Program Overview

Introduction to Professional Doctorates

The University of Missouri-St. Louis offers rigorous and practice-oriented professional doctoral degrees. These programs focus on scholarly responses to societal needs within professional contexts. Faculty advisors in professional doctorate programs may be scholar-practitioners who are approved as Professional/Special Appointment Graduate Faculty, as well as regular UMSL Graduate Faculty.

Admission to the Professional Doctorate

Each professional doctoral degree program may determine eligibility standards beyond the minimum for admission to the Graduate School. However, professional doctoral programs may admit exceptional undergraduate students before their baccalaureate is awarded.

Professional Doctorate Credit Requirements

Each professional doctoral degree program may determine the minimum hours of graduate credit required for the degree program based on professional and/or accreditation/licensing standards.

Professional Doctorate Enrollment

Full-time status is defined as nine credit hours per semester. Units may require higher enrollments than this. After students achieve candidacy and complete the residence requirement, they must remain enrolled during fall and spring semesters until the degree is completed. Failure to register in any regular semester will normally result in termination from the Graduate School.

Classification of Doctoral Students

There are two stages in a student's doctoral degree work:

• A pre-candidate is a student who has requirements to fulfill in addition to the capstone project, including course work, clinical experiences, and/or threshold examinations.
• A candidate is a student who has met all degree requirements except the completion of the capstone project and any clinical or fieldwork required as a part of the capstone project.

Professional Doctorate Time Limitation

The maximum amount of time allowed to complete a doctoral degree is eight years after enrollment in the first course. Professional doctoral students who enter with any previous graduate degree or certificate may apply appropriate credits toward the professional doctoral degree, subject to program approval.

Professional Doctorate Residency Requirement

Residency normally requires that doctoral students successfully complete a minimum of 15 hours at UMSL over three consecutive terms, which may include summer. The Dean of the Graduate School may grant exceptions upon recommendation by the program.

Exceptions to Residency Requirement

Students who enter the EdD degree program with an Education Specialist (Ed.S.) degree from an accredited university, or with an Advanced Certificate approved by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, may satisfy the residence requirement by completing one-third of the required credits at UMSL. Students who enter the DNP degree programs with an MSN degree from an accredited university may satisfy the residence requirement by completing 33 graduate credits in Nursing as part of the DNP degree.

Professional Doctorate Threshold Examinations

Each program will determine the type of comprehensive, qualifying, or other threshold examination that is appropriate for the discipline. Units also specify the number of times a student may take a threshold examination and the maximum and/or minimum period of time allowed between the first and final attempt to pass the examination.

Examination Committee

The Examination Committee will consist of no fewer than three members of the Graduate Faculty, including Professional/Special Appointment Graduate Faculty appointed by the Graduate Dean upon recommendation by the unit.

Advisors for the Professional Doctorate

Upon entering the program, each doctoral student shall have an assigned advisor who is a member of the Graduate Faculty, including Professional/Special Appointment Graduate Faculty. As early as possible in a doctoral student's program, but no later than when the student achieves candidacy, the unit shall recommend, in consultation with the student, an advisor for the capstone project.

Application for Candidacy

Doctoral students may apply for candidacy after passing all threshold requirements and successfully completing all course work.

Committee for the Capstone Project

The Committee for the Capstone Project shall consist of at least three members of the Graduate Faculty, including Professional/Special Appointment Graduate Faculty, who can contribute their expertise to the study. A recognized practitioner from outside the university may serve as one of those members upon the recommendation of the unit and approval of the Graduate Dean.

Duties of Members

All members of the Committee for the Capstone Project are involved intimately and participate actively in the activities of the doctoral student at all the stages of the student's career at UMSL, except, perhaps, the threshold examination. This committee normally also serves as the Oral Defense Committee.

Capstone Project

All professional doctoral degrees require a capstone project. The project must address a subject approved by the candidate's committee; have a significant grounding in clinical, translational, or engaged scholarship; and be the candidate's own work. Programs may permit collaborative capstone projects, but students must be able to document their original contributions to collaborative projects.

Capstone Project Proposal

Before students may begin substantial work on the capstone project, the committee must have approved a proposal after a formal defense. To schedule the defense, students must have approval from appropriate compliance committees.

Preliminary Approval of the Capstone Project

One copy of the final capstone project, certified as complete and provisionally acceptable to the committee, shall be submitted to the Graduate Dean at least six weeks prior to commencement.

Oral Defense of the Capstone Project

After deliberating on the oral defense of the project, the Committee for the Capstone Project votes on whether the defense was successful. The defense shall be deemed unsuccessful if there are two negative votes, even if outnumbered by positive votes.

Capstone Project Abstracts

Capstone Projects are normally disseminated as PhD dissertations and require two different abstracts. The abstract forming the second page of the Capstone Project report should be no more than 600 words.

Format of the Capstone Project

In matters of style and documentation, the custom of the discipline shall be followed. The final copy of the Capstone Project must be legible and appropriate for publication when submitted to the Graduate School.

Official Copies of the Capstone Project

The chair of the Committee for the Capstone Project is responsible for verifying that all the changes suggested by the committee and the Graduate Dean have either been incorporated in the final draft of the project or have been discussed further with the Graduate Dean or the committee. Students shall disseminate the Capstone Project according to current Graduate School procedures for theses and dissertations unless an exception is approved.