Metropolitan Planning, Policy and Design

Program of Study

Planning Foundation (0-24 credits): For students with an accredited planning master's degree from Utah or elsewhere, the planning foundation core is waived. For students with a master's degree in another area from Utah or elsewhere, the graduate planning core is waived except for CMP7100 - Urban & Planning Theory. For those without a graduate degree, the Master of City & Metropolitan Planning core is required. For most students, completing the core planning courses will require the equivalent of about one full academic year of study.

Doctoral Foundation (16 credits): The doctoral foundation is composed of 4 semester-long doctoral seminars: CMP7840 Advanced Planning Theory, CMP7401 Research Design, CMP7302 Qualitative Methods, CMP7022 Quantitative Methods in Planning. Students must also take 4 semesters of CMP7501 Ph.D. Research Seminar in the first two years of the program; however, students are expected to participate in the seminar as advanced students.

Electives (12 credits): Elective courses are selected in consultation with the Supervisory Committee and should be selected to deepen knowledge in substantive areas related to the dissertation project. While a minimum number of credits are expected, this may vary depending on the level of preparation by the student as determined by the Supervisory Committee. The courses can be taken inside or outside of the department and must be numbered 6000 and above.

Qualifying Examination (6 credits): Advancing to candidacy requires completing course work and passing the qualifying exam. The qualifying (or preliminary) examination requires the student to produce a scholarly piece of work that is of publishable quality. Students are required to take at least 6 credit hours of CMP7930 to prepare for the qualifying exam. The paper is the written portion of the exam. In the oral exam, the student presents the paper and responds to questions posed by the Supervisory Committee. Students must complete the qualifying exam by the end of the 4th year to remain in good academic standing, however, most students finish this exam by the 3rd year.

Dissertation Research Proposal (3 credits): Ph.D. candidates will prepare and defend their proposal for a dissertation based on the plan and format negotiated with the Supervisory Committee. The design for the proposal may begin at any time. Students are required to take at least 3 credit hours of CMP7940-Dissertation Research Proposal while they are writing the dissertation proposal. Students must pass the proposal exam by the end of the 4th year to remain in good academic standing, however, most students finish this exam by the 3rd year. Dissertation (18 credits) After a student defends the dissertation proposal the student is considered to be “all but dissertation” (ABD). Students must be ABD to enroll in CMP7970: Dissertation. A minimum of 18 credit hours is required. Students are required to write and defend their dissertation in order to graduate from the program. Typically, a dissertation is a written work on a singular topic, but a three discrete paper dissertation is also an option. All dissertations must conform to the formatting requirements outlined by the Graduate School Handbook for Theses and Dissertations. According to the policies of the University of Utah Graduate School, students must submit the defended dissertation to the Thesis Office.

Ph.D. Supervisory Committee: Ph.D. students should have their Supervisory Committee in place by the end of the second year which is the time it takes to complete the required foundational core and elective course work. Each Supervisory Committee consists of five faculty members. The committee chair and the majority of the committee must be tenure-line faculty in the student's department. One member of the committee must be appointed from outside the student's major department. The outside member is normally from another University of Utah department. The Supervisory Committee is responsible for approving the student's academic program, preparing and judging the qualifying examinations, approving the dissertation subject and final dissertation, and administering and judging the final oral examination (dissertation defense).

Continuous Registration: According to the Graduate School policy, “all graduate students must be registered for at least one course from the time of formal admission through completion of all requirements for the degree they are seeking unless granted an official leave of absence.”