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Degree Requirements

Doctoral students complete a program of study that emphasizes professional development, scientific competence, and research expertise. The Ph.D. requires a minimum of 45 hours of course work beyond the master’s and includes 12 credit hours of dissertation preparation. Up to 16 graduate course-work hours from the master’s degree may be applied toward the Ph.D. with advisory committee approval. A student may be admitted without a master’s degree with approval of the faculty in the student’s area of emphasis. However, those students entering without a master’s degree are required to take additional course work in environmental health sciences equivalent to the master’s degree. To achieve doctoral candidate status, students must pass a qualifying examination after the first year of study. Upon completion of all course and language requirements, doctoral candidates must pass an oral and/or written comprehensive examination. All doctoral candidates must prepare and defend a dissertation that represents significant research in their area of advanced study. Doctoral students must demonstrate a reading proficiency in a modern foreign language if deemed necessary by the doctoral advisory committee.