PhD Program in Higher Education & Social Change
The Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Higher Education and Social Change
WISR’s interdisciplinary PhD program provides advanced, individualized learning and professional training for educators, community service professionals, community and intellectual activists, and other adults concerned with the relations among social change, education, psychology, and community service or development in everyday practice.
Examples of specific student objectives are:
- writing books and articles to educate professionals, scholars, and/or lay people about issues, ideas and practical strategies in the fields of psychology, community development and human services, education, ethnic studies, society and media, social sciences, intellectual activism and/or strategies and ideas about social change;
- designing and/or conducting training sessions, continuing education courses, consulting programs, and other educational offerings including the use of the internet and technology (e.g., through blogs, wikis, social and community online networks)—for the range of groups noted above;
- preparing to teach in innovative college and university programs;
- promoting one’s personal and intellectual growth as an intellectual activist, as a leader of a community organization, or as a creative professional;
- engaging in action-oriented inquiry to advance knowledge in such areas as–ways to meet the needs of low-income and ethnic-minority communities, strategies of social policy formation or larger scale social change, formulation of cutting-edge improvements in professional practices in therapy, education or social services, among others; and
- many other creative endeavors using action-oriented inquiry and adult education to bring about constructive social change.
Key elements of the PhD program at WISR are:
• Each student designs his or her own individualized program of studies in consultations with one to several primary faculty advisers of his/her choosing.
• Students have great latitude to design projects and studies that contribute to their particular personal and professional goals within the broad guidelines of the program.
• The program aims to provide advanced individualized learning, professional training and assistance in accomplishing creative projects for educators, counselors, community service professionals and community activists.
• The program is especially for people concerned with social change, community improvement, and professional or educational innovation.
• The program is not designed to meet State requirements for the Clinical Psychology License, nor any other license.
• The PhD program is typically two to four years in length, and most students continue to work during their studies.
• PhD students usually complete 10 to 11 pre-dissertation projects on topics central to their interest. Some of these projects are practical and action-oriented, others may involve critical reviews of pertinent literature, and others are designed to synthesize and critically reflect on insights students have gained from previous experiences.
• These projects culminate in written papers.
• The student completes his or her program by conducting action-oriented research and writing a dissertation that is a creative project of strong personal significance, of some importance to others, and a springboard for the next steps in the student’s work and life.