My PhD Journey at St. Louis University

My first year in the Social Work Ph.D. program at Saint Louis University gave me a much stronger understanding of what goes into good research. I started Fall 2025 with SWRK 6000: Foundations of Theory Development in Social Work and SWRK 6010: Principles of Statistics & Data Analysis. These courses helped me better understand the role of theory in research and gave me the statistical foundation I needed moving forward. In Spring 2026, SWRK 6020: Research Design & Measurement shifted my attention to how we actually build and evaluate research. SWRK 6030: Multivariate Data Analysis and EDR 6100: Intermediate Applied Statistics for Education pushed me further into working with more complex data and statistical methods. I continued that work during Summer 2026 with PUBH 5040: Generating Evidence from Public Health Data. That course also gave me the opportunity to look beyond social work and consider how different types of data can help us understand health and the factors that shape it. Looking back over the year, I can see a clear progression in my coursework. I started with theory and statistics and then moved into research design, measurement, and more advanced analysis. More importantly, I have started to better understand how all of these pieces work together when trying to answer questions that actually matter.

In Fall 2026, I will move into the next stage of my research training through EPI 6070: The Science and Practice of Research Synthesis, PHS 6040: Applied Research Skills I: Primary Data Collection, and SWRK 6050: Advanced Social Work Data Analysis. What makes this semester especially important is that each course connects directly to research I am already developing. EPI 6070 will help prepare me for my dissertation research on theory-driven outcomes in undergraduate mentorship. It will give me the tools to systematically examine what the existing research tells us and where important questions remain unanswered. PHS 6040 connects directly to the POWER Mentorship Program and the study I am developing alongside its launch. I will be able to use what I learn in the course to fine-tune the study as it moves from an idea and research plan into actual data collection. SWRK 6050 connects closely with my research in substance use disorders. That work is also deeply important to me because I bring both research and lived experience to the questions I ask. I want to move beyond simply identifying disparities or repeating conclusions we already know. I want to better understand what the data can tell us about people’s actual experiences and use that knowledge to challenge some of the standard answers we continue to give when those answers are clearly not working for everyone. In many ways, these three courses bring together the areas of research that are becoming central to the kind of work I hope to do.