Norman G. Cohen, Executive Secretary to the State Board for Social Work has issued the following, regarding the use of the term "Doctor" by New York State professionals:

The Rules of the Board of Regents on Unprofessional Conduct are based on statutory authority granted in Education Law, section 6509(9), which defines professional misconduct as "committing unprofessional conduct, as defined by the board of regents in its rules or by the commissioner in regulations approved by the board of regents".

Part 29.2(a)(4) of those rules states: "Unprofessional conduct in the practice of any profession licensed or certified pursuant to title VIII of the Education Law shall include...using the work 'Doctor' in offering to perform professional services without also indicating the profession in which the licensee holds a doctorate."

This rule affects only persons licensed by the Board of Regents in the nearly 40 professions regulated by the State Education Department, social work being one of them. It means that if you are licensed as a "Certified Social Worker," and you have earned a doctoral degree in social work and use it in connection with your professional practice, then you are required to identify that doctoral degree as a "social work" degree, i.e., "Ph.D. in Social Work" or "Doctor of Social Work." If the doctoral degree were in some other field and you use it in connection with your professional practice, then you are also required to identify the field in which that degree was earned.

The intent of this rule is to prevent either a purposeful or an inadvertent misleading of the public through misrepresentation or omission of specific academic preparation at the doctoral level. Obviously, if one were to earn a doctoral degree in etymology and use the title "Dr." within a social work practice without identifying the doctoral field, consumers would be led to believe that the advanced degree was in social work, not etymology, which has no direct bearing on the enhancement of social work skills.

Therefore, if you are licensed in the social work profession in this State, use your authorized title, "Certified Social Worker (CSW)." If you also hold a doctoral degree in social work and use it on your letterhead, business cards, etc., make certain that it is clearly a social work degree. If you hold a doctoral degree in some other field related to your professional practice, e.g., criminology, then make certain it is clearly stated as a "Doctor of Criminology," (not social work). If you hold a doctoral degree in a field completely unrelated to your professional practice, then it is prudent not to use it as part of your professional practice, as it would tend to be misleading to the public.

If you have additional questions about this or other matters of unprofessional conduct, please contact the State Board of Social Work at (518) 474-4974 from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. each day.