The departments of government and sociology, in conjunction with social policy program at the Kennedy School of Government (KSG), Wednesday submitted a proposal to the Faculty Council to create a joint doctoral program.

The program joins the existing Ph.D. programs in government and sociology to a program that examines social policy. Graduate students enrolled in the program will be required to complete all the requirements of sociology or government plus additional social policy requirements.

The program will offer two degrees: a Ph.D. in government and social policy and a Ph.D. in sociology and social policy.

One of the program's coordinators, Katherine S. Newman, Ford professor of urban studies at the Kennedy School, said this program capitalizes on the expertise of Harvard's faculty.

"Over the last three years Harvard has recruited a really stellar group of faculty that span these departments who have overlapping interests in social issues," Newman said.

This program brings faculty members from across the Kennedy School and the Faculty of Arts and Sciences together within one program.

"The most productive interaction for scholars evolves when it is ongoing and permanent and involves training new people," Newman added.

Faculty members in the sociology and government departments expressed enthusiasm about the program.

"It gives sociology students a background to really take their researching methods and apply them to the practically world of policy," said Christopher V. Winship, chair of the sociology department.

Winship also said the program will be valuable in preparing sociology students to teach at public policy institutes.

"We need people who can bridge things between the sociology and the policy world," Winship said.

Government department faculty also said the collaboration would be helpful for graduate students.

"The end product is a very exciting intellectual program which will present our students with a nationally unrivalled combination of first-class scholars from the FAS and the KSG with whom to study political science and social policy," said department chair Roderick MacFarquhar, who is also Williams professor of history and political science.

The program involves the collaborative effort of more than 30 faculty members.

It will receive funding from a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant which provides $2.5 million for five years. While the foundation received over 600 applications, the Harvard program was one of just 20 recipients of the grant.

"This is the only one in the social sciences that they awarded," Newman said. "I took it as a signal of the national prominence of this group."