Doctoral Program Information

EPET Program Milestones

Completion of the EPET doctoral program, like all rigorous and demanding Ph.D. programs, requires students to master their field of scholarship in successive steps and to contribute new scholarship and insights to what the field already knows. The program milestones described briefly below have been designed to support students in achieving that mastery. They do not provide a complete description of students’ learning trajectories, but they do represent successive major steps toward mastery and scholarly contribution. All are described in greater detail in the Program Handbook.

Formation of a Guidance Committee

(by the end of the first year)
By the end of the first year of their program (including the summer before the second year) each EPET student is expected to convene a meeting of four tenure-stream faculty whose expertise can collectively support his/her development as a scholar. The Guidance Committee meets as many times as needed before the completion of the student’s program. The Committee provides the student with guidance about coursework, teaching and research experiences, and other experiences that will allow the student to achieve his/her professional and scholarly goals.

The Preliminary Examination

(beginning of the second year)
The Preliminary Examination (often called “the Prelim”) assesses students’ ability to read and interpret published research, critically and analytically. In its current form, the Prelim involves one full-day of work reading a published research article and writing a critical evaluation of that article, with attention to its conceptualization, methods, results, and interpretation.

The Research Practicum/Apprenticeship

(begun in the second year)
It is important for EPET students’ development as scholars that they plan, carry out, and write up an independent research study before they begin their dissertations. The Research Practicum (also called the Research Apprenticeship in the Department) has been designed to achieve that goal. Completion of the Practicum is required before students can take their Comprehensive Examination.

The Comprehensive Examination

(in the third or fourth year)
In the Comprehensive Examination EPET students are asked to demonstrate sufficient mastery of their field to show that they are ready to begin their dissertation research. The Examination assesses both the breadth and depth of students’ knowledge. It is currently a two-day take-home assessment addressing three questions, but the Program is currently designing an alternative to this format. Satisfactory completion of the Comprehensive Examination is required before students can undertake their dissertation work.