Educational Leadership and Policy, Ph.D.

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Educational Leadership and Policy

www.elp.utah.edu

801-581-6714

Minimum Degree Hours: 68

Admission Requirements

For admission requirements see Educational Leadership & Policy .

PhD Program Information

Students complete course work in: educational leadership, policy, and organizations; content specialization in students in K12 or higher education, educational leadership/organizations, educational policy, or critical studies in education; research methods and apprenticeship; and independent research in the form of a dissertation.

Participating faculty in the Ph.D. program are highly skilled academicians who guide students to achieve their academic goals. The ELP department has many excellent faculty members in both K-12 and higher education. Profiles of the faculty, along with copies of their vitas are available on the department website. Dr. Larry Parker, the Director of Graduate Studies, can provide additional information about the program for interested individuals.

Program of Study

The student’s supervisory committee helps develop a coherent program of study and has final approval of all doctoral study. Upon enrollment in the program, students are assigned an advisor who works with them for the first two years of their program. During the second or third year of study, students identify a supervisory committee chair and committee members who will approve the student’s planned program of study which must be submitted to the Graduate School. Students are allowed to individually tailor the selection of courses to meet their individual interests and career goals. Typically, a Ph.D. student’s program of study will include 72 semester hours or more of total credit. Students must have a five-person supervisory committee, with the majority of committee members being regular full-time departmental faculty and at least member from outside the department or college.

Degree Requirements

Core Courses

ELP Core 12 credits of required coursework to be taken during the first year or two of a student’s program:

ELP 7220 - Leadership Theory 3 Credit(s)
ELP 7240 - Organizational Theory 3 Credit(s)
ELP 7480 - Leadership, Diversity & Social Justice in K-12 and Higher Education 3 Credit(s)
ELP 7440 - Educational Policy 3 Credit(s)

Content Specialization

Content Specialization of 15 credits (6 of which must be taken outside of the department or college) in one of the following areas:

Students in K12 or higher education
Educational leadership/organizations
Educational policy
Critical studies in education

Research Course Work

Research Course Work of 21 credits in two parts:

Required

(12 credit hours)

ELP 6960 - Special Topics Seminar: Graduate 1 - 9 Credit(s) - Topic: Introduction to Inquiry (Waived for 2012-2013)
ELP 7060 - Qualitative Research Methods I 3 Credit(s)
ELP 7040 - Quantitative Research Methods in Education 3 Credit(s)
ELP 7600 - Dissertation Proposal Writing Seminar 3 Credit(s)

Specialization Sequence

(9 semester hours or more, in qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods)

Research Apprenticeship

(6 credit hours)

Independent Research

14 semester hours minimum with Supervisory Committee Chair

PhD Review Points

Ph.D. students are reviewed at the following points of their program:

A. Summative Review: Conducted by the Director of Graduate Studies with the assistance of the entire faculty this review is held at the end of the first year of study.

B. Qualifying Exam: At or near the end of course-work, Ph.D. students must take a qualifying exam (which is evaluated by the student’s supervisory committee) to assess if the student is eligible for advancement to doctoral candidacy.

C. Dissertation Proposal Defense: Following advancement to candidacy, a student must successfully defend the dissertation research proposal to his/her supervisory committee to proceed with his/her independent research.

D. Dissertation Defense: At the completion of the dissertation research and writing, a student must successfully defend the dissertation study to his/her supervisory committee. The final oral defense must be passed at least one month before graduation, following the submission of a student’s dissertation to the supervisory committee.

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