Major Steps in the Program:

1. Student chooses a department.

2. Student chooses a faculty advisor (usually his advisor from the Master’s Program).

3. Student meets with faculty advisor and sets up a course plan and begins taking classes.

4. Qualification Exam Request is made.

5. Qualification Examination is administered by the chosen department. It is based on material in a typical departmentalized masters degree program, or equivalent. The department may require a written and/or oral examination. The department may also use the results of the Master’s Exam as the Qualifying Exam.

6. An dissertation committee is established after student passes the qualifying exam. The committee will consist of at least five members. No more than three from the department of the chosen faculty advisor. At least one must be from the other college.

7. Courses are chosen with the consent of the dissertation committee. The total number of course credits must meet program requirements. A minimum of nine credits (three courses) must be taken in the other college. There must be at least 30 dissertation credits. These credit numbers can be adjusted by each department, but the numbers must meet, or exceed, Program, College, and University requirements.

8. The General (comprehensive) Examination is set up by the dissertation committee. A request for the General Exam is filled out and submitted to the Graduate School for approval.

9. The General Exam will be based upon the course material approved by the dissertation advisory committee and should reflect the interdisciplinary nature of the Program. The examination should be written and oral.

10. There must be a written dissertation prospectus and oral defense of this prospectus before the dissertation advisory committee.

11. The dissertation committee is interdisciplinary as noted above. The dissertation should reflect the interdisciplinary nature of the Program. There must be a final public defense of the dissertation. The final examination is administered by the dissertation advisory committee.

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