HDFSPHD - Human Development and Family Science

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Core Coursework Requirements

DEGREE REQUIREMENTS

Requirements for the Ph.D. degree include the completion of:

• A Master’s degree with an empirical master’s thesis .

• A pre-candidacy meeting during which faculty considers the student’s suitability for continuation in the Ph.D. program.

• Written and oral comprehensive examinations covering the major and minor emphasis areas of study.

• A dissertation.

Additional Graduate College requirements for the Ph.D. degree include:

• At least 36 units (not including dissertation) in the major area and 9 units in the minor area, including any eligible transfer courses approved by the major or minor department.  At least half of these credit units must be in courses for which ABC grades are given, with a minimum of 12 units of regular grades taken at The University of Arizona (note that this refers to 50% of the total units listed on the Doctoral Plan of Study). Students may take any courses they wish beyond those on the Plan of Study without regard to grading format.

• 18 units of earned dissertation credit.

• Required units must be at the 500-level or above at The University of Arizona, with the following exception: The Graduate College will allow up to 6 units of 400-level work toward the Ph.D., but only if those units were not used toward undergraduate degree requirements.

• A minimum of 30 units must be taken at the University of Arizona (the total includes the 18 required dissertation units); a minimum of 12 units of regularly graded coursework must be taken at the University of Arizona.

HDFS 696Z 001 – Professional Development for First Year Graduate Students (1 unit)

HDFS 600 - Career Planning and the PhD Job Market (3 units)

HDFS 546 – Foundations of Family and Interpersonal Theory (3 units)

HDFS 567 – Theories of Human Development (3 units)

HDFS 507a – Research Methods in Family Studies and Human Development (3 units)

Quantitative Analysis/Additional Research Methods (4 courses/12 units)

                Class offerings: EDP 541, PSYC 510, HDFS 537A, EDP 641, HDFS 537B, PSYC 507A/597A, ANTH 595D, EDP 646a, HDFS 617C, HDFS 617A, EDP 558

Topics in Core Areas of Human Development & Family Science (3 courses/9 units)

                HDFS 601 Topics in Adolescent Health and Development

                HDFS 602 Topics in Family, Interpersonal Relationships and Well-Being

                HDFS 603 Topics in Social and Psychobiological Development in Childhood

                HDFS 604 Topics in Diverse Contexts for Development and Relationships

                HDFS 605 Topics in Applied Developmental Science

                HDFS 607 Topics in Family Studies and Human Development

Research (6 units with primary professor)

                HDFS 910 – thesis research units

Minor (3-4 courses/9-12 units)

                Typical emphasis areas include COMM, PSY, ED P, SOC, and ANTHRO.  Students may also opt for an FCS Thematic Minor

HDFS 799a (6 units)

HDFS 920 (18 units)

HDFS 900 (3 units)

See required coursework above

See required coursework above

Please refer to the Graduate Student Handbook for students who are pursuing this program of study.

Ph.D. Minor

All PhD students are required to complete a Minor area of study. Students may choose one of the following two ways to meet the minor area requirements:

External Minor:

In consultation with their minor area advisor(s), students will take 9—12 graduate units of minor coursework as required/approved by the minor department/program (e.g., Sociology, Communication, Marketing, Psychology, Anthropology, Women’s Studies), all of which may be transfer units from prior graduate study. The rules governing the external minor, including the minor written comprehensive exam, are determined by the minor department/program. The minor area advisor must also participate in the student’s oral comprehensive exam.

FCS Thematic Minor:

In consultation with the minor area advisor(s), students may construct a thematic minor that includes 9- 12 graduate units. The FCS Thematic Minor is an appropriate option when the minor is a subarea of the major and will include some HDFS classes. Students who pursue an FCS Thematic Minor in Statistics (our “in-house” Statistics Minor) are permitted to apply their 5th stats/methods course taken in fulfillment of the major degree (the “one additional approved methods/statistics course”) toward fulfillment of their minor requirements as well. In addition, students who complete HDFS 601-607 courses in the context of an FCS Thematic Minor are permitted to apply those classes toward the fulfillment of the Topics in Core Areas of HDFS requirement as well.

Students entering with a Master’s degree have the option of doing an FCS thematic minor that includes one or more classes transferred from their Master’s program. In this case, the student is not required to have a minor advisor. Instead, their major advisor can serve in both capacities and is responsible for testing both major and minor areas of content during the Oral Comprehensive Exam.