University of Wisconsin-Madison

The University of Wisconsin-Madison Ph.D. Program in Social Welfare strives to develop scholars, leaders, and social work educators who will advance knowledge about social work, social welfare policy, and intervention strategies from a behavioral and social science perspective to improve the quality of life of individuals, families, groups, communities and organizations. The program has a strong reputation of academic excellence. Students have a wide selection of courses in world-renowned social and behavioral science departments such as sociology, economics, educational psychology, human development and family studies, the La Follette School of Public Affairs, psychology, women’s studies, population health sciences, and nursing. The Ph.D. program provides an interdisciplinary plan of study in basic and applied social research. In their programs doctoral students build and integrate knowledge in:

• a substantive or social problem area (e.g., child welfare, aging, developmental disabilities, end-of-life care, health, mental health, poverty)
• social science theory (e.g., theories of the life course, economic theory, psychopathology, organizational theory, stress process theories)
• research designs and statistical methodologies (e.g., program evaluation, policy analysis, longitudinal analysis).