December 2, 2003

Contact:
Jennifer Meriam, Director
(954) 262-5355
Mara Kiffin, Coordinator
(954) 262-5350
Elizabeth Ninomiya, Specialist
(954) 262-5309

First Student To Graduate From Nova Southeastern University’s Doctor Of Marriage And Family Therapy Program

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL - The Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences (SHSS) at Nova Southeastern University (NSU) will confer its first Doctor of Marriage and Family Therapy (DMFT) degree on student Debbie Swayman after she presents her final Applied Clinical Project Report at 3:00 p.m. on December 11 in the SHSS Seminar Room on NSU’s East Campus. SHSS began offering the DMFT program in the Fall of 2002 as a companion to its successful Ph.D. program in Family Therapy.

The DMFT is a practitioner-oriented terminal degree program designed to develop skills in both family therapy practice and wider applications of systems skills to organizational, structural and community settings. The program supports working adults who seek a non-traditional doctoral credential. However, the DMFT program differs from the Ph.D. by specifically preparing students to meet the unique demands of clinically based service providers in the mental health professions. NSU is one of only two academic institutions in the United States to offer this doctoral degree.

SHSS’s Ph.D. in Family Therapy program has enjoyed distinctive success for more than a decade, and recently went through its final site visit on the path to full accreditation by the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy’s (AAMFT) Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education (COAMFTE). The Master of Science program in Family Therapy has been fully accredited by the AAMFT since 1997. The new DMFT curriculum complements the strengths of the existing Ph.D. in Marriage and Family Therapy program, but is distinguished from the Ph.D. program mainly by the fact that DMFT students are required to complete an Applied Clinical Project (ACP) instead of a traditional dissertation. The ACP requires DMFT students to demonstrate their ability to conceive, propose, implement and evaluate an applied systemic program, and to make a professional, reflective presentation of results and recommendations.

For more information on the DMFT program, please contact Dr. Chris Burnett, Director of Doctoral Programs in Family Therapy at (800) 262-7978, or email SHSS@nova.edu.

Debbie Swayman earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Communication Disorders from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1977. She also earned a Master of Science in Speech Pathology in 1987, and a Master of Science in Marriage and Family Therapy in 2000, both at Nova Southeastern University.

Celebrating 15 years of excellence, the Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences awards graduate certificates, master’s, and doctoral degrees through innovative, interdisciplinary programs in conflict analysis and resolution, family therapy, cross-disciplinary studies, college student personnel, peace studies, family studies, family systems healthcare, healthcare conflict resolution, and joint programs with the Criminal Justice Institute, the Shepard Broad Law Center, and the College of Allied Health and Nursing. SHSS also is home to two academic journals: “Peace and Conflict Studies,” and “The Qualitative Report.” For more information on SHSS and its programs, please visit http://shss.nova.edu.