Click on any of the following Key Program Components to understand more about key components of the Ph.D. program:

• Faculty Advisor
• Program Plan
• Research Tools
• Residence
• Written Qualifying Examinations
• Oral Qualifying Examinations
• Dissertation Committee
• Advancement to Candidacy
• Institutional Review Board
• Dissertation and Final Oral Dissertation Defense

When students are admitted, they are assigned a faculty advisor based on interests expressed in their application. The advisor assists the student in selecting seminars and in planning their program of study. As student interests change and develop during course work, the student may identify a different faculty member as the advisor with whom they wish to work. Upon the willingness of the new faculty member to serve as the advisor, an advisor change may be made. The faculty advisor who guides the student in developing a program of study serves as chair of the Supervisory Committee and may also serve as the dissertation chair, or a different faculty member may be selected by the student, based on the agreement of the faculty member. 

After completion of approximately 12 to 16 units of course work (3-4 courses), students develop a program plan in consultation with their advisor. The program plan includes a list of course work taken, course work proposed to be taken, four qualifying examination areas including the selected examining faculty, transfer of credit from prior graduate study, and selected research tools. The program plan is submitted to the program supervisory committee for signature and filing in the Education office. Students may change elements in their doctoral program with the consent of their advisor. Faculty members of the committee may be changed with the approval of the dean. 

Proficiency in two research tools is required. Their purpose is to assure proficiency in research methods most likely to be used in the dissertation and in the graduate's career. Both research tools are to be completed prior to the qualifying oral examination. Research tools may be completed through course work that are units taken as part of the program of study. 

Students must complete 24 units within 24 months or six terms of study to meet the residency requirement. 

Written material is required, which, in the judgment of the faculty, demonstrates proficiency in the four areas selected. Such material can take a variety of forms: examinations, published articles, essays, research studies, copies of public lectures planned in cooperation with members of the committee, films, etc. The written qualifying examinations may be submitted over the course of study, once the program plan has been approved. The written qualifying material and any other evaluation evidence approved by faculty is filed in the education office. 

The student meets to discuss the four written qualifying examination with the examining faculty after:

• Satisfaction of the residence requirement
• All written qualifying examinations have been passed
• All course work is completed or the last course is in progress
• Completion of two research tools
  

 

Formal advancement to candidacy for the Ph.D. is obtained after approval of the dissertation proposal by the dissertation committee. 

The committee supervises the dissertation and is frequently identical to the program supervisory committee. The same principles apply to the composition and selection of the program supervisory committee and the dissertation committee, with the exception of the outside examiner. Outside examiners are not utilized at the qualifying examination. The dissertation committee consists of the dissertation chair and at least two other faculty members. All members must belong to the graduate faculty at CGU. The fourth and final member of the committee may be a faculty member from another institution, or a qualified practitioner in the field of the dissertation. 

Students work closely with the dissertation committee chair during dissertation proposal development to ensure that they follow correct procedures for review of research methodology by the CGU Institutional Review Board. In the interests of protecting the rights and welfare of individuals recruited for, or participating in, research conducted by faculty or students under the auspices of CGU, the University maintains the IRB. CGU policy requires that research with human subjects, regardless of funding support, be reviewed by the IRB for the protection of human subjects in compliance with Federal guidelines. 

When the members of the dissertation committee have approved the dissertation for oral defense, a 775-word abstract is prepared; the final oral defense is then scheduled. Upon successful completion of the final oral examination and dissertation committee approval of the final draft, the dissertation and one copy is submitted to the Registrar.