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2026-2027 SSWR Doctoral Student Committee Application

SSWR Doctoral Student Committee Application

The Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR) is seeking applicants for its Doctoral Student Committee (DSC). The committee was created to ensure that doctoral students’ needs, interests, and priorities are accurately reflected in SSWR doctoral student programming. The DSC aims to build a committee that reflects the diversity of social work doctoral students, their research areas, and their institutions. All social work doctoral students are welcome to apply.

Students are eligible to serve on the committee if they:
  1. Are a current doctoral student in social work/social welfare
  2. Will continue to be a doctoral student for at least some of the 2026-2027 academic year
  3. Can commit to ~5 hours a month of committee work, including one conference call per month

Students must maintain current membership in SSWR if they are selected to serve on the committee, but do not need to be members prior to applying. Attendance at the annual conference is not required.

The current term will be from August 2026 - May 2027. Committee members are afforded opportunities for leadership development, involvement in planning conference events and year-round initiatives for doctoral student members, experience serving on a national committee, and networking with doctoral student colleagues.

The DSC has four (4) subcommittees: Mentoring, Conference, Communications, and Student Engagement. Each subcommittee is chaired by 1-2 DSC members, who, together with the DSC Chair, comprise the DSC Leadership Committee.

  1. The Communications Subcommittee creates a newsletter every other month and manages our student-only Facebook group.
  2. The Mentoring Subcommittee manages the "Coffee with a Scholar" and the "New Attendee" Program for the SSWR Annual Conference.
  3. The Conference Subcommittee develops the "Meet the Scientist" Luncheon (in partnership with the DSC Chair and SSWR Board Early Career Director-at-Large), the Student Session and Luncheon, the Student Social Hour, the Virtual Happy Hour, and the Writing Retreats.
  4. The Student Engagement Subcommittee facilitates networking and training opportunities.

Programs that do not preface with "SSWR" run year-round. More subcommittees may be added, depending on need and student interest, and new program suggestions are welcome from those interested in dedicating time to their creation and implementation. To find out more about the committee and its current members, go to: http://www.sswrdoc.com/.

The application will close on July 24, 2026 at 11:59 PM EST. Questions can be directed to [name], SSWR Board of Directors Doctoral Student Director-at-Large Elect, Whitney Zeigler at whitneymzeigler@gmail.com.

Thank you for considering dedicating your time and service to social work doctoral students.

Please fill out this application in full.
1.Email Address(Required.)
2.Why are you applying to serve on the SSWR doctoral student committee? (Please enter no more than 200 words)(Required.)
3.What skills or relevant experience can you bring to the doctoral student committee? (Please enter no more than 200 words)(Required.)
4.Creating a doctoral student committee that is diverse and inclusive of all social identities (including, but not limited to, racial, cultural, ethnic, gender, sexual orientation and class identities) benefits the entire doctoral student membership. Additionally, as social workers, a critical part of our professional obligation is to promote diversity in the service of social justice. In what ways would your particular positionality contribute to the goal of promoting meaningful diversity, inclusion, and social justice in the doctoral student committee? (Please enter no more than 200 words)(Required.)
5.What ideas for programs, content, or initiatives would you like to pursue? In other words, if you were selected to serve on the committee, what would you like to achieve? (Please enter no more than 200 words)(Required.)
6.What school do you currently attend?(Required.)
7.What year are you in your program?(Required.)
8.Please rank the committees in order of your preference. Options are Conference, Communications, Mentoring, and Student Engagement; include all committee options in the ranking. For example, if the conference subcommittee is your top priority and student engagement is your last, you would write "(1) conference, (2) communications, (3) mentoring, (4) student engagement." If no preference, please write "no preference."(Required.)
9.Participating in the SSWR DSC requires an average of about 5 hours per month and one conference call per month. Do you have the capacity to make that time commitment?(Required.)
10.Please upload your CV as a PDF(Required.)
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