Ph.D. in Planning, Governance, & Globalization

Admissions

Applicants will have master's degrees in closely allied fields, such as Planning, Landscape Architecture, Political Science, Sociology, International Relations, Geography, Economics, etc. Exceptionally qualified undergraduates will be invited to enter one of the graduate master's degree programs (including the Master of Urban and Regional Planning, Master of Public and International Affairs, Master of Public Administration, or Master of Landscape Architecture) with an eye to proceeding directly to the Ph.D.

The graduate committee will carefully screen all applications, and all admissions decisions will be made by consensus of the entire graduate faculty. At least one faculty member from this program or an allied constituent unit must agree to supervise any applicant whose record meets admissions requirements before they will receive a formal offer of admission.

Degree Requirements:

Each doctoral student must complete a minimum of 90 semester hours of graduate study and a dissertation. All students are required to fulfill the requirements for their track or specialization. The curriculum of this doctoral program will follow the flexible research-based program of the existing EDP degree by requiring a small core of courses and by offering two major tracks, as well as thematic areas under each track.

Within their first 24 credit hours in the program all students will be expected to have:

  1. Developed a plan of study
  2. Selected a faculty advisory committee
  3. Successfully completed the core course requirements
  4. Been screened in a "qualifying evaluation" by their faculty advisory committee (the qualifying evaluation ensures that the student is making satisfactory progress toward the degree)

Following successful completion of the "qualifying evaluation" the student continues to take coursework as outlined in the plan of study. At the completion of coursework, the student will undertake the "preliminary examination," a formal assessment of the student's preparedness to pursue advanced graduate research. 

Within 60 days of passage of the preliminary examination, students must defend the dissertation proposal before their faculty advisory committee. Graduate School policies and guidelines determine all other degree requirements.

Core Requirements

All students in the Planning, Governance & Globalization Ph.D. program have a common set of requirements that are elaborated on under individual tracks below. These common requirements are the same as the existing curriculum from which the spin-off degrees originate.

They include:

  • Minimum 90 credit hours
  • Core coursework and research (minimum 42 credits)
    • Theory (3 credits): EDP 6104 Planning Theory Seminar (or equivalent)
    • Methods (6 credits): UAP 5484 Advance Research Methodology, UAP 5494 Advanced Quantitative Techniques (or equivalent)
    • Pedagogy (3 credits): EDP 6006 Seminar in Pedagogy and Learning*
    • Research (30 credits): EDP 7994 Research and Dissertation
  • Additional coursework depending on track, thematic, and dissertation area (see 1.3)
*EDP 6006 Seminar in Pedagogy and Learning (examines the social and cultural foundations of the university in our society). It also offers students an opportunity to explore the changing role of faculty in the nation's academic institutions including an introduction to central questions of pedagogy and practice. (This course is included in the Graduate School's Future Professoriate Certificate program.)

Remaining requirements relating to the student's concentration, plan of study, and dissertation are developed by the student with the faculty advisory committee.

Programs