Dear Colleagues,
As you may be aware, Scott Harding, Ph.D., is stepping down as co-director of our Ph.D. program in summer 2024. Harding assumed this role in 2016. During his tenure, he led multiple initiatives that strengthened our doctoral program. These include the expansion of guaranteed student funding to four years of Graduate Assistantship (GA), including two years as a research GA and one year of teaching independently. During his tenure, the doctoral committee implemented curriculum reform, including a revised Comprehensive Examination process, expansion of dissertation options, and creation of a new course on pedagogy. The program also transformed its model of student advising and increased professional development opportunities for doctoral students. These changes resulted in increased publication opportunities for our students. Harding also mentored doctoral students and has served as a major and associate dissertation advisor for 12 Ph.D. candidates. He also taught four courses in the doctoral program.
In addition to his leadership in the doctoral program. Harding is an accomplished scholar in the areas of Forced Migration and Refugee Resettlement and War, Militarism, and Peace Activism. Along with multiple peer-reviewed articles, Harding is the co-author of Breaking the War Habit: The Debate over Militarism in American Education (University of Georgia Press, 2022), Counter-Recruitment and the Campaign to Demilitarize Public Schools (Palgrave McMillan, 2017), and Human-Rights Based Approaches to Community Practice in the United States (Springer, 2015).
Harding is a highly experienced academic administrator and leader, having served the School of Social Work not only as Ph.D. Co-Director but also as Associate Dean of Academic Affairs. Harding will continue his role as Associate Dean of Academic Affairs in the 2024-25 AY.
Please join me in thanking Harding for his outstanding leadership.
Laura Curran, MSW, Ph.D. (she/her)
Dean and Professor