For a comprehensive view of the Ph.D. requirements, please reference the Graduate Announcements for the School of Philosophy.
Coursework:
A minimum of eighteen courses (fifty-four hours of coursework) is required for the Ph.D. This includes work completed for the M.A. degree (but excludes credits awarded for the completion of an M.A. thesis).
Ph.D. candidacy follows upon:
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Completion of all coursework for the doctorate.
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Passing both parts of the two-part Graduate Reading Program Examination.
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Completion of all Foreign Language Requirements.
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A vote of the Regular Faculty.
Ph.D. Dissertation:
1. Within two years of attaining Ph.D. candidacy, the student must have a doctoral dissertation proposal approved by the student's dissertation committee, which is composed of a director and two readers.
2. The proposal is then submitted to the Dean for approval by the faculty of the School of Philosophy and the university.
3. The candidate must present a dissertation that gives evidence of power of research, of ability to do independent scholarly work, of mastery of the candidate's part of the chosen field, and is of sufficient merit to warrant publication.
4. When the dissertation is completed and tentatively approved by all members of the committee, a public oral examination will be conducted by an oral examination board. The board will consist of a chair and a secretary, who will be appointed from university faculty outside the School of Philosophy, plus the director and the two readers of the dissertation.
5. The completed doctoral dissertation must be defended no later than five years after admission to Ph.D. candidacy.
6. The defense of the doctoral dissertation cannot take place until all other requirements for the doctorate have been fulfilled.
7. Final approval of the dissertation is realized after the defense, when all conditions on the part of the defense board have been met and any objections satisfied.
After all of the above requirements have been fulfilled, all outstanding non-academic obligations to the university have been met, and the candidate has deposited the approved dissertation with the office of the Dean of Graduate Studies, the faculty of the School of Philosophy and the Academic Senate of the university must vote to approve conferral of the Ph.D. degree.