Background and history

As a profession, social work has been one of the major institutions by which society has dealt with its most pressing social concerns. Applying theory, research methods, and evidence from both social work and the social and behavioral sciences, social work professionals have assumed critical leadership in analyzing personal and social needs and problems and in designing, implementing, and evaluating intervention techniques to: "(a) enhance the problem-solving and coping capacities of people, (b) link people with systems that provide them with resources, services, and opportunities, (c) promote the effective and humane operation of these systems, and (d) contribute to the development and improvement of social policy." Indeed, it was these functions that led to the founding of the Graduate School of Social Work at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1920 to train personnel for public welfare agencies in response to the economic and social needs of that era.

A critical need for the profession of social work is the ongoing development of its knowledge base for practice in order to expand its competencies for addressing personal and social needs and for responding to changing social conditions. A knowledge base for practice rests on the integrated activities of theory construction, testing, and refinement: both explanatory theories of individual and collective behavior and practice theories of individual and social change. For social work researchers, the practice setting is the laboratory for developing, testing, and refining this theoretically-derived and empirically-validated knowledge base.

An increase in research and scholarly activity is needed to stimulate innovative practice interventions and to keep the profession responsive to shifting societal priorities and needs, changing social values, and new problems and complexities arising from changes in contemporary society. The knowledge-building component of the profession must address needs and problems that have been inadequately conceptualized or that have been either poorly addressed or not addressed at all.

The primary goal of the Doctoral Program at the School of Social is to produce research scholars in social work that have the requisite knowledge base and tools for building and disseminating a body of tested theory for planning and implementing social interventions. The doctoral program brings together a highly selected group of doctoral students and social work faculty to conduct basic and applied evaluative research into key human service issues. This cadre of professionals will augment and support existing social work resources at all levels by providing needed research and designing and evaluating innovative models of practice.

The Ph.D. Program at the School of Social Work at UNC-CH recently celebrated its 10th anniversary. We are rapidly emerging as one of the finest doctoral programs. Our recent review by the Graduate School (which included outside reviewers from the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Michigan) was stellar. Our graduates have begun to distinguish themselves at many of the nation's top schools.