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Qualifying Examination:

The comprehensive qualifying examination is a means of:

1. Having students demonstrate their mastery of knowledge and skills relevant to the discipline of study;
2. Diagnosing knowledge deficiencies;  and/or
3. Fulfilling external requirements (i.e., mandate from College or University).

The qualifying examination is administered by the Doctoral Committee when the student has met the following minimum conditions:

1. Successful completion of all or most formal coursework, including the research tools; and,
2. Agreement between the doctoral student and the Doctoral Committee that the student is prepared for the qualifying examination process.

The content of the qualifying examination will be drawn from two broad areas:

1. The broad field of Public Health with emphasis on Environmental and Occupational Health; and
2. Understanding and knowledge in the major field of interest.

The comprehensive qualifying examination will have an oral component in addition to the written portion of the examination. The student must successfully complete the written portion of the qualifying examination prior to undertaking the oral portion of the exam.   A student who is unsuccessful in the first attempt of the written portion will be given one opportunity to retest the written portion of the examination.  A second failure of the written examination or of the oral examination will result in the student's dismissal from the doctoral program.

Admission to Candidacy: Students may not be admitted to candidacy until after a Doctoral Committee has been appointed and the Committee has certified that the student has successfully completed the qualifying examination and demonstrated the qualifications necessary to successfully complete the requirements of the degree. Following approval of Admission to Candidacy form, the Dissertation committee is formed and the student may enroll in Dissertation credits.

The Proposal, Dissertation, and Oral Defense

The Proposal: The student, in consultation with the doctoral dissertation committee, will agree upon a dissertation subject and develop a proposal, consisting of at least the following chapter:

1. Statements of the problem;
2. Review of Pertinent Literature; and
3. Methods.

The proposal shall be presented in a formal meeting including at least the Dissertation Committee.   Before the proposal is presented, committee members shall sign a form indicating that they have read the proposal and approve it for presentation. However, this is not necessarily an endorsement of the proposal as a research plan.

Dissertation: Original research, dealing with a clearly identified contemporary problem in the selected discipline resulting in a direct contribution to the science, should constitute the key element of the dissertation. The formulation of a scientifically sound hypothesis, coupled with appropriate planning and execution of well designed experiments, followed by analysis of data leading to a solution of the problem is expected.

Defense of Dissertation: Scheduling of the final oral examination (defense of dissertation) should be by mutual agreement of the student and the dissertation committee, and in conformance with the scheduling requirements of Graduate Studies. The dissertation defense will include a presentation of the results of the Dissertation Research which is open to interested faculty, students, and guests. The Chair of the examination committee shall be a distinguished scholar who is not a member of the dissertation committee, and is from outside the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health in accordance with College of Public Health Policy.   The Dissertation Defense (examination) Committee Chair acts as a representative of the Graduate school to ensure that the Defense is both thorough and fair.