Ph.D. in CRP Curriculum and Requirements
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) students design their course of study in conjunction with an advisory committee. The committee chair is selected from the CRP faculty and represents the student's major subject concentration.
Minor concentration committee members come from CRP or other departments across the university. Recent graduates have worked with faculty from anthropology, transportation engineering, global development, government, design and environmental analysis, industrial and labor relations, regional science, and economics. Students ask a faculty member to sit on their committee as a minor member after taking classes from potential committee members and after deciding on a dissertation topic.
The first milestone of the Ph.D. in City and Regional Planning is the A-examination, wherein the student advances to Ph.D. candidacy by demonstrating proficiency in the subject areas represented by his/her committee members. Students should complete the A-examination in the second year of residence. The format of the A-examination varies depending on the student and the committee; it always includes an oral component and it typically includes responses to written questions as well as a research proposal.
Following the A-examination, Ph.D. students conduct research and write a dissertation draft. The dissertation defense occurs in the B-examination, after which the student revises the dissertation to the committee's satisfaction.
CRP offers seminars taught by senior faculty with considerable experience in research and publication to help Ph.D. students develop a dissertation topic and complete the degree. Seminar topics include advanced planning theory, urban and regional theory, and research design. The seminars provide students with a thorough knowledge of the field and help identify critical questions. Students are also encouraged to pursue course work and specialization in allied fields (such as applied economics, global development, government, and anthropology).
Three-Paper Option
Many fields in the social sciences (psychology, economics, and planning, for example) provide Ph.D. students with a three-paper option in lieu of a dissertation. Fields in which this option is offered usually place greater emphasis on refereed journal articles than monographs in promotion and tenure decisions.
Standards for the three-paper option in CRP include the following:
- The three papers should be thematically linked and reflect a trajectory of work with depth of inquiry in a common area.
- Each paper must contribute significantly to new knowledge and be deemed publishable in a reputable refereed journal.
- The material covered in the papers should not significantly overlap.
Schedule for Successful Progress
Year 1: Take course work, finalize committee, identify topic
Year 2: Write Proposal, Hold "A" Exam, Begin research, Plan for field work (and additional field work funding) if field work is needed for the project.
Year 3: Research and field work. Begin writing Dissertation
Year 4: Write Dissertation and look for jobs
