Diversity in Social Work Doctoral Programs

Abstract

Students of color (SOC) face multiple barriers to being admitted and retained in social work doctoral programs. We describe these hurdles and propose approaches to circumvent them. Admission challenges include a lack of guidance, financial hurdles, underpreparedness, and racism directed at applicants. Retention challenges include a dearth of mentorship, financial hardship, lack of academic support, and discrimination experienced by students. We propose institutional and structural responses to these challenges. Programs should recruit from milieus marked by diversity, de-emphasize standardized scores and blind reviews in admissions, increase faculty of color numbers, establish crosscutting mentorship networks, and expand academic and financial support. At the structural level, teaching credentials for core classes should be reconsidered, research and publication reimagined, and community engagement emphasized. Finally, moves like the replacement of tenured with adjunct faculty and the initiation of doctorate in social work programs should be examined for their implications to the career prospects of SOC.