Combinator Research in San Francisco. Her media coverage includes:

Maria Wathen successfully defended her dissertation entitled, “Civic Culture Frameworks & Globalization; Implications for Social Services in Russia” and obtained her PhD in Social Work and Sociology. She has accepted an Assistant Professor of Social Work position at Loyola University.

Her committee consisted of Mary Ruffolo, Barbara Anderson (co-chairs), Sandra Danziger, Karin Martin, and Scott Allard.

Alix Gould-Werth (PhD in Social Work and Sociology '15) received a ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award for her dissertation "From Pink Slip to Unemployment Insurance: Legal Mobilization and the Struggle to Make Ends Meet". The Award recognizes exceptional and unusually interesting work produced by U-M doctoral students.

Alex Gould-Werth (PhD '15) has been selected to receive a ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award for 2015. This award recognizes the most exceptional scholarly work produced by doctoral students at the University of Michigan who completed their dissertations in 2015. 

Elizabeth Rhodes successfully defended her dissertation entitled, “The Micro-Dynamics of Health and Education Provision in the Slums of Nairobi” and obtained her PhD in Social Work and Political Science. Her committee consisted of Trina Shanks, Anne Pitcher (co-chairs), Luke Shaefer and Pauline Luong.

Unofficial transcripts from degree granting institutions only are necessary for submitting an application. Official transcripts will be required once an offer of admission is made. Admission will be contingent upon receipt of of official transcripts. Failure to submit could result in revocation of admission offer.

International applicants with a social work or social welfare degree are required to apply as Pre-MSW. Upon offer of admission, the Joint PhD Program will request syllabus information from the degree granting institution for submission to CSWE (Council on Social Work Education). If the MSW degree is equivalent to one earned from an accredited US institution, the admitted student will then be considered Post-MSW.

Typically we accept 7-8 students and place a few on the waitlist to yield a cohort size of approximately 5-8.