Program Requirements

Core courses in Years 1 and 2, along with residencies, an internship, and doctoral seminars, lay the foundation for the dissertation. Professional skill development, a community of nurse scholars, and key benchmarks or gateways ensure steady progress through the program.

1. Core Courses (15 semester hours)
   1. NURS 710: Advanced Nursing Philosophy
   2. NURS 720: Research Methodology
   3. NURS 730: Research Design
   4. NURS 750: Advanced Public Policy & Knowledge Translation in Nursing
   5. NURS 760: Advanced Educational Leadership in Nursing
2. Internship (3 semester hours) in nursing education, research, or policy to build professional competencies.
3. Doctoral seminars (6 semester hours) throughout the four years to develop professional and academic skills required in the nursing professoriate.
4. Comprehensive Exam to demonstrate knowledge of the nursing discipline, research methodology and learner’s substantive area, written after all coursework is completed. The comprehensive exam involves writing two papers over a two-week period.
5. Candidacy Exam is an oral exam of student knowledge in the nursing discipline, research methodology which is normally completed within one year of completing the comprehensive exam. It involves defense of the doctoral proposal.

Dissertation involves the student designing and conducting independent research, with the supervision of a committee with relevant substantive and methodological expertise.