Why a PhD in Social Welfare at FIU?

• Miami-Dade is an exciting, large urban setting offering unique opportunities to advance research involving diverse people from Latin American and the Caribbean;
 
• FIU's student body reflects the vibrant diversity of South Florida: 60% Hispanic; 17% White Non-Hispanic; 12% African American. FIU is #1 in the nation in awarding bachelor's and master's degrees to Hispanic students;
 
• FIU is Miami's premiere public research university with over $100 million in grant funded research;
 
• Our Program is Worlds-Ahead in curriculum, academic community, quality of faculty and doctoral graduates, and in nationally-funded research centers:
   
  • The program is rigorous and intensive: Full-time coursework is for only one year and the program is designed to help students graduate in a little over 4 years;
   
  • Students learn advanced research and statistical methods and culturally-relevant research methods. Classes are small and students work closely with faculty who mentor them in their areas of interest;
   
  • We have a vibrant intellectual community with ongoing colloquia and conferences with nationally-known speakers;
   
  • Our award-winning Doctoral Faculty are experts in their respective areas of research, who have compiled an outstanding record of scholarship, ranking 4th in the nation in a recent Academic Analytics survey. Faculty members have generated over $35 million in research funding during the past decade and are thus uniquely qualified for mentoring students in advanced research methods and evidence-supported practices with diverse persons;
   
  • The faculty's notable strengths are in substance abuse, immigrant and minority social problems and health disparities, child welfare, HIV/AIDS, mental health, aging, and evidence-based group work.
   
 
• Our graduates are employed as tenured professors, full-time researchers, and as practitioners in leadership positions in social agencies across the country;
 
• Students are involved with two federally-funded multidisciplinary research groups: Florida International University – Banyan Research Institute on Dissemination, Grants, & Evaluation (FIU-BRIDGE), a prevention research group devoted to the design, implementation, and evaluation of community-based prevention and brief intervention strategies for reducing risk behavior problems among youth, and the Center for Research on U.S. Latino HIV/AIDS and Drug Abuse (CRUSADA), dedicated to eliminating health disparities in substance abuse and HIV/AIDS that affect the Latino minorities in the U.S.