Request to change the Health Services Research PhD examination name from “Candidacy Exam” to “Qualifying Exam”

Date: August 5, 2010
To: College of Health and Human Services
From: Clarence Greene, Faculty Governance Program Assistant
Approved On: July 12, 2010
Implementation Date: 2010

Note: Deletions are strikethroughs. Insertions are underlined.

Catalog Copy

Advancement to Candidacy

A doctoral student advances to candidacy after the dissertation topic and approach has been approved by the student’s advisory committee and the Dean of the Graduate School. NOTE: Completing Step 3 above, the topic approval meeting, does not constitute advancement to candidacy. Advancement to candidacy requires approval of both the topic and the detailed dissertation plan at the time of the oral proposal defense, including any required plan for the protection of human subjects. If Human Subjects are involved, the Petition for Topic Approval requires the attachment of the IRB approval.

In addition to the oral examination on the dissertation proposal, the Candidacy Qualifying Examination includes an oral examination on the HSR PhD student’s doctoral portfolio. The doctoral portfolio presents all work completed by the student in the program, including:

  • A detailed cover letter.
  • Current curriculum vitae.
  • Papers completed during courses taken in the HSR PhD program.
  • Research papers published or in press since admission to the program.
  • Abstracts representing research presented at professional conferences since admission to the program.
  • A professional personal statement (typically 2 to 3 pages) covering, at a minimum, the student’s research focus area(s), and the student’s 2- to 3-year research plan.
  • Additional manuscripts under development.
  • Syllabi developed by the student since admission to the program (where relevant).
  • Student and faculty evaluations of the HSRD student’s teaching (where relevant).
  • A statement of teaching philosophy (where relevant to the student’s career plan).

Retake of the CandidacyQualifying Examination

A student who fails to complete the Oral Proposal Defense /Candidacy Qualifying Examination satisfactorily may be given the opportunity to revise components of the research proposal and/or the doctoral portfolio under the direction of the Chair and/or to repeat the Oral Proposal Defense, at the discretion of the Dissertation Committee; a second failure results in dismissal from the PhD program.