Requirements for the Doctoral Degree (PhD)
Once students are admitted to the CP program, they will engage in studies that will involve general doctoral courses, specific CP coursework, and specialized coursework called a cognate, a subspeciality within CP. Students are expected to be engaged in courses for four years. During the four years, a major milestone that occurs is becoming a doctoral candidate—an indication of meeting the competencies to complete the doctoral degree. The fifth year is designed for the doctoral candidates to complete a year-long predoctoral internship of clinical work. A dissertation is expected to be completed before or during the fifth year in order for the student to graduate at the end of the fifth year.
General Curriculum Requirements
The curriculum and course requirement for the Counseling Psychology Specialization in the Educational Studies PhD program are consistent with provisions of the Graduate School and program handbooks. The number of credits hours is consistent with Graduate School Policies for professional doctorates. The Counseling Psychology specialization is consistent with the requirements for the Educational Studies PhD degree and includes a broad outline of study in core requirements (common core (6 credit hours); research core (14 credit hours) and specialization requirements that include a counseling psychology core (37 credit hours), clinical requirements (13 credit hours), supporting cognates (15 credit hours), electives (6 credit hours), and final document research (6 hours).
The Graduate School Handbook states that a minimum of 80 graduate hours beyond the baccalaureate degree is required to earn the PhD degree. A minimum of 50 graduate credit hours beyond the Master’s degree is required for the PhD degree.
Counseling Psychology (CP) Specialization Course Requirements
The courses are broken down by research core and specialization requirements, which include a counseling psychology core, clinical requirements, supporting cognates, and electives. Within the research core, as an independent study, any student who has not completed a thesis in counseling psychology or a closely related area will be required to complete the equivalent of a pre-dissertation research exercise. This component is one criterion to obtain a master’s degree and be eligible for doctoral candidacy. This exercise will involve conducting an empirical based study and writing a standard-length manuscript that is either publishable in a psychology journal or presented at a regional or national psychology conference. Details of the process will be provided in the program’s manual.
Within the clinical requirements, students will complete year-long supervised field-based experiences (i.e., doctoral and advanced doctoral practica). The counseling psychology program will also integrate the profession-wide competencies (PWC) and discipline-specific knowledge (DSK) from the Standards of Accreditation of the American Psychological Association (APA). The PWCs will involve the following: research; ethical and legal standards; individual and cultural diversity; professional values, attitudes, and behaviors; communication and interpersonal skills; assessment; intervention; supervision; and consultation and interprofessional/ interdisciplinary skills. The DSKs will involve these areas: the history and systems of psychology; basic knowledge in scientific psychology (affective, biological, cognitive, developmental, and social aspects of behavior); advanced integrative knowledge in scientific psychology; and research methods, statistical analysis, and psychometrics.
A minimum of 61 graduate hours beyond the Master’s degree is required for the PhD degree. It is likely that students will take more than 61 credits during their time in the program.
A list of courses and course requirements will be provided before Fall of 2024.
Curriculum and Course Overview
We are currently in the process of having our course syllabi formatted per the College’s guidelines. Until this process is completed, we cannot formally list the courses, their titles, etc. However, the CP courses are set up to adhere to the guidelines for APA accreditation in order to meet the accreditation standards. Here is a summary of the curriculum guidelines we will be following. This list is not exhaustive.
- Research Core: At least 5 courses in research, including research methods, 4 statistics courses, and 1 test & measurement course.
- Specialization Core (Counseling Psychology): Theories of CP, MC Psychology, Vocational Psychology, Supervision, Consultations, Personality Assessment, Adult Intelligence, Prevention & Health Science, Ethical/Legal Issues
- Clinical Requirements: Psychopathology, 5 practica, predoctoral internship
- Supporting Cognates: Human Development, History & Systems, Social Basis of Behavior, Biological Basis of Behavior, Affective Basis of Behavior, Cognition & Learning
- Electives: Examples include Program Evaluation in Public Health, Addictions, Latino Psychology, Immigrant Psychology, Sexual Orientation & Diversity, Medical Family Therapy
- Dissertation Requirement