College of Education at Florida International University, Miami

Appoint your major professor: The major professor is the principal faculty member in developing your program of study (POS). The major professor approves and chairs the POS Committee, directs the development and evaluation of the comprehensive qualifying examination, and processes all official university documentation regarding the progression of doctoral participant. The selection of the major professor is a most important choice to be made in the course of your doctoral study.

Appoint the Program of Study Committee: The POS consists of three to five faculty members who have special interests and expertise complementary to your areas of interests and research inclinations. The major professor is one of the members of the committee and serves as its chair. At least one member must be outside of the major area of study (AE/HRD). A majority of the committee's members must be from within the College of Education. You must have discussions with, and gain approval of, your major professor prior to inviting faculty members to serve on your POS Committee.

Meeting(s) of the Program of Study Committee: You will schedule, in consultation with your major professor, an initial meeting of the POS Committee to assess and approve your academic program, i.e., your POS, in light of your career goals, and emergent research interests and their implications.

Complete Residency Requirement: The residency requirement is met when at least 18 semester hours are completed within 12 consecutive months following admission to the doctoral program. The most popular arrangement among part-time doctoral students is six semester hours during each of three terms (e.g., fall, spring, summer). An important consideration in planning your program of study is to determine when the residency requirement will be initiated and fulfilled. Proper planning in your personal and professional life to accommodate this "intensity of study" feature of the doctoral program is essential.

Complete Designated Coursework: A minimum of 36 hours of coursework beyond the masters degree, or 72 hours beyond the bachelors degree must be completed in the doctoral program of study. An additional minimum of 24 hours of dissertation credits are required. The precise courses required generally will comply with the sample program of study presented earlier in this Guide. Alterations to the POS must be approved by the major professor.

Comprehensive Qualifying Examination: Upon conclusion of coursework, you will take the written and oral parts of the comprehensive qualifying examination. This exam includes, but is not limited to, the course content comprising the program of study. As a doctoral participant, you are expected to read and explore bodies of knowledge beyond the textbooks and other curricular materials associated with the specific courses on your POS. The exam generally tests your ability to describe, apply, and evaluate concepts, principles, theories, and research of concern to Adult Education and Human Resource Development (AE/HRD) professionals, and the development and operation of the field. The POS Committee constructs the exam and evaluates the results. The written part is taken first, followed by the oral part. The POS Committee is dissolved at the completion of the comprehensive examination.

Admission to Candidacy: Admission to Candidacy is a major milestone in your doctoral progression. Admission to Candidacy is acknowledged when the following conditions prevail:

The POS courses have been successfully completed, or substantially completed,
The residency requirement has been fulfilled,
All grade and GPA requirements have been met, and
Both parts of the comprehensive examination have been passed.

Selection of the Dissertation Committee: The purpose of the Dissertation Committee is to guide your dissertation research in both the topic of the study and your research methods. The membership of the Dissertation Committee should reflect this purpose, so the four to five members may not be the same professors that served on your POS Committee. The dissolution of the POS Committee at the completion of the comprehensive examination enables you to select the most appropriate people to guide your dissertation study. Your Dissertation Committee may or may not include members of your former POS Committee. Your Dissertation Committee must be chaired or co-chaired by a primary AE/HRD faculty member.

Approval of Dissertation Proposal: The dissertation proposal formally sets forth the area of research for the dissertation. Depending on the chair of your dissertation committee, a well developed proposal includes at least three major chapters, or sections, of the eventual dissertation. Hence, the development of a proposal is a very time‑intensive and library-intensive task. It requires considerable selfdiscipline and self‑initiation on behalf of the doctoral candidate. The failure to achieve an approved proposal is among the most prevalent reasons for failure to complete a doctoral program. The proposal, developed in a College of Education-approved form and style, generally includes the following:

An introduction to the study, that includes the background of the problem, statement of the problem, purpose and/or objectives of the study, research questions or hypotheses, significance of or rationale for the study, and organization of the remainder of the eventual dissertation;
A review of related literature, that includes a review and critique of related research, and the study's conceptual framework;
The methods of data collection and analysis, including a review of methodological literature, descriptions of the population and sample, the data collection instruments and strategies, and the data analysis plans (including quantitative and/or qualitative treatments); and
A comprehensive bibliography.

The major professor provides guidelines for the formulation of the proposal; reviews and approves dissertation research topics and plans; critiques drafts; and coordinates the doctoral candidate's Dissertation Committee's formal involvement in the development and approval of the proposal. The development of a proposal is a process that may occur over the entire time of one's participation in doctoral coursework. Several drafts, of varying degrees of detail, usually precede the submission of a sound, comprehensive, and acceptable dissertation proposal. Generally, the proposal is submitted after comprehensive examinations have been successfully completed. After development and submission of the proposal, the Dissertation Committee evaluates the document. Upon approval, the plan set forth in the proposal is implemented.

Complete Dissertation: Completion of the dissertation and its subsequent defense must occur within nine years of first enrollment in the doctoral program. At least 24 semester hours of dissertation credit must be taken prior to the dissertation defense.

Dissertation Defense: Defense of the dissertation must be successfully conducted before the Dissertation Committee. The University community is formally notified of, and is invited to, the dissertation defense.

Graduation: Graduation occurs when all of the above steps in the doctoral progression have been successfully completed and when all other formally specified obligations established by the University, the College of Education, and your Dissertation Committee have been fulfilled.