Graduation Requirements

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Graduation Requirements for Master's Programs

In order to qualify for any of the Master’s degrees, a candidate must complete all the degree requirements with a minimum grade point average of 3.0. 

All requirements for a Master’s degree must be completed within a period of six years from the date of initial enrollment in the program. Enrollment in the first course as a graduate student establishes the beginning of the six-year time allowance. Students who have been continually active in their program for longer than six years may seek a waiver of the six-year time allowance from their program director and the Director of Graduate Programs. However, if a student has been inactive in a program for one year or greater, the student must re-apply to the graduate program and be granted readmission.  The six-year time allowance then begins again with the date of enrollment at readmission. Previously completed courses older than six years may be used to satisfy current degree requirements with the approval of the master’s program director.

 

Graduation Requirements for Doctoral Program

 

In order to qualify for the doctoral degree, a candidate must complete all the degree requirements with a minimum grade point average of 3.25. 

• Procedure for Graduation

When the degree program has been approved by the Program Director, all admission requirements or other conditions have been met, all doctoral coursework has been completed with a minimum grade point average of 3.25, and the dissertation has been submitted according to procedure and cleared for graduation, the student must obtain from his or her doctoral office, complete, and submit to the appropriate Program Director and doctoral committees, an "Intention to Graduate" form.  This submission for formal approval must be received by the appropriate Program Director no later than 90 days prior to the commencement date of the semester he or she intends to graduate.

• Time Limit for Completion

All requirements for the Ph.D. degree must be completed within a period of six years from the date of initial enrollment in the program.  Matriculation in the first seminar or courses as a doctoral student establishes the beginning of the respective time period for completion.

Doctoral Residency Requirements

Ed.D. Residency Requirements

Each student will fulfill residency requirements by attending courses on a DBU campus. Courses offered on weekends during the long semesters will total 30 residency class hours each. All of the residency courses will be 3 credit-hour courses. At least 36 of the 60 degree credit hours will be required as residential. Courses will be delivered in a variety of methods. Since DBU's Ed.D. students will be primarily professionals with daytime careers, the portion of the program affords the students the flexibility to study while maintaining oblications to families and careers.

Ph.D. Residency Requirements

Each student will fulfill residency requirements by attending the Dallas campus or travel institutes at least ten days each of three summers and three two-day weekends through each of the fall and spring semesters for three years.  The summer courses will be comprised of at least thirty (30) residency class hours each, and courses offered on weekends during the long semesters will total thirty (30) residency class hours each. All of the residency courses will be three-credit-hour courses.  At least thirty-six (36) of the sixty (60) degree credit hours will be required as residential, keeping the cohort members together in the same seminars throughout their core leadership and research studies.

                   

Only in the areas of concentration will the students be free to select courses from traditional daytime, hybrid, independent study, weekend, night, or online formats.  Since DBU’s Ph.D. students will be primarily professionals with daytime careers, this portion of the program affords the students the flexibility to study while maintaining the obligations of careers and families.

Heuristic Skills: Research and Statistics

Doctoral students must possess proficiency in the use of all research skills necessary to complete the doctoral dissertation successfully.  It is desirable for students to demonstrate these proficiencies early in their program; thus, all of the research and statistics seminars will be completed by the end of year two. Following the second full program year, all students must demonstrate such proficiency by earning a grade of “B” or higher on their Research and Statistics Competency Examination prior to entering the third year.

All research and statistics seminars must be taken in sequence (i.e., Research I should be taken before Research II). The same is true of the statistics courses.  A graduate-level Statistics I course is a pre-requisite for Statistics II.  If the student has not earned a grade of “B” or higher in Statistics I at the master’s level, the student must take Statistics I as a designated elective prior to enrolling in the doctoral-level Statistics II course.

These requirements are to be viewed as minimal requirements.  Consequently, the Director, in consultation with the Dean of the Graduate School of Leadership and the Ph.D. Committee, may require additional research courses either for all of the students or as a requirement for an individual student based upon that student’s need.

                 

Comprehensive Examinations

Ed.D. Comprehensive Examinations

Ed.D. students are required to complete and pass written examinations at two points during the program. The Competency Examination will be given at the end of the student's research content in the program. If the student earns a "B" or greater grade in each research course, then the student will be exempt from taking the Competency Examination.

Upon copmletion of all academic courses, a comprehensive, written examination will be given over all academic course content of the student's program in order to gauge the student's breadth and depth of knowledge of their field. The Comprehensive Examination will include questions specific to the student's field of study. There are no exemptions from taking the Comprehensive Examination. All students are required to take the written Comprehensive Examination prior to becoming candidates for the Ed.D. and moving into the dissertation phase of the program. Both exams will be offered to qualifying students at the conclusion of each Fall, Spring, and Summer semesters.

Ph.D. Comprehensive Examinations

Ph.D. students are required to demonstrate competency at two points during the program. The first will be given at the end of the student's second year in the program and will test the student's knowledge of research and statistics. A student who earns a "B" or better in each of the required Research and Statistics courses, thereby demonstrating competency in the course content and application, shall be exempt from the Comprehensive Examination. If a student does not earn at least a "B" in any of the required Research and Statistics courses, the student must take the Research and Statistics Comprehensive Examination in order to demonstrate competency over the content of the course in question.

At the end of the third year, comprehensive written and oral examinations will be given over all reading lists and the seminar content portion of the student's program in order to gauge the student's breadth and depth of knowledge. Upon successful completion of the Comprehensive Examination, the student will be admitted into candidacy and the written prospectus and dissertation phase will commence.

A student who fails to pass either competency barrier may petition the Academic Director of the Ph.D. program to re-take the examination. Approval may be granted by the Academic Director, in consultation with the Ph.D. program faculty and the Ph.D. Committee, for the student to re-take either examination one additional time. However, it is understood that approval is not guaranteed and a time limitation may be assigned in which to re-take the examination. A student may be disenrolled from the Ph.D. program for failure to achieve satisfactory comprehensive examination scores.

Successful Completion of Ed.D. Dissertation

• Evaluation of the Dissertation

The dissertation will be submitted to members of the candidate’s Dissertation Committee and one additional reader, chosen from among the Ed.D. faculty by the Program Director in consultation with the Ed.D. faculty, and Ed.D. Council.  After evaluating the dissertation, it will be awarded a grade based on its scholarship, accuracy, grammar, form, style, adherence to APA, and interpretations.  The candidate will receive formal notification of the committees’ decisions according to the schedule determined and published each academic year by the Ed.D. office.

If the candidate’s dissertation has met or exceeded the standards for the Ed.D. program according to the committees' evaluation, the candidate will receive official notification of the decision and may therefore proceed to request a date from the Ed.D. office for the defense of the dissertation.

If the candidate’s dissertation fails to meet acceptable standards for the Ed.D. program at Dallas Baptist University, the student will receive official notification that it has been deemed unacceptable.  In this case, the candidate may petition for the opportunity to resubmit his or her dissertation a second time with revisions as indicated by the committees’ evaluation.  The candidate may not resubmit the dissertation until the following semester’s deadline and must follow all instructions as outlined by the Ed.D. office.

 

Successful Completion of Ph.D. Dissertation

•  Evaluation of the Dissertation

The dissertation will be submitted to members of the candidate’s Dissertation Committee and one additional reader, chosen from among the Ph.D. faculty by the Academic Director in consultation with the candidate's supervisor, the Ph.D. faculty, and Ph.D. Committee.  After evaluating the dissertation, it will be awarded a grade based on its scholarship, accuracy, grammar, form, style, adherence to APA, and interpretations.  The candidate will receive formal notification of the committees’ decisions according to the schedule determined and published each academic year by the Ph.D. office.

 

If the candidate’s dissertation fails to meet acceptable standards for the Ph.D. program at Dallas Baptist University, the student will receive official notification that it has been deemed unacceptable.  In this case, the candidate may petition for the opportunity to resubmit his or her dissertation a second time with revisions as indicated by the committees’ evaluation.  The candidate may not resubmit the dissertation until the following semester’s deadline and must follow all instructions as outlined by the Ph.D. office.

If the candidate’s dissertation has met or exceeded the standards for the Ph.D. program according to the committees’ evaluation, the candidate will receive official notification of the decision and may therefore proceed to request a date from the Ph.D. office for the defense of the dissertation.

 

• Defense of the Dissertation

The dissertation phase requires an oral defense of the student's dissertation findings and a public presentation of the work.  The candidate will defend the completed dissertation and respond to any questions related to his or her program of study before the Ph.D. Committee in a session open to all Ph.D. faculty, University faculty, Ph.D. students, and the invited public. The Academic Director or designated representative will attend the defense in order to assure that general doctoral standards relating to format and quality are upheld.  Upon successful completion of this defense, the candidate will receive official notification by mail that he or she has completed all requirements leading to the Doctor of Philosophy degree.

 

If, in the opinion of the evaluating team, the candidate does not successfully defend the dissertation, he or she may petition for the opportunity to re-defend the dissertation an additional time.  Approval may be granted the candidate to re-defend the dissertation by the Academic Director in consultation with the Ph.D. program faculty and the Ph.D. Committee.  However, it is understood that approval is not guaranteed and a time limitation may be assigned in which to re-defend the dissertation.  A candidate may be disenrolled from the Ph.D. program for failure to defend his or her dissertation satisfactorily.

 

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