Program Requirements

This degree program requires a minimum of 80 credit hours beyond the bachelor’s degree. Most students work half-time as research or teaching assistants and spend at least two years on campus. Assistantship experience is a significant part of the doctoral program. In addition to teaching assistantships, other opportunities may be available on faculty research grants and projects. Students are expected to satisfy the following program requirements.

Procedures

1. Upon admission a student will, within the first year of enrollment, work with a two-member advisory committee to design a Plan of Study for completing the Ph.D. At this time, any course requirements already satisfied through prior master’s level work will be determined by the advisory committee. After a tentative Plan of Study has been designed, one of the advisory committee members will be assigned to serve as the student’s advisor for program matters leading up to the formulation of a dissertation proposal. The Plan of Study may be reviewed and adjusted as necessary throughout the program.
2. A student will schedule comprehensive examinations in consultation with the program advisor. The examinations in curriculum and in psychology will each be three-hour written examinations. The examination in research and design will be a take-home examination written over a period of one week followed within two weeks of submission by a one-hour oral defense conducted with at least two graduate faculty in mathematics education. If a student fails a comprehensive examination, the student must retake the examination within a year of the first attempt. A student who fails a comprehensive examination twice will be dismissed from the program at the end of the semester when the exam was taken.
3. By the time a student has passed comprehensive examinations in curriculum and instruction and in psychological foundations, the student will take reading courses from a potential dissertation advisor with the goal of developing a proposal for dissertation research. Depending upon the nature of the proposed research, the student may be required to conduct a pilot study.
4. As soon as a student has passed all three comprehensive exams and shown competency in the three research tools, the student will, in consultation with a chosen dissertation advisor, form a dissertation committee. The chosen dissertation advisor will become the student’s program advisor. The dissertation committee shall consist of the dissertation advisor, a second reader, at least one other faculty member, and a member from outside the department. At a time mutually convenient to the student and the dissertation committee, the student will give an open public presentation of the proposed dissertation research and answer questions on the proposal. A student will be allowed to take MATH 7300 credits only after a dissertation committee has been formed and the dissertation proposal is accepted by all its members.
5. After completing a dissertation and all other requirements for the Ph.D., a student will present an open public defense of the dissertation followed by an open question period. The dissertation committee will then meet in private to decide acceptance or rejection of the dissertation and defense. All committee members must agree on acceptance.