The Master of Arts Programs

The Crown Family School's Master of Arts program in Social Work, Social Policy, and Social Administration is accredited by the Council on Social Work Education and its predecessor organizations since 1919. Students earn an AM degree in Social Administration.  The rigor and quality of a Crown Family School education have earned us a spot among the top graduate schools of social work in the world.

The Master's Program in Social Work, Social Policy, and Social Administration

The Master's Program in Social Work, Social Policy, and Social Administration aims to provide a sophisticated understanding of the person-in-environment and to develop competencies and practice behaviors to effect change. Individual distress is seen in a social context, influenced by biological, economic, familial, political, psychological, and social factors. This perspective recognizes that economic, organizational, political, and social factors shape the work of social welfare professionals. Effective helping requires a broad understanding of possible responses, ranging from short-term strategies for gaining new resources and skills to long-term social and psychological interventions. The professional must be aware of and able to act within the web of relationships that link individual well-being with wider social and political forces to achieve social and economic justice.

To achieve these goals, students develop the following core competencies:

• Demonstrate Ethical and Professional Behavior
• Advance Human Rights and Social, Racial, Economic, and Environmental Justice
• Engage Anti-Racism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (ADEI) in Practice 
• Engage in Practice-Informed Research and Research-Informed Practice
• Engage in Policy Practice 
• Engage with Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities 
• Assess Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities 
• Intervene with Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities 
• Evaluate Practice with Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities

To facilitate the development of these core competencies and the knowledge and behavior to practice at an advanced level, the School’s program is organized into a Core curriculum and an elective concentration in either clinical practice or social administration. All students have a core field placement in their first year and a concentration placement in their second year. No academic credit is awarded for life or work experience.

Year One

The Core Curriculum

The Core curriculum is central to the educational program at the master’s level. It brings together all students, whatever their career interests, for a solid introduction to the fundamentals of social policy formulation and program implementation, social research, and direct practice. The Core curriculum prepares students for generalist practice through mastery of the core competencies of the profession as articulated by the Council on Social Work Education. It places particular emphasis on understanding and working with culturally diverse and economically disadvantaged populations. After completing Core studies in the first year, students who choose clinical practice begin their concentration with an established awareness of the broader contexts of individual distress and helping responses, while social administration students enter their concentration with a corresponding understanding of social work intervention at the direct practice level.

Required courses in the first year provide students with a common foundation of knowledge concerning social welfare issues, human development, direct practice intervention strategies, and social research and practice behaviors related to these areas of knowledge. This foundation provides the background for concentration in advanced practice in clinical work or in social administration. Fieldwork placements in the first year are continuous for three quarters. As students work through the core curriculum, their field placements will give them invaluable insight into the day-to-day rigors and rewards of social work. They provide direct practice experience with people and the institutions established to help them.

Social Intervention: Programs and Policies (30000). This two-quarter course introduces students to the issues and problems associated with social welfare interventions at the community, agency, and policy levels. Students are expected to learn and develop competencies in analyzing the components of current policies, designing programmatic alternatives, anticipating substantive, operational, and political advantages and disadvantages, weighing benefits against financial costs, and making sound choices among imperfect alternatives. While focusing on public policies, the course will include consideration of the impact of policies and programs on individuals and families. The course will give students a thorough grounding in several critical areas of social work practice, including poverty and at least two social service areas such as mental health and child welfare.

Social Intervention: Direct Practice (30100). This two-quarter course emphasizes the design and practice of social work interventions at the individual, family, and group levels. Students are introduced to the values, theories, concepts, skills, and empirical evidence that form the base for direct social work practice and develop competencies related to this area of practice. Complementing 30000, material is presented to examine needs, resources, and potential for change at the individual, family, and group levels, as well as to provide students with an understanding and appreciation of various options for intervention. Students will develop skills in identifying and defining problems, implementing and refining intervention strategies, evaluating the impact of clinical interventions, and weighing the ethical considerations of various choices. Particular attention is given to developing intervention approaches for working with underserved groups.

Social Intervention: Research and Evaluation (30200). This course focuses on the generation, analysis, and use of data and information relevant to decision making at the case, program, and policy levels. Students learn competencies and develop practice behaviors related to the collection, analysis, and use of data related to fundamental aspects of social work practice: problem assessment and definition; intervention formulation, implementation, and refinement; and evaluation. The course covers specification and measurement of various practice and social science concepts, sampling methods, data collection strategies, and statistical and graphical approaches to data analysis. All incoming day students will take a research placement exam to determine their research course. Students who pass the exam will be eligible to take a concentration research course in the first year, either clinical research (44501) or data analysis (48500).

Human Behavior in the Social Environment (32700). This course teaches biological and social science concepts concerning human development that are fundamental to social work practice: social and ecological systems; life course development; culture, ethnicity, and gender; stress, coping, and adaptation; and social issues related to development over the life course. It prepares students to use these conceptual frameworks to guide the process of assessment, intervention, and evaluation; and to critique and apply knowledge to understand person and environment. 

Human Diversity Requirement

Social workers understand how diversity characterizes and shapes the human experience and is critical to the formation of identity. The dimensions of diversity are understood as the intersection of multiple factors including age, class, color, culture, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity and expression, immigration status, political ideology, race, religion, sex, and sexual orientation. Social workers recognize that, as a consequence of difference, a person’s life experiences may include oppression, poverty, marginalization, and alienation, as well as privilege, power, and acclaim.

In keeping with the School’s mission and the commitment to educate students for practice in a heterogeneous society, curriculum content on human diversity is integrated into nearly every course. In addition, students are required to take two courses with a focus on diversity, oppression, and discrimination. The Crown Family School categorizes its diversity-related courses as foundational or specialized. At least one of the two diversity courses must be from the foundational list. The requirements in human diversity are intended to provide students with an analytical framework to understand human behavior and political processes in the environment of a diverse society to satisfy the following five goals:

• To promote respect for ethnic and cultural diversity as an integral part of social work’s commitment to preserve human dignity.
• To foster knowledge and understanding of individuals, families, and communities in their socio-cultural and socio-economic contexts.
• To analyze the ethnic and political issues related to the patterns, dynamics, and consequences of discrimination and oppression.
• To develop skills to promote individual and social change toward social and economic justice.
• To provide students a theoretical framework for integrating an approach toward diversity within students’ own particular area of expertise (e.g., clinical, community, organization, management).

Each year students will be provided lists of courses that meet the foundational and specialized diversity course requirements. Students who would like to substitute a course must obtain a copy of the syllabus for that course, and submit a written memo to the Dean of Students explaining why that course will meet the goals provided by the diversity requirements. Because the diversity requirements are intended to give students an analytical framework with which to integrate questions of diversity within their education at the Crown Family School, and to enhance the development of practice behaviors for work with diversity and difference in practice, no waivers of this course are considered.

Approved courses in human diversity for the 2022-2023 academic year are listed below.

Foundational Diversity Courses
Courses on this list are squarely focused on understanding oppression, discrimination, diversity, racism or difference, and/or how social workers intervene based on these understandings. The knowledge and skills conveyed in these courses should be applicable to a broad array of groups and social conditions. Students will not be able to waive this requirement based on previous coursework; it is assumed that with a variety of classes that meet the requirement, each student will be able to find one that adds to their previous knowledge and skill base.

44122 Self-Awareness and Social Work with Diverse Populations
45732 Prejudice and Discrimination: Individual Cost and Response
47812 Human Rights and Social Work: Opportunities for Policy and Practice
48422 Difference and Inclusion
61400 The Social Meaning of Race
63600 Culturally Responsive Intervention, Assessment, and Treatment

Specialized Diversity Courses
Specialized diversity courses need not have their sole focus on diversity, oppression, and discrimination, but these issues must constitute a substantial proportion of the class content. These courses may focus on (a) a vulnerable population, or (b) a setting or field of practice, or (c) a specific theoretical orientation, issue, or perspective to provide a context for discussions on diversity, oppression, and discrimination. 

40405 Relational Cultural Theory
41205 Restorative Justice Interventions
43300 The Exceptional Child
44401 Sexuality across the Life Cycle
44712 Queer Theory in Social Work Practice
46922 Structuring Refuge: U.S. Refugee Policy and Resettlement Practice
47452/47442 Smart Decarceration: A Grand Challenge for Social Work
63012 Intergroup Dialogue Facilitation: Cultivating Practice Skills for Social Justice
63412 Cultural Studies in Education
64400 Spanish Language and Culture for Social Workers
64950 International Disability Rights and Justice
65500 Harm Reduction at the Intersection of Policy, Program, and Clinical Practice
65812/65800 Making Kin: Adoption and Fostering in a Global Perspective
 

Year Two

The Concentration Curriculum

The master’s curriculum provides the opportunity for developing knowledge and practice behaviors for advanced practice in two major areas of social work and social welfare: clinical social work and social administration. Students begin taking courses in their concentrations in Spring quarter of their first year. The clinical practice curriculum includes required and elective courses designed to develop competencies and practice behaviors for direct social work practice, which encompass a broad range of psychosocial services for a variety of problems. Students may choose to specialize in a specific area of practice (e.g., health, mental health, family and child welfare) or with a specific target population (e.g., children). The social administration curriculum is designed to develop competencies and practice behaviors for social work in community organizations, management, advocacy, planning, policy development and implementation, and evaluation. Within the social administration concentration, students can specialize by taking several courses in one area: Community Organizing, Planning, and Development; Organizations and Management; or Policy Planning, Analysis, and Advocacy.

Clinical Practice Concentration

The clinical concentration prepares students for advanced practice with individuals, families, and small groups. The program asks students to think critically about different theoretical systems, research findings, and practice methods. Students learn how to monitor progress and evaluate outcomes of interventions and how to determine which approaches are most effective. A defining feature of the program is the focus on the social, cultural, political, and economic contexts of vulnerability and need. Students are led to explore the organizational contexts of intervention. Advocacy is crucial, and courses consider the social worker’s role in helping organizations, communities, and society become more responsive to human needs. Direct practitioners serve a variety of roles in a wide range of settings, and graduates assume supervisory, management, and consulting responsibilities.

Required Courses

Students who elect the concentration in clinical practice take the following courses:

1. A two-quarter course sequence in one practice method, one course emphasizing conceptual foundations and the other course emphasizing applications. Practice methods sequences include cognitive-behavioral, family systems, and psychodynamic. While it is strongly recommended that students take the conceptual foundations course before an applications course in cognitive-behavioral and family systems perspectives, it is required for the psychodynamic sequence.
    
2. A one-quarter course in a second practice method. Again, it is recommended that this course be a foundations course if choosing cognitive-behavioral or family systems perspectives; it must be the foundations course if choosing the psychodynamic perspective. Alternatively, The Practice of Group Work (41500), can also be taken to fulfill the one-quarter course requirement.
    
3. One research class: 44501 Clinical Research or another research course if the 44501 course was taken in the first year.
    
4. One human behavior in the social environment (HBSE) course. We encourage students to take the 32700 course.  Students having a balance of courses in the socio-cultural, socio-economic, psychological, and cognitive contexts of human growth and behavior may be considered for an advanced course from the Advanced HBSE list below.
    
5. A clinical field placement intended to provide students with an opportunity to develop, apply, and test practice knowledge and learn practice behaviors by working under the guidance of a supervisor in a clinical practice setting. Field instruction involves a minimum of 640 hours, usually 24 hours a week.
    

I. Intervention Theories and Practice Methods

Clinical practice students are required to take a two-quarter course sequence in one practice method (one course emphasizing conceptual foundations and the other course emphasizing applications) and at least one additional course in a different practice method. Practice methods include cognitive-behavioral, family systems, and psychodynamic perspectives. While it is strongly recommended that students take a conceptual foundations course before an applications course in cognitive-behavioral and family systems methods, it is required for the psychodynamic sequence. In any case, a foundation course must always be part of the two-course methods sequence chosen. Conceptual foundations courses are listed below in bold.

1. Cognitive-Behavioral Approaches

40403 Fundamentals of Behavioral Therapy: Contemporary Approaches  

40404 Cognitive and Behavioral Approaches: Children and Families *

40922 Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: Theory and Practice *

43800 Skills for Conducting Psychotherapy with Chronically Distressed Persons

60500 Functional Analytic Psychotherapy: A Behavioral Model of the Therapeutic Relationship

61822 Treating Complex Trauma:  A Skills-based Approach

63700 Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

69300 Transdiagnostic Treatment of Emotional Disorders

2. Family Systems Approaches

40800 Family Systems Approaches to Practice

41712 Clinical Assessment in Abusive Family System

3. Psychodynamic Approaches

41000 Psychodynamic Practice Methods I

41100 Psychodynamic Practice Methods II

40405 Relational Cultural Theory and Feminist Theories

60500 Functional Analytic Psychotherapy: A Behavioral Model of the Therapeutic Relationship

61732 The Therapeutic Relationship in Contemporary Psychodynamic Practice

A one-quarter course in The Practice of Group Work (41500) can also be taken to fulfill the one-quarter course requirement.

* Can count as either conceptual foundations or an applications course
 

II. Advanced Clinical Research

44501 Clinical Research: Using Evidence in Clinical Decision-Making

If 44501 was completed in the first year, students must select a second research course. Examples include:

43412/43422 Qualitative Inquiry and Research

45032 Participatory Research: Exploration and Application of Action Research Models for Social Work Practice

48500 Data for Policy Analysis and Management

62400 Community Ethnography

63800 Program Evaluation in International Settings

64600 Quality Monitoring and Improvement for the Social Services

III. Advanced HBSE

41900 Treatment of Adolescents: A Contextual Perspective

42100 Aging and Mental Health

42322 Child and Adolescent Substance Use

42500 Adult Psychopathology

42600 Diagnosing Mental Disorders in Children and Adolescents

43300 The Exceptional Child

43622 Life Course Development: Immigrant Adolescents and Their Families

44212/44222 Youth Trauma Work: Integrating Neurobiology and Anti-Adultism in Contextual Practice

44401 Sexuality Across the Life Cycle

44712 Queer Theory in Social Work Practice

44800 Urban Adolescents in Their Families, Communities, and Schools: Issues for Research and Policy

47232 Promoting the Social and Academic Development of Children in Urban Schools

49322/49332 Dying, Death, and End-of-Life Care

60100 Drugs: Culture and Context

60800 Child and Adolescent Trauma

61200, 61212 Perspectives on Aging

61822 Treating Complex Trauma:  A Skills-based Approach

63900 Male Roles and Life Course Development in Family, Community, and Civil Society

Electives

Students have the opportunity to take elective courses in areas of interest. Courses may be selected from the curriculum offerings on particular fields of practice, theories of behavior, treatment modalities, social problems, target populations, or research methods, or from courses in the social administration concentration. Bridging courses—those courses likely to be of interest to both clinical and social administration students—bear on issues of supervision, management, and understanding organizational dynamics. Students also have the opportunity to gain interdisciplinary perspectives by taking courses in other graduate programs and professional schools of the University.

Areas of Special Interest

Students are expected to tailor their coursework to prepare for career interests and their individual learning goals. This can be organized around work with a particular client population or field of practice. Courses in the curriculum naturally cluster around populations and problems. Building on the Core competencies and practice behaviors and the required concentration courses, students can shape their course of study around areas of practice.

Social Administration Concentration

The social administration concentration prepares students for professional practice in community organizing, planning, and development; human services management; and policy planning, analysis, and advocacy. Students are prepared for positions in federal, state, county, and municipal government; private non-profit and for-profit organizations; public policy research and advocacy organizations; community-based organizations and action groups; and electoral politics at all levels of government. The social administration concentration provides students with advanced instruction in the economics, politics, and organization of social welfare. It enables students to develop competencies and the analytical and research skills needed to advocate for client groups and communities, and to plan, implement, and evaluate programs and policies at various levels of intervention.

Requirements

Students who elect the concentration in social administration take the following courses:

45400 Economics for Social Welfare

46712 Organizational Theory and Analysis for Human Services

46800 Political Processes in Policy Formulation and Implementation

48500 Data for Policy Analysis and Management

If 48500 was completed in the first year, students must select a second research course.  Examples include:

43412/43422 Qualitative Inquiry and Research

44501 Clinical Research: Using Evidence in Clinical Decision Making

45032 Participatory Research: Exploration and Application of Action Research Models for Social Work Practice

62400 Community Ethnography

63800 Program Evaluation in International Settings

64600 Quality Monitoring and Improvement for the Social Services

Field Placement. The field placement enables students to develop competencies and practice behaviors related to social work in human service organizations. Students will develop a broad view of a social welfare problem and engage in advanced practice behaviors to respond to that problem.

Clusters and Elective Courses

In addition to the required courses listed above, the social administration concentration offers several other elective courses organized within three clusters: Community Organizing, Planning, and Development; Non-Profit Management; and Policy Planning, Analysis, and Advocacy. 

Community Organizing, Planning, and Development

These electives provide the conceptual and substantive knowledge base and practice behaviors underlying professional practice in community organizing, planning, and development. Traditionally, the field of community organization has encompassed distinct modes or strategies of intervention—social planning, social action, and community development—by which professionals help community groups engage in purposive, collective change. More recently, such groups have sought to draw from multiple traditions and to build community across a number of boundaries to enhance the effectiveness of community responses to contemporary social welfare challenges. The goals of the Community Organizing, Planning, and Development cluster are:

• To introduce students to the important theories of community organization and change, so that students can assess the role and prospects for success of community-level interventions.
• To instruct students in the major traditions of community intervention and to investigate the potential value of those traditions in confronting contemporary problems.
• To familiarize students with the broader political, economic, and spatial environments within which urban and community action takes place.
• To develop analytical abilities in strategic decision-making so that students may engage successfully in different modes of community intervention.
• To develop the critical skills to evaluate the effectiveness of various strategies, actions, and programs.

These goals are realized through coursework and field placements, as well as student-initiated activities and other program offerings. Crown Family School faculty recommend that cluster students first take the Core community course (48300), followed by at least one course in each of the two subsequent areas.

48300 Theories and Strategies of Community Change

49822 Community Organization: Historical Contexts and Contemporary Challenges

47622 Community Development in International Perspective

48112 Community Organizing

64700 Organizing Coalitions for Change: Growing Power and Social Movements

Organizations and Management

These elective courses teach students analytic approaches and practice behaviors for enhancing the effectiveness of human service organizations serving disadvantaged populations. The goals of the Management cluster are:

• To familiarize students with the theories and analytical frameworks useful for developing and implementing effective organizational policies and practices.
• To instruct students in strategies that can enable human service organizations to respond effectively to external threats and opportunities.
• To help students develop competencies in modern management methods, such as staff supervision and development, negotiation, participatory decision-making, organizational development, and agency budgeting.

Crown Family School faculty recommend that students choosing the Organizations and Management cluster take three or more Cluster courses. The following courses will be offered in 2022-2023:

CLUSTER

47300  Strategic Management: External Factors

49600  Financial Management for Non-profit Organizations

62600  Philanthropy, Public Policy, and Community Change

64600  Quality Monitoring and Improvement for the Social Services

Policy Planning, Analysis, and Advocacy

The sequence of these electives teaches students the conceptual and technical knowledge and practice behaviors underlying policy planning, analysis, and evaluation in social welfare. The goals of the Policy cluster are:

• To instruct students in modes of analyzing social welfare policies systematically through the construction and use of formal conceptual policy design frameworks, empirical evidence, and policy arguments.
• To assist students in learning the analytical and quantitative skills of cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness analysis, decision analysis, causal modeling, survey research, and field experimentation.
• To deepen students’ understanding of the political and ethical dilemmas that accompany most policy-making and evaluation problems in social welfare.

45600 Policy Analysis: Methods and Applications

42912 Work and Family Policy: Policy Considerations for Family Support

44800 Urban Adolescents in Their Families, Communities, and Schools: Issues for Research and Policy

45112 Contemporary Immigration Policy and Practice

46622 Key Issues in Health Care: An Interdisciplinary Case Studies Approach

47232 Promoting the Social and Academic Development of Children in Urban Schools

47512 The U.S. Health Care System

49032 Health and Aging Policy

49412 Non-profit Organizations and Advocacy for Social Change

60312 Inequality at Work

60400 Poverty, Inequality, and the Welfare State

61100 Seminar in Violence Prevention

62912 Global Development and Social Welfare

Field Placement

Field instruction is an integral component of social work education. Its purpose is to provide students with an opportunity to apply and integrate knowledge, values, and skills learned in the classroom and in the practice setting. Through the field experience, students develop professional social work competencies to help those in need and to bring about effective social change. Students are challenged to prepare for positions of leadership and agents of change while working within the realities and contexts of field placement agencies.

Students participate in a Field Learning Seminar to further the integration of theory and practice as part of their field requirement. Field learning seminars meet eight times during the academic year. 

The primary model of field instruction is a concurrent model, meaning students take classes and complete the field placement at the same time.

Core (First Year placement)

In the first year, fieldwork is integrated with Core and elective courses to provide direct practice experience with people in need and the institutions established to provide service. Students develop beginning competence in direct social work practice through experience in engagement, assessment, intervention, and reflection.

• Full-time students attend their internship for two days per week (16 hours) and complete 480 hours during the academic year.
• Students in the Part-time Day Program begin field placements in the second year. Part-time Day students attend their first internship two days a week (16 hours) and complete 480 hours during the academic year.

Toward the end of Winter quarter, students make selections for second year field placements. Students interview for their concentration placement during Winter and Spring quarters of their first year.

Concentration Field Placement (second placement)

Second-year field placements match the student’s choice of concentration, either in a clinical practice setting or a social administration placement. All students complete the core field placement requirement before beginning the second-year field placement.

Day students in the clinical concentration are in the field three days a week for a total of 640 hours; social administration students are in the field 2-3 days a week for a total of 496 hours.

NOTE

Increasing numbers of field placements require proof of immunizations, criminal history checks, and/or drug testing prior to beginning work at the agency. Results of criminal history checks and/or drug testing may impact placement availability as well as ability to obtain a social work license in the future. Applicants to Crown Family School programs should familiarize themselves with professional licensing statues. Once admitted, it is the students’ responsibility to ask their field instructors about prerequisite requirements before beginning the practicum. The Office of Field Education may be consulted as needed.

Certificate Programs

GPHAP Certificate Program

The Graduate Program in Health Administration and Policy (GPHAP) is an interdisciplinary certificate program that is housed in the Crown Family School. The program is open to students attending the Crown Family School, the Law School, the Booth School of Business, the Harris School of Public Policy, and the Pritzker School of Medicine. The program focuses on solving complex problems through engagement of multiple professional disciplines and with a focus on health equity. GPHAP has a U.S. focused track and a global health track.

GPHAP is designed to address a variety of issues and settings, not just hospital and clinic settings. GPHAP allows students to choose a course of study that closely matches their interests and career plans. Students in GPHAP have explored their interests in issues such as food insecurity, housing, wealth inequality, climate change, mass-incarceration, and other key issues that impact health. GPHAP students explore issues related to disparities in health, and can focus on specific segments of the population such as LGBTQ+ health, women’s health and reproductive rights, aging and health, racial and ethnic disparities in health care, and administration and policy related to behavioral health. 

For more detailed program information, please visit https://crownschool.uchicago.edu/academic-programs/masters-social-work/certificates-masters-students.

Global Social Development Practice Certificate Program

The Objective of The Certificate in Global Social Development Practice (GSDP) is to identify and recruit well qualified candidates who are committed to assume leadership in the development and provision of policies, programs, and practices that address problems in the international social development arena. These include careers in international, national, state, and local social welfare and human service agencies and social development organizations; government; international policy, research, and advocacy organizations; and firms and non-profit organizations that engage in global social development initiatives.

Programs of Study

Special programs are designated areas within the Crown Family School curriculum that allow students to tailor their degree program to their professional interests. By using electives in the degree program to meet requirements of a Program of Study, students build a curriculum that uniquely addresses their interests and prepares them for work in a particular area of social work.

Each of the Programs has prescribed requirements, either required courses or sets of courses from which students may choose. Importantly, each program combines coursework with a related field experience to allow students to connect their theoretical learning with the development of competencies in a particular area of practice.

Addressing Social Inequality:  Innovations in Policy Practice

Description. The Addressing Social Inequality: Innovations in Policy Practice program prepares students to confront social inequality as it takes shape at the front lines of key societal institutions -- among them social service agencies, workplaces, courts, city halls, and community organizations. The program builds on a unique strength of Crown Family School faculty: applying a street-level approach that moves beyond public policy as written on paper to examine policy as implemented in practice. Students learn to identify, and disrupt, sources of inequality structured through the day-to-day practices of organizational actors responsible for implementing policy on-the-ground, be they government officials, employers, judges, police, and of course, social workers. To understand the broader context that sustains poverty and inequality, students deepen their knowledge of the structural conditions that shape opportunity, including the macro-dynamics of globalization, the politics of social welfare policymaking, the place of low-wage jobs in the labor market, and the role of systems in families and communities. Courses also incorporate historical perspectives that enable students to assess the consequences of prior efforts to address social inequality through legislative policymaking, social mobilization, advocacy, and social program delivery -- important knowledge if we are to avoid missteps of the past. The ultimate goal of the program is to equip students with the skills they need to design and implement policies and programs, both public and private, that mitigate inequality in the major institutions that shape the lives and life chances of the most marginalized among us.

Advanced Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) Counselor Training Program

Description. The Crown Family School has an Illinois and Other Drug Professional Certification Association (IAODAPCA) Accredited Advanced AOD Counselor Training Program (ATP). The goals of this sequence are:

• To prepare students to provide services to people currently experiencing, or at risk of having, problems with alcohol and other drugs.
• To prepare students to provide services in addictions treatment settings and in non-addictions settings.
• To introduce students to a range of approaches to treatment of substance use problems.
• To introduce students to substance use problems in specific populations such as individuals with dual disorders, older adults, women, and adolescents.

Global Social Development Practice Program of Study (GSDP)

Description.  Students in the GSDP POS will embark on a rigorous course of study focused on understanding social problems, social policy, and on-the-ground practice in a globalized world. The GSDP POS focuses on providing students with both a particular knowledge base (on global processes, historical trends, and comparative perspectives) as well as a set of skills (regarding critical assessment, project implementation, program evaluation, and management). It places particular emphasis on understanding and working with culturally diverse and economically disadvantaged populations, attention to the needs and circumstances of individuals in the context of their local environment and in light of the structures and influences that shape their conditions and opportunities at more macro levels, and an understanding of the social construction of social problems that hones students' capacity to think critically and flexibly across contexts.

Crown Family School Study Abroad

International perspectives on social welfare are crucial to the Crown Family School’s leadership role in social policy and social work. Both Clinical Practice and Social Administration students at the Crown Family School can enrich their educational experience through study abroad, regardless of their choice of elective sequence. We currently offer a program in India. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the programs in Hong Kong and China are on hold.

India:

Students can participate in an intensive, four-week, study-abroad program focused on urban poverty and community practice in India. In collaboration with the Tata Institute of the Social Sciences Centre for Community Organization and Development Practice in Mumbai, Crown Family School students have the opportunity to learn about key issues in international social welfare and gain academic and field experience in international social work practice. The program is open to students in the clinical or social administration concentration. There is an application process in Winter quarter for interested students. This program includes students and faculty from the Tata Institute.

China and Hong Kong:

Students can participate in an intensive, two-week, study-abroad program focused on urbanization, migration, and poverty in Hong Kong and Mainland China. In collaboration with the Department of Applied Social Sciences at Hong Kong Polytechnic and the Department of Sociology at Peking University, Crown Family School students have the opportunity to learn about key issues concerning the nature, contributing factors, and state and community responses to poverty, migration, and urbanization in the context of globalization. This program takes place in Hong Kong and mainland China, including Guangzhou in the east and Kunming, located in Yunnan Province in western China. The program is open to all University of Chicago master’s-level students from the Crown Family School. There is an application process for interested students in the Spring quarter. This program includes students and faculty from Hong Kong Polytechnic University and Peking University and is offered for two weeks in December.

Contextual Behavior Practice

Description. The Contextual Behavior Practice Program of Study (CBPPS) aims to educate students in the values, principles and skills that organize the behavior of practitioners using contextual behavioral approaches (CBA). To that end, students learn the fundamentals of a contextual behavioral approach that will enable them to engage effectively in a variety of empirically-validated, third-wave behavioral therapies, including Functional Analytical Psychotherapy (FAP), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT). Learning will occur via a variety of methods, including structured classes, brown bag dialogues, case consultations and specialized field placements (to be developed).

School Social Work

Description. The School Social Work Program of Study, continuously accredited by the Illinois State Board of Education since 1983, is designed to provide students with the knowledge, skills, values, and experience needed to prepare them to become effective social work practitioners in a school setting. Through specialized courses and fieldwork, school social workers are trained to engage with systems within and outside of the school at the micro, meso, and macro levels to support and strengthen students, families, schools, and communities. Particular emphasis is placed on supporting the needs of the most vulnerable populations in schools to ensure their educational success.

Transforming Justice Policy and Practice

Description. This Program of Study (POS) immerses students in classes and field placements that offer a rich exploration and examination of the policies, practices, histories, and philosophies of the United States criminal justice system, with an emphasis on developing more just approaches. It offers a historical and current overview of the overlaps of the fields of social work and criminal justice, preparing students to recognize and address inequities at these intersections. Students will develop skills to intervene on multiple levels, explore varied and alternative systems of justice, and build better policies, programs, services, and practices for people and communities affected by the criminal justice system. Students in this program of study will also become knowledgeable about the following:  1) theories of crime and justice, as well as critiques and emerging theoretical directions; 2) the experiences, outcomes, and civic life of people most impacted by the criminal justice system; 3) potential and evidence-supported levers to achieve decarceration; and 4) innovative policy and practice approaches to improve the health and wellbeing of individuals, families, groups, and communities impacted by incarceration. Courses in this program draw on insights from the research and practices of scholars, activists and practitioners across diverse fields. This is not a traditional "forensic social work" program of study. Rather, this POS focuses on promoting socially just change within and outside the criminal justice system.

Trauma Responsive Social Work

Description. The Trauma Responsive Social Work (TRSW) Program of Study seeks to create a community of trauma-responsive learners and practitioners across policy and clinical settings. The central goal is to become practiced with trauma-responsive work, meaning students feel more competent, confident, and responsive to trauma-based needs in clients, wherever they may encounter them. The Program aims to educate students in the values, principles, and skills that organize the behavior of practitioners using trauma responsive approaches. Emphasis is placed on four core values:

• Developing a perspective on trauma work that emphasizes adaption over diagnosis.
• Working from a strengths-based framework that assesses structural and interpersonal barriers, both currently and historically, that impact the client system.
• Practicing trauma conceptualization from a neurobiological perspective of how trauma shows up in the body and mind.
• Modeling a community-based response by engaging together, in and out of settings beyond the academic space.

Learning will occur through multiple methods including structural consultation meetings, brown bag speaker sessions, specialized field placements, and site visits.

Other Enrollment Options

Extended Evening

The Crown Family School offers a three-year Extended Evening Pathway (EEP) to the AM degree to meet the educational needs of working adults. The program enables students to complete the Master of Arts degree requirements by attending classes part-time in the evenings during three years of continuous enrollment. EEP requires the same number of hours and credits in class and fieldwork as the Full-time Program.

Required courses are scheduled from 5:30 to 8:20 p.m., two evenings a week. It is especially important for EEP students to take the required concentration courses in the specified sequence, because most of these courses are offered in the evening on an every-other-year basis. Because of scheduling constraints, students in the EEP do not have as full a selection of courses as students in the day program. To take advantage of alternative course offerings, EEP students are encouraged to arrange their work schedules so that they can take some of the daytime courses at the Crown Family School and other units of the University.

EEP students complete two field placements. First-year students are required to complete 400 hours. Students are in the field for one full day or two half days per week (Monday-Friday) consecutively for 12 months. All students must successfully complete the Core field placement requirement before registering for Winter quarter of their second year.

The second field placement is compatible with the student’s advanced academic concentration. Students in the clinical practicum complete 720 hours, which requires a commitment of 9 hours per week in field. Students in the social administration concentration complete a minimum of 576 hours in field. Social Administration students are in placement one full or two half days each week. Advanced placement typically begins in October of the second year, continues through the summer, and concludes at the end of the third academic year. Students are encouraged to talk with their employers about the necessity of having some flexibility in their weekday schedules while in school. Students working in qualified agencies may be able to arrange one of the two field placements at their places of employment. The School will consider placing students in their agency of employment for first year Core or second year Concentration field placements provided certain safeguards can be established to ensure that the educational quality of the experience is not compromised.

Increasing numbers of field placements require background checks, proof of immunizations, and/or drug testing prior to beginning work at the agency. The Field Education Office informs students of these requirements before beginning the practicum.

Financial aid and student loans are available for part-time study based on a combination of merit and need. Please review the Tuition, Fees and Financial Aid section.

Part-time Day

Students in the Part-time Day Path take two courses each quarter over three years. Core courses are completed during the first year, except for the Core practice course, which is postponed until the second year along with the first field placement. Students in the Part-time Day Path complete two field placements on the same schedule as full-time students over a two-year academic calendar, which for these part-time students, are in years two and three.

Advanced Standing

The Advanced Standing Master's Path is designed for exceptional students who have graduated from an accredited baccalaureate social work program within the past five years. Enrollment in this program begins in the Summer quarter. Students register for four quarters of full-time study in their chosen concentration, which includes 12 advanced courses and 640 hours of field placement for Clinical Practice students and 496 for Social Administration students. Field placements can be completed during the academic year with a potential summer start. Students will also have the opportunity to participate in the Crown Family School’s advanced curricular options.

AB/AM Program for Students in the College

Qualified University of Chicago College students who wish to pursue a joint AM degree in social work at the Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice should consult with their College advisor and with the Director of Admissions at the Crown Family School as soon as their first year, but no later than early in their third year.

Students will need a GPA of 3.25 or higher and to have completed their general education requirements by the end of their third year. Students are encouraged to complete their BA major requirements before beginning graduate study, but this is not a requirement. The Joint AB/AM program (or the BA/MA program, as it is known in the College) in Social Work, Social Policy, and Social Administration provides students the flexibility to complete some requirements in their major, including a BA thesis, in the combined AB/AM year. Please contact the Admissions Office of the Crown Family School for consultation. 

AB/AM students take nine to ten courses in their fourth College year. Students also complete a field placement (an evaluated internship) that spans Autumn, Winter, and Spring quarters. 

AB/AM students enter joint residence status during the three quarters prior to the anticipated date of College graduation, during which time they will be charged tuition at the Crown Family School’s graduate rates.

Joint Degree Programs

The Crown Family School offers several opportunities for students to combine professional degrees to create a unique multi-faceted program. These joint or dual degree programs link professional study in two complementary realms of expertise to provide the student with multiple tools and approaches to address the issues of social change. There are many practical advantages to the combined degree programs, including an interdisciplinary exploration of a field of interest and a wider range of career choices upon graduation. Generally, the combined degree programs allow students to fulfill the requirements of both degree programs in one year less than if pursued separately. Joint degree programs are available between the Crown Family School and the Booth School of Business, the Harris School of Public Policy, and the Divinity School. Dual degrees are also available between the Crown Family School and the Hyde Park Cluster of Theological Schools.

Master’s Program in Social Sector Leadership and Nonprofit Management (SSL)

The University of Chicago Crown Family School AM in Social Sector Leadership and Nonprofit Management (SSL) is a twelve-course degree program designed to empower early-to-mid career professionals -- typically with 3 to 5 years of work experience -- to become more inclusive and impactful leaders across the social sector.  Offering both part- and full-time options, SSL is an ideal fit for emerging social sector leaders who want to develop the capacity to influence and build better organizations that advance a more just and humane society, while developing the capacity to more effectively create social change.  

About the Program

The SSL curriculum exposes students to both the conceptual foundation and practical skills needed to become a more effective social sector leader.  Taught by faculty working at the forefront of social sector governance, SSL is unique in its ability to provide students with knowledge about how mission-driven organizations operate in their communities, as well as deep conceptual thinking about how these organizations can respond to complex social problems.

Through their coursework and a real-world practicum, students gain hands-on knowledge and tools that can be applied to organizational management, governance, strategic planning, and data analysis within diverse settings.  Our program prepares students to lead across the social sector, including public, nonprofit, and philanthropic organizations.  Our students pursue their studies in a close-knit cohort that celebrates diversity and fosters self-discovery and human connection through a grounding experience deeply embedded in the social fabric of Chicago.

Students will have the opportunity to study not only with Crown Family School professors who represent over a dozen different disciplines, but with scholars across the University of Chicago, a global research university and a center for innovation.  The University's global and local reach and unparalleled resources mean that Crown Family School students are well-supported in their efforts to make sense of and discover solutions to today's social sector challenges.

SSL graduates will be ready to apply a social justice lens to whatever challenges and opportunities they face as they seek to advance the kind of positive social change they want to see in the world.  SSL ensures that students will develop lasting connections with peers and other leaders in the social sector.

Who Will Benefit From This Program

SSL is directed at early to mid-career individuals with 3-5 years' previous experience working in the social sector who are seeking to advance into positions of leadership such as program managers, directors, and executives.

Courses and Schedule

Day, evening, and weekend classes are available. Students in the full-time program will be able to complete the 12-course curriculum over one calendar year, taking four courses over three quarters and then completing their Practicum during the summer. The Practicum is equivalent to one course. Students in the part-time program will complete 12 courses by taking two classes per quarter over two academic years, and will conduct their Practicum during the summer quarter between years 1 and 2 or after their second year.

The 12 units of coursework for both full and part-time students are divided into three categories: 

Conceptual Core courses (3 units), Management Core courses (5 units), and Electives (4 units).

• The three Conceptual Core courses develop students' foundational knowledge about the key structures and processes that will shape their work in the social sector. These include classes on social sector governance, organizational theory, and policy formulation and implementation.
• The Management Core develops skills in strategy, financial management, and leadership to prepare students for top management positions in nonprofit organizations, government agencies, philanthropic foundations, and other social sector organizations. These include classes on internally and externally focused management, financial management, leadership in a diverse society, and quality monitoring.
• Elective courses allow students to take advantage of the wide variety of courses offered by the Crown Family School and around the University of Chicago. Options that may be of particular interest to students in the SSL program include courses on community organizing, advocacy, social entrepreneurship, philanthropy, and more.

The one-quarter Practicum gives students the opportunity to identify a real-world, executive-level management challenge, design a plan to address it, and present the plan to executive staff in the chosen organization. Students will have the option to design a Practicum at an organization they have existing connections to, or can be placed at a Practicum site. Students will have the option of working individually or in teams, depending on the location.

Nicole Marwell, PhD (https://crownschool.uchicago.edu/crownscholars/n-marwell/)

Professor and Faculty Director, SSL, 773.834.2583
nmarwell@uchicago.edu

College Minor in Inequality, Social Problems, and Change

The Crown Family School offers a minor, Inequality, Social Problems, and Change, exclusively for students in the UChicago College. The minor provides students the opportunity to deepen their understanding of the nature of inequality as it takes shape in pivotal societal institutions and to formulate feasible pathways for reducing inequality and improving quality of life.

Miwa Yasui, PhD
Associate Professor
773-702-5187
myasui@uchicago.edu

Doctoral Degree Program

A PhD from the University of Chicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice opens doors to careers in academic research and teaching. Some graduates also pursue research careers and related positions outside of academia. Building upon the School’s founding principles, doctoral students receive rigorous training in the history of the social work profession, the foundations of social welfare provision, interdisciplinary social science theories, and research methods. The program prepares students to pursue independent and innovative scholarly inquiry in social work and related fields that advances understanding of structural inequalities, marginalization, and oppression and shapes solutions to the most pressing problems of our time. The Crown Family School’s Doctoral Program has been the premier training ground for leading social welfare scholars since 1920.

The diverse theoretical and methodological training of the Crown Family School’s faculty make the program uniquely positioned to support a wide array of student interests. Current doctoral students study topics such as child welfare, urban education, health care, youth violence, structural racism and oppressive practices in human service provision, poverty and inequality, urban politics, gender violence, racism and racial disproportionality in the carceral state, low-paid employment, and substance use and abuse. They research public policies, human service organizations, and social programs affecting diverse populations in the United States and globally: immigrants and refugees, racial/ethnic and sexual minorities, low-income workers, parents, children and adolescents, and individuals with health and mental health challenges and special needs. In their individualized area of study, Crown Family School doctoral students work closely with faculty members to investigate the determinants and consequences of social problems; to study systems and processes of marginalization; to analyze institutional, community, and policy responses to human need; and to develop and evaluate practice methods and interventions at micro, meso, and macro levels. Many Crown Family School faculty members have deep ties to community agencies locally and internationally as well as local, state, and national governments, granting students access and opportunities to conduct engaged scholarship with real world impact.

A primary goal of the Crown Family School doctoral program is to prepare students for academic positions in schools of social work and related disciplines. Although some of our students conduct research on clinical practice interventions, we do not offer a DSW or provide advanced clinical training for practitioners beyond the master's level.

Doctoral Curriculum

The Doctoral Program is flexibly structured so that students can pursue a curriculum matched to their individual interests. It is at the forefront of schools of social work that emphasize the role of social science theory and rigorous empirical methods in guiding the investigation of social problems and interventions. Students in the program are encouraged to design a course of study that harnesses the strengths of the Crown Family School and the wider University. In consultation with a faculty advisor, each student develops a program of study that includes two years of coursework, a qualifying examination, a publishable pre-dissertation research project, and a dissertation thesis. Doctoral students also have the opportunity to collaborate with faculty in their research and to serve as teaching assistants or instructors.

The Crown Family School courses explore the theoretical underpinnings of social work and social welfare scholarship from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, epistemological frameworks, and levels of analysis. Students take Crown Family School courses in historical foundations, research methods, and in at least two of several broad domains: politics and social policy; sociological perspectives on inequality, human service organizations; critical and cultural theory; community organization; life course development; and psychological processes of individual change; and economics. As an integral part of a major research university, the Doctoral Program at the Crown Family School enjoys access to a rich array of course offerings within the University of Chicago. All Crown Family School doctoral students take courses across the university in such departments as Anthropology, Economics, History, Human Development, Political Science, Public Health Sciences, and Sociology, and in the professional schools of Business, Law, Medicine, and Public Policy. The Traveling Scholar Program enables doctoral-level students to take advantage of educational opportunities at other Big Ten Academic Alliance universities (https://www.btaa.org/resources-for/students) without change in registration or increase in tuition.

Combined PhD/AM

The School has a combined PhD/AM program for a small number of students admitted into the doctoral program who do not already have a master’s in social work or a related field. These students have demonstrated an exceptional commitment to interventions with vulnerable populations, human services, community work or policy research and practice. Because many schools of social work do not hire faculty without a master’s degree in social work, the opportunity to attain the master’s degree for students entering without this background is important for successful post-graduation academic career placement. The combined program has blended requirements that allow some doctoral courses to be applied toward the master’s degree. Participation in the combined program typically adds one year to the length of doctoral studies and includes a field placement.

Supports for Students

Financial Support

Doctoral students receive significant funding for up to seven years* to ensure they can immerse themselves in the program. All students entering the Doctoral Program are offered a financial aid package that includes full tuition, health insurance, fees, and a yearly stipend set at $37,000 for the current 2023-24 academic year. Students are responsible for filing and paying any required state or federal taxes.

Stipend awards are not subject to federal or state income tax withholding and you may be required to make quarterly estimated income tax payments to the IRS and State of Illinois. In quarters when students  serve as a graduate student lecturer, Teaching Assistant, or Research Assistant, their stipend payment will be  subject to withholding. We suggest students consult with a tax advisor who can provide specific advice for individual situations.

The doctoral program involves a full-time commitment. Stipend support is provided in order to allow students to concentrate their time and energy on fulfilling the requirements of the program, developing their scholarship, and completing their doctoral studies in a timely manner.

Many Crown Family School doctoral students receive additional funding through outside training and fellowship programs. Crown Family School students have been very successful in obtaining competitive fellowships and awards from entities such as the CSWE Fellowships for Minority Students, Fahs-Beck dissertation grants, Doris Duke fellowships for the promotion of child well-being, and NIH Dissertation awards.

As part of their financial aid packages, students are expected in their first two years to work as a research assistant with a Crown Family School faculty member for 10-12 hours each week and participate in at least three mentored teaching experiences (usually during years three through five).

The University has recently implemented a new framework for doctoral education, including a new funding model and new resources and programs for all doctoral students and faculty across campus. The new framework, announced by the Provost in 2019, builds on some of the recommendations of the Committee on Graduate Education, which included representatives from Crown Family School, and ongoing work by deans, faculty, and students across campus.

This new model represents the University’s commitment to doctoral students by increasing financial support, re-envisioning the role of pedagogical training, and expanding the programs that support academic and career success. In addition to a guaranteed funding stipend, the new program includes full tuition coverage, and health insurance for PhD students in good academic standing. It also includes new academic, career, and mentoring programs and resources that will be available to PhD students and faculty across campus. Students who began their program in Summer 2016 or later are rolled into this new model and funded for the duration of their program and those who began their program before Summer 2016 may be eligible for additional funding through dissertation completion fellowships, as well as other mentoring support.

This information from the University Provost includes further information about the new funding and programs for PhD students.

*Note: Funding max up to nine years for students who started prior to 2023

Office of Grants and Contracts
The Crown Family School Office of Grants and Contracts provides support to doctoral students in:

    Funding Opportunity Searches
    Proposal Planning and Development
    Central Administration/Sponsor Liaison
    Award Administration
    Financial Management/Coordination of Financial Reports to Sponsors

Travel Support
The Crown Family School also supports doctoral students for travel related to presentation of papers and job market activities at conferences. Other University resources for graduate students may be found here.

Advising Support

To ensure that incoming students receive the in-depth advising they need to develop a customized program of study, an advisor is assigned to each student prior to program entry, matching theoretical and substantive interests. Students have the opportunity to work with several faculty members as their course of study evolves and their advisor may change after the first year of study. Annually, students meet with the advisor to complete a "self-assessment" in which they track their substantive progress. The assessment focuses on developing expertise as well as meeting milestones so that conversations between student and advisor focus on intellectual and skill development while also ensuring that students stay on track and have access to necessary supports and guidance.

A required, non-credit seminar is offered in the student’s first year and second year in the program to introduce students to different areas of social work and social science scholarship and to provide professional development training. These sessions are also open for advanced students and faculty to attend as desired. Students are exposed to cutting-edge research from faculty at, the broader University of Chicago, and national and international scholars at these sessions. They also receive professional advice and guidance on a range of issues related to student and academic life in these forums. Students also have the opportunity to present and refine their own ideas and receive feedback from leading scholars in the field through one-on-one meetings and group meetings with seminar guests.

Requirements for the PhD Degree

Students attend the Doctoral Program full-time. Students are required to take a minimum of fifteen courses: one on the history of the social work profession; five on statistics and research methods offered at the Crown Family School and across the University; and nine additional substantive courses, at least three of which are in other departments or professional schools at the University of Chicago. It is expected that these three courses be in a single discipline or substantive area.

Students are expected to complete a pre-dissertation research project during their first two years of study. This project should be an empirical report, a critical analysis of the literature, or a theoretical piece, written while a doctoral student and submitted for publication in a journal or book.

Students must pass a qualifying examination that assesses their understanding of the historical foundations of social work as well as their understanding of core literatures in two of eight conceptual domains informing their area of scholarship. The examination process includes a take-home, open-book examination completed during a one-week period at the end of the summer following the second year.

Finally, students are required to successfully complete a dissertation project. As the culmination of the Doctoral Program, the dissertation thesis reflects the student’s ability to use theoretical knowledge and analytic tools to advance knowledge in a particular area of concern to social work and social welfare scholarship.

Timeline

In general, PhD students take five years to complete the PhD program. PhD/AM students generally take an additional year. The table below outlines the suggested plan for progress in the PhD program:

Timeline for Completion of Program Requirements

Requirements	First Year	Second Year	Third Year	Fourth Year and Beyond
Coursework	Courses to meet degree requirements	Courses to meet degree requirements	Coursework completed by beginning of year
Qualifying Exam			Qualifying exam completed in September of third year
Dissertation	Pre-dissertation research	Pre-dissertation research	Dissertation proposal and hearing	Dissertation data collection, analysis, writing, and defense
Research/Teaching Assistantships (RA/TA)	First RA	Second RA	0 – 3 TAs	Student must have completed 3 TAs by end of fifth year