Program Description

The proposed doctorate in CSD will require a total of 60 credit hours designed to be taken over a three-year period, as a full-time student. In most cases, full-time students will be conducting research and teaching during their time in the program. Students may transfer up to 12 hours taken in a graduate program to count as credit toward the PhD degree. All courses selected by the student must be approved by the student’s mentor for the first semester, and by the student’s Plan of Study Committee for the semesters that follow.

Students must complete the following to advance to candidacy:

• Satisfactory completion of course work
• Satisfactory completion and submission of article for publication
• Teaching portfolio
• Satisfactory annual student activity reports from all previous years
• Passing the written comprehensive examination

After admission to candidacy, the written prospectus for the dissertation must be presented and defended orally to the dissertation committee and approved prior to its initiation. A student’s dissertation must be passed in its written form and defended orally to meet the dissertation requirements.

Program Requirements:

Prerequisite Courses

Although most applicants will have backgrounds in appropriately-related fields, the possession of degrees in these fields is not required for admission. Applicants with deficiencies in academic backgrounds will be determined by the student's mentor and remedial course work prescribed. In general, such remedial course work cannot be counted toward the credit hours required for the degree.

Transfer Course Credits

For those students with appropriate graduate level coursework from a prior degree or program may be eligible for up to 12 credit hours of transfer credits to be applied within their doctoral program course of study. Any transfer credits will be planned and discussed with the student’s program mentor/advisor and must be approved in writing by the Doctoral Graduate Program Director and the Department Chair. Only those hours in which a student has achieved a grade of B or better will be considered for transfer. Any transfer credits into the CSD doctoral program from prior coursework must comply with the general Baylor University doctoral program transfer requirements as noted in the Graduate Catalog (related to graduate level, graduate transcript, completed within 5 years of matriculation, grade achievement, and course content).