Mar 28, 2024  
2017-2018 Undergraduate and Graduate Academic Catalog 
    
2017-2018 Undergraduate and Graduate Academic Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Applied Language and Speech Sciences, Ph.D.


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CIP Code: 8969 (510299-01)

This doctoral program studies communication processes, language use and acquisition, communication disorders, and related areas. Students are expected to concentrate their work in one or more areas of active faculty research. The program is designed to produce research professors for colleges and universities and/or researchers for schools, clinics, and hospitals.

Admissions


For regular admission an overall 3.0 grade-point average in prior undergraduate and graduate studies, a satisfactory score on the Graduate Record Examination, three supporting letters of recommendation, and an acceptable 1-2 page personal statement of goals and research interests are required. Applicants will normally hold the Speech Pathology and Audiology, M.S.  and the Certificate of Clinical Competence in SLP, but individuals with master’s degrees in related areas are welcomed. Exceptional students may enter the doctoral program directly from the baccalaureate. A master’s degree is not required for completion of the doctorate.

Requirements


Prerequisites


An introductory course in parametric statistics, and introductory course in linguistics, and a graduate course (500-level or above) in research of communication disorders are required. Any missing prerequisites must be made up within the first year of full-time study or its equivalent.

Preliminary Examination


The student must pass a preliminary written examination or have completed the Capstone Seminar required by the Department for its Master’s students.

Identifying a Mentor


On or before entry to the program, the student shall identify a member of the Graduate Faculty willing and able to serve as his/her Mentor (i.e., primary advisor), or the Graduate Coordinator will identify someone willing and able to serve in that role. To serve as a Mentor to any doctoral student the faculty member must have an active publication and research agenda in the student’s declared area(s) of interest. No student will be admitted unless there is a qualified member of the Graduate Faculty willing to serve as that individual’s Mentor. A student may change Mentors during the course of study, provided that another willing and able Mentor is named in writing to the Graduate Coordinator of the Ph.D. Program.

General Requirements


All students must complete 72 post-baccalaureate semester hours of which at least 48 hours must be in approved non-dissertation (and non-prerequisite) course work and of which a maximum of 15 approved hours can be counted from any master’s degree program already completed. The student must complete all requirements within seven calendar years beginning with the first semester of enrollment as a Ph.D. student.

Common Core


The student shall complete a 9-hour theoretical core and a 9-hour research core. Participation in the Research Colloquium is also required throughout residency at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Doctoral students must make at least one presentation related to their own research at some meeting of the Research Colloquium during their tenure in the program. Additionally, every successful student must prepare and submit no fewer than two manuscripts for publication in refereed outlets.

Research Requirement


Students are required to obtain the qualitative and/or quantitative research skills necessary to their individual research agenda. It is up to the student in consultation with his/her Mentor and/or Dissertation Director to see to it that this requirement is reasonably met.

Advisory Committee and the Program of Study


The student’s Program of Study must be planned in consultation with an Advisory Committee selected by the student in consultation with his or her designated Mentor. It shall consist of not fewer than three members of the Graduate Faculty (at least two of whom are members of the Department) willing to serve. The student’s designated Mentor shall head that student’s Advisory Committee.

Comprehensive Examination


Each student must pass a Comprehensive Examination set by the Advisory Committee.

Dissertation Director and Committee


After successful completion of the Comprehensive Examination, the student shall select a Dissertation Director (usually the student’s Mentor) willing to serve on behalf of the student and the Department. In consultation with said Dissertation Director, a Dissertation Committee must be constituted of at least three other members of the Graduate Faculty, a majority of whom must be members of the CODI department, plus at least one qualified reader from another university. The Dissertation Committee must be headed by a member of the Graduate Faculty of the Department or an approved other member of the Graduate Faculty.

Dissertation Proposal


The student must present and defend a dissertation proposal acceptable to the Dissertation Committee. After acceptance of a dissertation proposal, the student must remain continuously enrolled for dissertation credit (excluding summers) until the dissertation is accepted.

Dissertation Defense


After the dissertation is completed to the satisfaction of the Dissertation Director, it is to be presented in its completed form to the other members of the Dissertation Committee (including the external reviewer) and the Graduate Coordinator of the Ph.D. program. At the discretion of the Dissertation Director, a formal, public Dissertation Defense will be publicly announced to all committee members, the Graduate School, and all participants in Research Colloquium, not less than two weeks prior to its occurrence.

Final Submission


After the student has completed the public oral defense of the dissertation (as judged in camera by the Dissertation Committee, with the external reviewer normally voting in absentia, and possibly attended by an outside observer  appointed by the Dean of the Graduate School), the student must file such copies as the Department and/or Graduate School may require (including electronic versions) and must submit the Abstract of the work in an acceptable form for publication in Dissertation Abstracts.

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