Ph.D. Program (New Program Requirements Beginning Fall 2008)

The Ph.D. program is designed for students who are planning careers as faculty members, institutional researchers, or policy analysts.

The flexibility of the Ph.D. program provides the opportunity for students to work with their program advisory committee to build an individualized set of content and inquiry courses that enables each student to develop a unique set of skills and aptitudes.

Program Requirements (90 credit hours)

Higher Education Major (36 credit hour minimum)

The following courses are required

C620: Pro-seminar in Higher Education
C654: Higher Education in the United States
C664: Organizational Theory
C750: Topical Seminar (2 required, 3 recommended)
C788: Seminar in Research in Higher Education
- This course should be taken towards the end of your coursework with C795 Dissertation Proposal Preperation.

In addition, a minimum of 18 credit hours are required in the major.

Minor (12 credit hour minimum)

Course work should focus on the research and scholarship of an academic discipline that provides a useful perspective on the study of higher education. This perspective often influences the topic or methodology used in the dissertation. The minor may be any Graduate School approved minor, or four courses on a single theme approved by a Graduate School faculty member from outside the higher education program (e.g., Sociology, Law, Educational Inquiry, Educational Policy, Organizational Studies). Student Affairs cannot be used as a minor.

Inquiry Skills and Techniques (12 credit hour minimum)

The following course is required:

Y521 (or Y520) Strategies for Educational Inquiry*

*Although either Y520 or Y521 can meet this requirement, Y521 is recommended because it is offered to doctoral students only.

Note: Y502 or its equivalent is a pre-requisite for the Ph.D.

Three (9 credit hours) additional inquiry courses approved by the Advisory Committee are required (see Y-prefixed courses in catalog for examples). Typically, these courses are of the following:

H510 Foundations of Educational Inquiry
H601 Historical Inquiry in Education
X527 Educational Measurements
Y535 Evaluation Models and Techniques
Y603 Statistical Design of Educational Research
Y604 Multivariate Analysis in Educational Research
Y611 Qualitative Inquiry in Education
Y617 Psychometric Theory
Y635 Methodology of Educational Evaluation

Three of the four inquiry courses should be taken prior to the qualifying exam.

Electives or Second Minor (15 credit hour minimum)

The remaining 15 hours can be used to create a second minor, for further study into any appropriate field or to obtain other professionally relevant knowledge. Students are encouraged to enroll in six hours of courses to provide a breadth of understanding of the basic concepts that inform higher education as a discipline. Typically the six hours come two of the following areas: History and Philosophy, Psychology, Policy Studies, Sociology and Anthropology, or Organizational Theory. With Advisory Committee approval student also may use courses from other academic areas appropriate for student's special professional objectives.

Dissertation (15 credit hour minimum)

C795 Dissertation Proposal Preparation
- This course should be taken towards the end of your coursework with C788 Seminar in Research in Higher Education
C799 Doctoral Thesis (12 hours minimum)

Additional Program Requirements

FIRST YEAR REVIEW FOR HESA DOCTORAL STUDENTS

Beginning doctoral students (both Ph.D. and Ed.D.) at the end of the first year (and/or 18 hours of course work) need to file a First Year Faculty Review with their advisor. The advisor will assess work the student has completed and what the student is planning for the future. The focus of the review is on assessing the student’s ability to: 1) clearly articulate their thoughts and ideas in an organized manner (writing and oral), 2) analyze and synthesize research in order to formulate an opinion or argument, 3) illustrate a focused plan for completing doctoral work. (see Outline of the Review Process for instructions)

EARLY INQUIRY EXPERIENCE

According to the School of Education Graduate Bulletin “(in addition to the inquiry core course work). One of these inquiry courses is to be an early inquiry experience wherein a student carries out an actual research project, including the collection and analysis of data to answer a research question, and the writing of a research manuscript.” (School of Education Graduate Program Bulletin, 2005-2007, p.52).

HESA Requirements

There must be a product produced as a result of the early inquiry experience.
The product should be suitable for presentation and/or publication. This is can include professional conferences or institutional presentations/publications.
In most cases, it is not be possible to fulfill the early inquiry experience with the required HESA courses. Instead the student should look for Special Topics (C750) courses that the instructor designates as fulfilling the early inquiry experience or an Independent Study that fulfills the requirements.
The instructor will clearly state in the syllabus of a Special Topics course what requirements must be completed to fulfill the early inquiry experience.

INQUIRY LINKAGE COURSES

According to the School of Education Graduate Bulletin all students must complete “The second of the major area [Higher Education] inquiry courses is an inquiry linkage course. This is a course in which research relevant to the major field of specialization is studied.” (School of Education Graduate Program Bulletin, 2005-2007, p. 52-53).

HESA designated inquiry linkages courses will be:

The course used for the early inquiry experience
C788 Seminar in Research for Higher Education

QUALIFYING EXAM

“Prior to beginning a doctoral dissertation and at or near the time of completion of all course work, all doctoral students in the School of Education must pass a qualifying examination in their major area of study. In effect, this examination process is intended to determine if a student is qualified to begin work on a doctoral dissertation.” (School of Education Graduate Program Bulletin, 2005-2007, p.53).

The qualifying exam with written and oral components is taken at or near completion of course work in the major. The student must have his/her Advisory Committee Chair’s approval to take the qualifying examination. The written section is comprehensive; covering issues faced by the profession and the knowledge base of the field. Questions are broad and will require students to integrate theories and substantive issues from the courses they have taken.

Qualifying exams for the minor are determined by the minor advisor in consultation with the students. Following review by the faculty, the student must defend the written examination in a meeting with the Advisory Committee.

HESA Requirements

Student will apply for qualifying exams with the permission of their program advisory committee.
Students must be in good standing to take qualifying exams (above 3.3 gpa (Bulletin, p. 16) and less than 6 credit hours of incompletes (Bulletin, p. 53)).
The first day question(s) will focus on broad concepts in higher education and incorporate the require coursework in higher education.
The second day question(s) will focus on areas of specialization the student has developed during the doctoral program and one or more topics of interest identified for dissertation research.

RESEARCH SKILLS

Research skills required for the Ph.D. are satisfied by course completion prescribed in the Inquiry area.

RESIDENCY REQUIREMENT

Ph.D. students are required to enroll in 9 credit hours in two consecutive semesters to meet the current Graduate School requirement. Students are strongly encouraged to participate in research projects, colloquia, and study groups, attend lectures, seminars, and participate in scholarship or professional practice during their doctoral studies. Additional detail will be provided by one's advisor.

DOCTORAL DISSERTATION

Students are required to design, conduct, and orally defend an original piece of research.