Graduate Student Handbook

8.4 Residency Requirement

In addition to the overall credit requirement,  doctoral students must complete a minimum of 24 graduate credit hours at this University.

Course Requirements
Each PhD student must have a specialization (“major”) that is drawn primarily from one of the core areas of the College.  While the definition of the major field may be responsive to individual interests, it is the responsibility of the division and the student’s Advisory Committee to ensure that the student has an adequate grounding in the representative content of the field.  In addition, the student is required to show expertise in the research methods appropriate for the major field chosen and to select a supporting minor cognate field.  Fields of specialization may create standardized curriculum requirements to meet the expectations of the discipline or may permit more discretion by the Advisory Committee.

Students pursuing the PhD in Public Health with a specialization in Health Behavior and Health Promotion are required to complete Research rotation credits. “Research rotation” credits are intended to provide PhD students with one-on-one experience working with faculty members on research-related tasks.  Appropriate foci for research rotation credits include things such as collaborating on manuscript preparation (which could include literature reviews); working on grant proposals; or collecting and analyzing data.  Students are required to complete a minimum of 4 credits of research rotation.  It is expected that these credits will be completed under the direction of more than one faculty member, and working on different projects, in order to gain maximum experience with research tasks.  The exact profile of credits for an individual student is subject to negotiation between the student and the advisor.