Graduate & Professional Degrees

The Doctorate of Social Work (DSW) program at the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work offers a professional practice doctorate in social change and innovation for master's- level social work practitioners who are graduates of CSWE-accredited programs and for professionals with master's degrees in allied fields from accredited institutions. The DSW program prepares doctoral level practitioner-scholars to create practical, applied solutions to large-scale social challenges that directly impact vulnerable, marginalized or otherwise disadvantaged populations.

Graduates of our program should possess the following capabilities:

1. Research-Informed Practice: Our graduates apply and disseminate research-informed knowledge, values, ethics and skills in social work through practice, professional leadership and teaching, driving positive change in the field.
2. Advancing Practice: Graduates excel at advancing practice at the micro, mezzo, and macro levels within the social work field, addressing a wide range of social challenges and promoting positive change.
3. Knowledge Development: They are skilled at developing, translating, and advancing social work practice knowledge to address evolving challenges in the field.
4. Systematic Inquiry: Graduates engage in systematic inquiry to inform evidence-based practice and contribute to the profession's knowledge base.
5. Leadership Excellence: They excel in roles within professional leadership (including higher education leadership), contributing to the advancement of social work practice and knowledge.
6. Substantive Expertise: Additionally, our program emphasizes the development and maintenance of substantive expertise in one or more areas of social work practice, ensuring that graduates are well-equipped to make a meaningful impact in their chosen specialization areas.

Students are required to complete a minimum of 42 units of course work beyond their master's degree. The core DSW curriculum consists of 14 courses culminating with an independent capstone project, representing a substantive advancement in research-informed practices well as in professional leadership, which may include leadership in the context of higher education. The foundation for the DSW curriculum rests on three pillars: (1)advanced practice expertise; (2) systematic inquiry and (3) professional leadership. Students complete 12 units of course work in each of these areas and 6 units of preparatory scholarship for their capstone projects. The DSW program is typically completed in 9 semesters, with no accelerated options for completing the minimally required courses.

The program of study that leads to the Master of Social Work degree with a specialization in Integrative Social Work (ISW) (also referred to as the "ISW MSW") consists of a minimum of 48 units.

The basic generalist curriculum (typically completed in semesters one and two) introduces students to the range of social welfare problems and programs, and to the varieties of human behavior with which social work is concerned. At the same time, students learn the methods by which the social worker, the social agency and the organized community work with people and problems. Practicum education, under supervision in a social agency, is scheduled for two or three days per week for most students, enabling students to apply theory to practice. All content areas include content on diversity, social work values and ethics and economic justice and populations at risk. At the completion of foundation requirements, students are expected to have acquired a sense of professional responsibility and the ability to use knowledge on behalf of the individual, the group and the community.

Students complete their specialized coursework and training in integrative social work practice typically in semesters three and four of the ISW MSW curriculum. When completing their specialization, students may choose a sub-specialization by selecting a track that introduces them to practice with a particular client population, setting or system. If chosen, tracks are completed within the 48-unit, at minimum, ISW MSW curriculum.

The program is available at these locations:

• University Park Campus (campus-based and some online classes); some classes may be offered at City Center in downtown Los Angeles.
• San Diego Academic Center (off campus); some classes may be offered at University Park Campus or online. 
• Virtual Academic Center (VAC) (all online classes via the Internet).

The ISW MSW can be completed in a full-time program (four semesters) or a part-time/extended program (five or more semesters). Additionally, it can be completed in an advanced standing program (three semesters) or an accelerated program (two to three semesters). 

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The program of study that leads to the Master of Social Work degree consists of 60 units. The program is available at these locations:

• University Park Campus (campus-based and some online classes)
• Virtual Academic Center (VAC) (all online classes via the Internet)

The MSW program can be completed in a full-time (four semesters) program or part-time/extended (five or more semesters) program. 

The basic generalist curriculum introduces students to the range of social welfare problems and programs, and to the varieties of human behavior with which social work is concerned. At the same time, students learn the methods by which the social worker, the social agency and the organized community work with people and problems. Practicum instruction, under supervision in a social agency, is scheduled for two or three days a week for most students, enabling students to apply theory to practice. All content areas include content on diversity, social work values and ethics, and economic justice and populations at risk. At the completion of foundation requirements, students are expected to have acquired a sense of professional responsibility and the ability to use knowledge on behalf of the individual, the group and the community.

This curriculum is organized around three specializations:

1. Children, Youth and Families (CYF)
2. Adult Mental Health and Wellness (AMHW)
3. Social Change and Innovation (SCI)

Students will select one of these specializations upon completion of the generalist curriculum, take required courses and electives focused on their chosen specializations. Students take six required specialization courses, a required diversity course, and three electives focused on the student's individual interests.

Specific course content includes:

This specialization prepares students to address the needs of vulnerable children, youth and families from the earliest years of childhood through adolescence and the transition to adulthood. Course work focuses on promoting wellness and preventing trauma, as well as which kinds of service programs are showing the best results for families from a variety of racial, ethnic and socioeconomic groups. Students are trained to serve families in a variety of service settings, including health, mental health, early education, schools, child welfare and juvenile justice.

Adult Mental Health and Wellness (AMHW)

This specialization is focused on enhancing the health and well-being of younger and older adults within families, agencies, institutions, communities and other environments, and eliminating disparities. The curriculum offers course work in mental health and substance use, integrated primary and behavioral health care, wellness and recovery, promotion of healthy aging, social welfare policy, and program and policy evaluation and analysis.

Social Change and Innovation (SCI):

This specialization prepares students to lead bold, large-scale solutions to social problems and drive positive change in organizations, businesses and government agencies. Students can customize their learning experience by taking courses on social change, advocacy, organizational planning and development, workplace interventions, military social work, and evaluation research. 

This system of curriculum offerings provides a strong educational program with a continuing commitment to a generalist base and a focused set of specialized content, in combination with a range of options to meet special interests. This program enables graduates to move into the social work community with a combination of knowledge and skills in a broad arena, as well as in-depth knowledge and skills in both practice methods and a specific client population, setting or system.

The curriculum builds on a liberal arts foundation that all entering students are required to have. The applicant should have a range of undergraduate courses in the humanities and the social and physical sciences.

General Requirements

The Master of Social Work degree requires a minimum of 60 semester units of courses, including practicum education.

The degree is not awarded solely on the basis of credits earned but also requires evidence of competence in both theory and practice. At their discretion, the faculty may require courses or practicum work or both beyond the minimum requirements.

Time Limit

For most students, the master's degree program will be completed in four semesters of full-time study.

Grade Point Average Requirement

A grade point average of 3.0 (A = 4.0) is required for admission to the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work. In some instances, applicants with less than 3.0 may be considered for conditional admission through a special review. An overall GPA of 3.0 for graduation from the master's degree program.

With the enrollment of a small group of highly qualified experienced social workers, the Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work established the first social work doctoral program in the Western United States in 1953. Over the years, the school has continued the tradition of providing opportunities for learning in small classes, seminars and tutorials.

The major goal of the doctoral program in social work is to produce social work scholars who will have the capacity to make valuable and significant contributions to the knowledge base of the profession. Students acquire the skills necessary to become professional scholars and develop a significant capacity for professional leadership. Toward this end, the school is committed to pursuing excellence in education with persons of definite promise and to seeking gifted students of varied social, ethnic and economic backgrounds.

Through training in specific areas, graduates of the program develop theoretical, conceptual, critical and analytic skills which can be applied to social, organizational, interpersonal and personal problems. They emerge from the program with substantive knowledge and analytic skills that enable them to contribute to understanding social problems and ways of solving them. With these skills, they are able to take a disciplined approach to the issues confronting the profession of social work and the field of social welfare and are prepared to make a significant contribution to the research and scholarship that informs society's effort to improve the human condition.

The PhD program in social work is administered by the Doctoral Committee of the Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work in accordance with the policies set by the Graduate School. The requirements listed below are special to the Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work and must be read in conjunction with the general requirements of the Graduate School.

Admission Requirements

Applicants for admission to the doctoral program must meet the following requirements:

1. A master's degree from a program accredited by the Council on Social Work Education or from another field related to social work.
2. Academic promise, as evidenced by above average achievement in undergraduate and professional education and a personal statement outlining the applicant's scholarly goals.
3. Professional competence as demonstrated through substantial experience in responsible social work, internships or other positions either during or subsequent to the master's program.
4. Personal qualities compatible with performance in social work and indicating a potential for leadership in the field: skill in relationships, flexibility and openness to new ideas, maturity, identification with the profession of social work, and commitment to furthering the development of the profession.
5. Satisfactory performance on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or International English Language Testing System (IELTS) for all international students prior to the date of application. Existing test scores are valid and may be submitted if the TOEFL or IELTS has been completed no more than two years of your intended first term at USC. For example, no earlier than August 1 two years prior if applying for the fall term. Information may be obtained from the USC Center for Testing and Assessment, 3501 Trousdale Parkway, Los Angeles, CA 90089-4354, (213) 740-1188
6. Submission of application materials as required. Instructions for application to the Doctor of Philosophy in Social Work program are available online only at: sowkweb.usc.edu/admissions/doctor-of-philosophy/application-process

Under unusual circumstances, applications from persons who do not meet these requirements, including those who have just been awarded the MSW degree, will be considered. In cases where the MSW (or its equivalent) has recently been granted and the applicant does not have the prerequisite post-master's degree employment experience, it may be required that such experience be acquired concurrent with enrollment in the doctoral program.

Under very unusual circumstances, applications to the doctoral program in social work will be considered from those who do not hold the MSW or an equivalent degree. Such applicants, in order to be admitted to the program, must have a master's degree (or its equivalent) in a field related to social work and a demonstrated commitment to the field of social work as evidenced by substantial contribution to the knowledge base of the profession. Admission decisions on applicants who do not hold an MSW or equivalent degree will be made by the full Doctoral Program Committee of the Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work rather than by a subcommittee of that body.

Priority will be given to applications that are completed by December 1.

Application Procedure

All applicants to the doctoral program must submit the following information: (1) graduate admission application using the university's online system; (2) statement of purpose which is submitted as part of the online application; (3) current resume which is uploaded as part of the online application; (4) all undergraduate and graduate transcripts, upload unofficial transcripts which is part of the online application until USC Office of Graduate Admission receives the official sealed transcripts sent directly from the institution(s); (5) four letters of reference, at least three of which are from persons who can assess the student's scholarly potential; (6) recent TOEFL or IELTS scores; (7) documented evidence of financial support is required of all international applicants; (8) PhD supplemental information which is part of the online application; (9) career plans and goals which is part of the online application and (10) scholarly writing sample which is uploaded as part of the online application. 

Foreign Language/Research/English Language Requirements

There is no foreign language requirement for the PhD degree. Competence in advanced research methodology and statistics is required through satisfactory completion of required courses. All international students are required to submit their TOEFL or IELTS scores from a test date prior to application and to meet university requirements for teaching.

The Social Work Practice in Addiction certificate is intended to guide specialized practice with individuals and communities affected by substance use. Course work applied to this certificate incorporates theories and models regarding the prevention, etiology and treatment of substance use disorders and related issues and the level of empirical evidence that exists for each. They draw on theory, assessment, diagnosis and treatment goals to select and implement evidence-supported interventions regarding substance use and associated problems for individuals and families. Content focuses on the intersection of physical and mental health issues with substance use, and understanding the interplay of substance use and associated behaviors that may require complex intervention strategies. Social workers consider pertinent theory; client characteristics; intersecting health, mental health and addiction issues; client motivation and readiness for change; and client needs and desires to implement best interventions in accordance with their goals and available resources. Substance use treatment and current evidence-supported interventions, including medication-assisted treatment and harm reduction strategies. This certificate will enable graduates to work with clients to enhance the quality of individual, family and community well-being in order to facilitate recovery.

The USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work offers university certificates that provide students advanced practice or research training through a social justice and intercultural competence lens that emphasizes community, and organizational and environmental justice. Certificates are designed to complement and deepen training provided through our degree programs by focusing on experiential application of concepts in relation to particular and diverse client populations, settings, and systems. Each certificate consists of at least 12 units, which may in part be satisfied by courses completed for a degree program. Certificates are also available to graduate students from other disciplines and to employed professionals.

Note: courses used to satisfy a requirement cannot be double counted to satisfy a second requirement.

Course Requirements

A minimum of 60 graduate units is necessary for the PhD, among which are the following required courses: SOCI 500, SOCI 510, SOCI 520, SOCI 521, SOCI 511, and SOCI 621 or 620. In addition, each student must specialize in two subareas of sociology and must take at least 8 units in each area such as: urban sociology, complex organizations, stratification, ethnic relations, sociology of aging, medical sociology, communication and culture, deviance, sociology of gender, demography, and so on.

Screening Procedure

Normally, students must complete the screening procedure during the third semester of enrollment. Students will have completed two full semesters of work by this point and, hence, will have taken no fewer than 16 and no more than 32 units, including at least the following: SOCI 500, SOCI 510 and SOCI 511. Students are evaluated on subject matter competence and satisfactory progress. When the screening procedure is successfully completed, the student has one semester in which to form a qualifying exam committee.

Empirical Paper

Each student is required to complete an independent empirical research project that is approved by two members of his or her qualifying exam committee. In some instances, this requirement may be met by acceptance of a satisfactory master's thesis from some other university.

Foreign Language Requirement

The department does not generally require proficiency in a foreign language; however, as with other courses outside the department, a student's qualifying exam committee may in some cases require proficiency in a foreign language.

Qualifying Examinations

Following the completion of their empirical papers and most of their course work, students are required to take a written and oral examination in their two standard areas. If the written examination is passed, the oral part of the examination can be devoted to a preliminary discussion of dissertation plans. When these are completed successfully, the student is advanced to PhD candidacy.

Dissertation

After the dissertation is completed, the student and the dissertation committee, in conjunction with the department chair, may elect either a defense oral or a final oral examination in defense of the dissertation. The defense oral is normally chosen in sociology.

This certificate program will provide engineers with the skills required to face the increasingly complex future in architecting systems, systems of systems and software-intensive systems. Students will be exposed to the concepts, principles and state-of-the-art methods in software architectures. This program introduces principles and approaches for modeling systems using SysML; applies software engineering process models and management approaches to the design and architecture of large software systems; and guides the architect through every phase of the conception, implementation, deployment and finally retirement of software systems. It is expected that participants in the certificate program will have completed an undergraduate degree in computer science or a related field and will have several years of practical experience in software engineering and/or systems engineering. If students are later admitted to the Master of Science in Computer Science, the courses taken for the certificate may be applied to that program.

SSCI Header 

The Graduate Certificate in Spatial Analytics requires 12 units of graduate work and provides doctoral students with an opportunity to learn about the fundamental guiding principles (i.e. spatial cognition, positioning, spatial representations and data models, map projections and datums, modifiable unit area problems, remote sensing, spatial analysis and modeling techniques and cartographic principles) and a series of rapidly evolving geospatial technologies that take advantage of the Cloud and the Web as well as advances in analytical techniques, modeling tools and online data sources.

Course Requirements

Twelve units of graduate work are required.

Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, Spatial Sciences Institute

Viterbi School of Engineering, Computer Science/Data Science

gis.usc.edu

datascience.usc.edu

Program Director (Spatial Sciences): John P. Wilson, PhD

The Master of Science in Spatial Data Science is a cross-disciplinary joint degree program offered by the Viterbi School of Engineering and the Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. Students must be admitted by both the Viterbi School of Engineering and the Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.

Geospatial data accessibility, spatial decision support systems and geospatial problem solving environments are revolutionizing most industries and disciplines, including health care, marketing, social services, human security, education, environmental sustainability and transportation. Spatial data science professionals draw upon engineering, computer science and spatial sciences principles to solve data-intensive, large-scale, location-based problems.

The USC Master of Science in Spatial Data Science provides students with the knowledge and skills to:

• Understand and contribute toward the significant technical and societal challenges created by large location-based data environments, including their architecture, security, integrity, management and scalability.
• Understand how spatial data can be acquired and used to support various forms of analysis, modeling and geo-visualization in large data environments.
• Understand how artificial intelligence, machine learning and data mining can be used to augment the typical geographic information science (GIS) concepts and workflows to intelligently mine data to provide enterprise-centric solutions for a variety of societal challenges and issues spanning the public, private and not-for-profit sectors.

Students complete a core set of courses to provide a foundation in information engineering, spatial analysis and thinking with their choice of electives to optimize preparation for their preferred career path and unique professional opportunities.

Students will understand the overall field of data science, the role of the analyst and/or data scientist and the domains where spatial data science skills can be applied to critical organization missions. They will understand how data management, data visualization and artificial intelligence techniques (specifically data mining and machine learning) are critical to the spatial analysis process and how these can be applied to real world challenges. Throughout their course work, students will assemble a digital portfolio of work product that is intended to help them demonstrate their capabilities and skills for the job market.

The curriculum is designed to be accessible to students with any background, including students with a geography background and no computer science knowledge as well as students with a computer science background and no geography knowledge. Students with undergraduate degrees in computer science, engineering, science or mathematics will acquire the necessary knowledge to analyze spatial data with diverse sources and purposes, and can request to replace introductory data science courses with more advanced ones. Students with undergraduate degrees in geography, geographic information science (GIS) and related disciplines will acquire formal and practical data science skills, and can request to substitute introductory courses in the spatial core with more advanced ones. There is no requirement of prior knowledge of programming or computer science, as the curriculum is designed with special introductory courses that are accessible to students with diverse backgrounds.

For information refer to the Spatial Sciences Institute.

The online and residential MS in Spatial Economics and Data Analysis program integrates economics with a robust spatial sciences curriculum, fostering collaboration with distinguished faculty from USC's Department of Economics and the Spatial Sciences Institute within the Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. The program is designed to explore business opportunities and address public policy challenges through the strategic application of location-based Big Data, drawing upon insights from geographic information science (GIS), urban economics, and spatial econometrics.

Spanning two years, the MS in Spatial Economics and Data Analysis entails the completion of 32 units, distributed across 8 courses, each typically valued at 4 units. Half of these units (16) are derived from a specialized curriculum dedicated to enhancing spatial awareness and understanding, while the remaining 16 units involve graduate-level coursework within the Department of Economics.

This rigorous quantitative curriculum equips students with the analytical tools to apply economic theory to practical challenges, facilitating the synthesis of data and theoretical frameworks into actionable solutions. As the prominence of spatial Big Data continues to rise, there is a growing demand for professionals who can effectively translate real-time spatial and economic analyses into informed recommendations across diverse domains.