Dec 28, 2024  
2017-2018 Graduate Catalog 
    
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2017-2018 Graduate Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Education, Ph.D.

www.smu.edu/EducationPhD

The Simmons School offers a research-intensive Ph.D. in education that prepares graduates to work in academic areas; to perform research; and to make significant contributions to research, policy and practice in their fields of interest. The program offers the following:

  • Apprenticeships with top scholars across fields of study in education and human development.
  • Career mentoring in the professional work of publishing, teaching, presenting and grant writing.
  • Courses of study emphasizing strong training in research methodology, with options to tailor courses and experiences to align with individual research interests.
  • Opportunities for professional enhancement and experiences collaborating across disciplines and on community-, school- and agency-based projects (Center on Research in Education, Budd Center: Involving Communities in Education, Research in Mathematics Education, Bush Institute and Institute for Evidence-Based Education).

Contact Information

Doctor of Philosophy in Education
PO Box 750455
Dallas TX 75725-0455
214-768-1715
www.smu.edu/EducationPhD

Curriculum

Doctoral students must complete a minimum of 60 credit hours during a three-year full-time program prior to the dissertation year. The program is a model in which students complete a core set of courses as a cohort and a unique set of electives and research experiences. The core curriculum includes the following courses:

Admission

Applications submitted by January 1 receive priority review; applications received after January 15 are reviewed on a rolling basis until admission decisions are complete. The Ph.D. program is designed to augment an existing master’s degree or equivalent preparation.

Applications should include the following:

  1. Official undergraduate and graduate transcripts.
  2. GRE graduate school entry exam scores taken within the last five years, with institution code 7464 (and TOEFL English language proficiency test scores if the student’s native language is not English).
  3. A statement of professional purpose.
  4. An academic writing sample.
  5. Three letters of recommendation.
  6. CV or resume.
     

Degree Requirements

Students must enroll in a minimum of nine credit hours of coursework per term and be full-time residents in the Dallas area for the first three academic years of the program. In addition to completing coursework, students apprentice on research projects for 20 hours each week during the academic calendar year, for which they typically receive fellowship pay, benefits and waived tuition. Degree requirements include the following milestones:

  • A total of 60 credit hours of coursework (up to six credit hours can be transferred).
  • Qualifying exams (literature synthesis, research design, & statistics).
  • Major area paper.
  • Conference presentation.
  • Manuscript submission.
  • Dissertation with an oral defense.
  • Teaching competency.