Ph.D. Program Online Brochure

Goal

The goal of the Ph.D. program is to produce highly skilled social work researchers who can contribute to the knowledge base of the profession and disseminate this knowledge through the education and training of professional social workers. The purpose of doctoral education in social work is to foster an understanding and appreciation of the scientific method so that graduates can improve and extend the knowledge base of the profession through empirical research. Graduates of our program are prepared to assume leadership roles in social work education and research.

Curriculum

The first two semesters are spent taking 24 credit hours of foundation social work courses in six areas:

• Research Methodology
• Applied Statistics
• History and Philosophy of Social Work
• Issues in Direct Practice
• Issues in Management/Policy and Community Practice
• Programs and Legislation for Children and Families

The Ph.D. Qualifying Exam is usually taken in August following the student's first year in the program. The Qualifying Examination is a written examination required of all student entering doctoral programs at the University of Tennessee. Its purpose is to test the student's progress, general knowledge of fundamentals of the field, and fitness to continue into the more specialized components of the doctoral program. Students in the Ph.D. program in social work are tested in five areas:

• Research Methodology
• Statistics
• Social Work History
• Issues in Direct Practice
• Issues in Management/Policy and Community Practice

The third semester is usually spent taking elective courses and working on the Comprehensive Examination. Electives can be selected from a range of courses offered in the College of Social Work and related disciplines such as psychology, sociology, and counseling psychology. The Comprehensive Examination consists of a scholarly paper written by the student to demonstrate knowledge of a specific specialized area and an integration of that area with the program's core content. Following successful completion of the Comprehensive Examination, students focus on the development of their Dissertation Proposal, the completion of their dissertation research, and the successful writing and defense of the dissertation.

It is expected that the foundation curriculum, electives, and the qualifying and comprehensive examinations will be completed on a full time basis. Dissertation research may be completed on a planned part-time basis.

Admissions Requirements

The Ph.D. program is designed for students who have earned a master's degree from an accredited school of social work and have social work or social welfare practice experience. Applicants who do not meet these requirements will need to achieve equivalent credentials as specified by the Doctoral Program Committee before initial registration. Completed applications include Graduate Record Examination scores, transcripts of previous academic work, letters of reference, a writing sample, and a personal statement of the applicant's experience, interests, and goals.

Financial Aid

Financial aid is available to qualified students in the form of fellowships, scholarships, and teaching and research assistantships. Graduate assistantships and other forms of assistance are awarded on the basis of merit and the interests of the applicants accepted into the program.

The Children's Mental Health Services Research Center is one of five such centers funded nationally by the National Institute of Mental Health. Its purposes are to promote high-quality social work research and to train talented mental health services researchers interested in children and mental health services issues. The Ph.D. program is closely linked to the Center. Four doctoral faculty members lead research teams within the Center. These teams focus on research on the structure and coordination of services, aggressive and antisocial behavior, child welfare issues, and measurement and assessment issues. Doctoral students routinely work with these teams. This research experience provides our students with the opportunity to learn basic and advanced research methods and to gain substantive knowledge from a hands-on, real-world perspective. Students assigned to these teams also learn how to write competitive research proposals for submission to external sources. Some students assigned to these research teams also receive financial aid.

Muammer Cetingok, Ph.D. received his undergraduate degree in social work from the Social Services Academy in Ankara, Turkey. He received his M.S.W. from the University of Maryland in 1972, and his Ph.D. in social work from the George Warren Brown School of Social Work, Washington University in 1976.

One of the founding members of UT's doctoral program, Dr. Cetingok originally developed and taught the course in evaluation and research during the first two years of the program. He is currently a professor in the College of Social Work.

His latest research, a collaboration with the UT Health Sciences Center Schools of Nursing and Medicine, focuses on organ transplant environments. Other research interests include methodology and the practice of social work research, evaluative research, and social work administration and community organization. He has published articles in the Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare, International Social Work, and The International Journal of Social Psychiatry.

Terri Combs-Orme, Ph.D., received her Ph.D. from Washington University in St. Louis . She came to UT from the faculty of the Department of Maternal and Child Health of the Johns Hopkins University. Her research interests center on the health service needs of disadvantaged children and families. She has published research studies on Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) graduates, on newborn in a low-income South Chicago neighborhood, and on children in foster care.

Dr. Combs-Orme currently heads the Center team that conducts research on children and families in the child welfare system in Tennessee. Her current work is a longitudinal study of the predictors of family dysfunction, poor parenting, and child maltreatment. Dr. Combs-Orme has published more that 30 articles in journals including Social Work, Social Service Review, New England Journal of Medicine, Pediatrics, and the American Journal of Public Health. She is the author of Social Work Practice in Maternal and Child Health, published by Springer. She is a Consulting Editor of Social Work and currently reviews for the American Journal of Public Health, the Journal of the American Medical Association, the Journal of Social Service Research, and other social work, public health, and medical journals.

Dr. Combs-Orme's personal web site can be found at: http://web.utk.edu/~orme00.

Charles A. Glisson, Ph.D., is the director of the University of Tennessee Children's Mental Health Services Research Center. He holds B.A. and M.S.W. degrees from the University of Alabama, and he received his Ph.D. degree from Washington University. Dr. Glisson joined the faculty of the University of Tennessee in January 1987 and directed the College's doctoral program until 1996. The University of Tennessee has conferred on Dr. Glisson the title of "Distinguished University Professor".

Dr. Glisson's research focuses on the organization and delivery of services to children. He has been principal investigator on multiple major research projects concerned with children's mental health services funded by the National Institute of Mental Health. He has written numerous articles in major social work, mental health, and organizational research journals, and has made presentations throughout the country on mental health services to children. In addition, he has served on the editorial boards of five major professional journals, and is a member of an NIH scientific review group to which he was appointed by its director. In addition, he has held committee memberships and offices in four national social work organizations: the National Association of Social Workers, the Council on Social Work Education, the Group for the Advancement of Doctoral Education, and the Society for Social Work Research.

William R. Nugent, Ph.D., is the chair of the Ph.D. program in social work and is a team leader in the Children's Mental Health Services Research Center. He holds master's degrees in counseling and human systems and in social work from Florida State University. He received his Ph.D. in social work from Florida State University in 1986, and joined the faculty at the University of Tennessee in 1991. Dr. Nugent is certified as a cognitive behavior therapist by the National Association of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapists.

Dr. Nugent has conducted research in the development and validation of measurement tools for use in social work practice and research. He has also conducted research on the effectiveness of programs and interventions used in practice. He has published over 30 articles in the following areas: the development and validation of measurement methods; the effects of anger-control training with both adolescents and adults; the effects of Aggression Replacement Training on antisocial adolescents; and the effects of cognitive-behavioral interventions on problems such as anxiety disorders and family relationships problems. Dr. Nugent reviews manuscripts for several professional journals and has served as a member of an NIH scientific review group.

John G. Orme, Ph.D., is an associate professor and co-investigator of the Children's Mental Health Services Research Center. He has a B.A. in psychology from Miami University of Ohio, and an M.S.W. and Ph.D. in social work from Washington University. He also completed a two-year post-doctoral fellowship in the Department of Behavioral Research, University of Chicago. Prior to joining the University of Tennessee faculty he was a faculty member in social work at Louisiana State University and at the University of Maryland.

Dr. Orme's interests include foster care, children's mental health, measurement procedures, single-system designs, and applied statistical and methodological issues. He has published over 30 articles in refereed social work and interdisciplinary journals, made numerous presentations at national conferences, and is a co-author of the second edition of Evaluating Practice: Guidelines for the Accountable Professional.

David A. Patterson, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the College of Social Work. He received his B.S. in therapeutic recreation and psychology from Kent State University. He received his M.S.W. and Ph.D. from the University of Utah's Graduate School of Social Work. Dr. Patterson is a faculty associate in the College of Social Work's Children's Mental Health Services Research Center and former faculty associate in theOffice of Information Technology at the University of Tennessee.

Dr. Patterson's research is focused on the application of information in technology in social work education and practice. He is the author of several multimedia computer programs including HyperCDTX, an interactive program to teach substance abuse treatment, and Hyperaxis II, an interactive program to teach assessment and diagnosis of DSM-III-R Axis II personality disorders. His publications include works appearing in The American Journal of Psychiatry, The Journal of Social Work Education, Research on Social Work Practice, International Social Work, and Computers in Human Services.

Dr. Patterson's personal web site can be found at: http://web.utk.edu/~dap