This year marks the 20th anniversary of the School of Social Work’s Ph.D. program. The School continues to be the first and only social work program in Connecticut to offer degrees for bachelor’s, master’s and Ph.D. students.
“The development of the Ph.D. program at the School of Social Work elevated the School’s national prominence and stature and strengthened the research profile and scholarly activity at the school,” said Dean Nina Rovinelli Heller.
The Ph.D. program was launched with the generous support of retired clinical social worker Judy Zachs ’77 MS and Henry Zachs. Their $1 million donation created the endowed Zachs Chair in Social Work and allowed the School to hire a director and launch the program.
When the program began in 2002, under the leadership of Dean Kay Davidson, it had a small cohort of just six students. The first doctoral dissertation was defended five years later, in the spring of 2007.
Today, the program has 23 doctoral students who are studying a wide range of issues affecting vulnerable communities today, including civil rights, older adult care, immigrants and refugees, structural racism, sex workers, LBGTQ health, voting, economic justice, incarceration, eating disorders, health equity, foster youth, food insecurity, and substance use, among others.
A primary draw for students to the School is its strong social justice orientation, according to Scott Harding, co-director of the PhD program. This is significant, he noted, as “we live in an era of ‘alternate’ facts and stark economic, social, and political divisions. The need for higher education to challenge this situation has never been more evident.”
Harding emphasized that “our students enter the program with a passion for social justice. They leave with the skills to transform social work education and the profession.”
Our students enter the program with a passion for social justice. They leave with the skills to transform social work education and the profession. — Scott Harding, co-director, Ph.D. Program
During the first four years in the program, doctoral students are awarded graduate assistantships, partnering with faculty on research, followed by teaching opportunities in subsequent years. Several students teach classes for bachelor’s and master’s students in addition to completing their doctoral work.
One special feature of the program cited by students is its cohort model, which fosters student-to-student mentoring and support. It also has an emphasis on both micro and macro social work, preparing graduates to have an impact at all levels of social work teaching and practice.
Students also benefit from renowned Ph.D. faculty who serve as both academic advisors and mentors to students. They supervise graduate assistants and provide opportunities for students to get involved in their own research projects and publish with them.
From the start of the program, Ph.D. students have completed a total of 45 dissertations, including some that were conducted outside of the United States in locales such as Armenia, the Caribbean, Chile and Kenya.
SSW’s Ph.D. program has had both a national and global impact. Graduates have gone on to serve as social work educators and academic leaders, nationally recognized researchers, and scholars. Several hold leadership positions at research 1 institutions and alumni are teaching across the country and as far as Japan.
On September 29, the School celebrated the 20th anniversary with an event at the Delamar in West Hartford. More than 150 guests attended and Judy Zachs was awarded the Inaugural Distinguished Alumni Award.
Twenty years after the gift that launched the program, former faculty member Cheryl A. Parks pledged another transformative donation of $1 million to support the School that helped launch her career. Her gift will fund doctoral student research on topics affecting the LGBTQIA+ community.
“It makes me feel good that I’m able to continue that legacy of funding research for doctoral students to give them a start in the academic world,” she says.
