Degree Requirements

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

In addition to satisfying the requirements outlined in the University's Graduate Catalog, the student must accumulate a minimum of 48 hours of graduate credit as part of the doctoral degree program in planning. These 48 hours must be distributed as follows, subject to the approval of the Graduate Studies Committee:

  • Required courses: 9 hours 
    • CRP 391D - Planning Theory
    • CRP 391D - Research Design
    • CRP 391 D - Colloquium on Planning Issues
  • Advanced quantitative and qualitative methods: 6 hours
  • Courses in a selected planning specialization: 12+ hours.
    Courses outside the field of planning: 12 hours
  • Dissertation: 9 hours

 

SPECIALIZATION

Students select a specialization within planning in order to define their interest in this interdisciplinary field. The field of specialization must be one of the following:

  1. Economic and Community Development
  2. Environmental and Natural Resource Planning
  3. Historic Preservation
  4. Housing
  5. International Studies in Planning
  6. Land Use and Land Development
  7. Public Health and Planning
  8. Transportation
  9. Urban Design
  10. Special Field (a field defined by the student and their advisor and approved by the CRP Ph.D. Studies Committee)

 

PREPARATORY EXAMINATIONS

After completion of coursework, the student will form a four-member dissertation advisory committee and then take a set of comprehensive examinations. Upon successful completion of the Ph.D. comprehensive exams, the student then submits his/her program of work for approval by the CRP Graduate Studies Committee. The title and a complete proposal for the dissertation will also be submitted to the CRP Graduate Studies Committee. The student must successfully defend the dissertation proposal in an oral examination.

 

DISSERTATION RESEARCH

Upon completion of the program of coursework, successful completion of the Ph.D. comprehensive exam, and successful defense of the dissertation proposal, CRP Graduate Studies Committee then certifies that all departmental requirements have been met and recommends that the student be advanced to candidacy. After being advanced to candidacy, the student works toward the completion, final oral defense, and revision of the dissertation leading to graduation.