The faculty of the Ph.D. program in social welfare rank No. 4 in the United States in their scholarly accomplishment, according to Academic Analytics, producers of the Faculty Scholarly Productivity (FSP) Index. The annual index looks at graduate programs in 172 disciplines at research universities across the country.
“I am pleased but not surprised by this ranking,” said Paul Stuart, professor and director of the School of Social Work. Stuart arrived at FIU in July 2007 from the University of Alabama. “I am gratified and humbled to lead this exceptional group of teachers and researchers."
Stuart said the high ranking is the result of a planned decade-long effort to strengthen the research productivity of the school so that it could contribute to the university's mission of being a top-ranked public urban research university.
"For the last decade, FIU has been an unrecognized jewel in doctoral education in social work," he said.
As many as five factors are considered in establishing the rankings: books published, journal publications, citations of journal articles, federal grant dollars awarded, and honors and awards. Varying weight is assigned to the factors depending upon how important each variable is within a given discipline. FIU faculty placed fourth behind the faculty of UC-Berkeley, the University of Michigan and the University of Washington.
“I believe that the research productivity of the faculty is of tremendous benefit to the College of Social Work, Justice and Public Affairs, to the university, and to the entire South Florida community,” said Stuart. For example, last month the university announced a $6.5 million National Institutes of Health grant to continue research on drug abuse and HIV/AIDS among South Florida Latinos. The grant was awarded to Mario De La Rosa, a faculty member in the School of Social Work.
The rankings reflect the school’s strengths in addictions, child welfare, mental health, adolescence, evidence-based practice and work with Hispanic populations, according to Stuart, who pointed out that the school’s research and location provides exceptional mentoring opportunities to both students and new faculty members.
The ranking comes at a time when other programs in FIU’s College of Social Work, Justice, and Public Affairs have been recognized for excellence. The School of Criminal Justice was ranked tenth nationally in faculty publications in a survey published in the Journal of Criminal Justice.College Dean Ray Thomlison said that the high productivity of the faculty contributes to the mission of the college to “achieve national and international standards of excellence in education, research, practice and management.”
Congratulations to the following graduate faculty members in the School of Social Work:
Richard Beaulaurier
David Cohen
Mario De La Rosa
Andrés Gil
Mark J. Macgowan
Miriam Potocky
Christopher Rice
Paul H. Stuart
Barbara Thomlison
Ray J. Thomlison
Eric F. Wagner
Stephen E. Wong
—FIU—
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