Program Requirements

The Ed.D. Program consists of a minimum of 58 graduate hours of acceptable course work.

The specific requirements include:

Major Field:  21 hours minimum

Area of Emphasis:  9 hours minimum, after admission (minor field)

Research and Support:  19 hours minimum

Dissertation Research:  9 hours minimum

Previous graduate courses, including those taken for a master’s degree, may be considered by the student’s doctoral committee as meeting part of the program requirements.  No more than 12 master’s hours may be applied to the Ed.D. in C&I. All courses must be approved by the student’s doctoral committee and the Dean of the College of Education and Professional Development.

The Ed.D. Program consists of a minimum of 43 graduate hours of acceptable course work.

The specific requirements include:

Major Field:  18 hours minimum

Research and Support:  18 hours minimum

Dissertation Research:  9 hours minimum

Previous graduate courses, including those taken for a master’s degree, may be considered by the student’s doctoral committee as meeting part of the program requirements.  All courses must be approved by the student’s doctoral committee and the Dean of the College of Education and Professional Development.

Residency in a Doctoral Program typically involves the student working closely with faculty in scholarly pursuits.  In light of the mission of the program, the doctoral residency requirements will be met in the following manner:

Continuous enrollment from admission to the program to graduation;

Participation in all doctoral seminars; and

Development of a portfolio of activities and experiences in the doctoral program.

*Leadership Studies students should contact the department regarding specific requirements.

Areas to be included in the portfolio are:

Scholarship –  Each student must include at least one of the following activities:

a.  Co-authoring a proposal for submission and co-presenting at a regional or national conference in collaboration with a faculty member.

b.  Co-authoring and submitting or publication a manuscript to a peer reviewed / referred journal, a book, or a book chapter, in collaboration with a faculty member.

Other professional / academic pursuits – Each student must include at least two o the following activities:

a.  Co-teaching a course with a faculty member.

b.  Serving an appropriate internship involving an outside mentor and a mentor on the doctoral faculty.

c.  Developing a course in collaboration with a faculty member.

d.  Collaborating with a faculty member in another professional activity, approved in advance by the student’s committee.

The student will present and defend the portfolio as a part of the residency requirements.

Upon successful completion of this assessment the student becomes a doctoral candidate.

Doctoral candidates are allowed no more than three (3) years beyond admission to formal candidacy to complete the remaining degree requirements.

Each doctoral candidate must develop and defend a dissertation research prospectus (proposal). 

This defense must be conducted in meeting attended by the full doctoral committee and must be approved by the committee and the Institutional Review Board (IRB) before further dissertation research / writing can be conducted.

Each candidate must write and satisfactorily defend the final product of his / her dissertation research.  This defense must be conducted in an open, publicized meeting attended by the full doctoral committee and others who may wish to attend.