Program Overview

Program Overview

The Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Agricultural and Extension Education offers an emphasis in health promotion. This program is designed to equip students for careers as public health educators, health promotion specialists, and health scientists.

Program Requirements

To complete the Ph.D. program, students must fulfill the following requirements:

• Completion of 90 semester hours of graduate credit on an approved program of study above the bachelor's degree
• 30-36 hours of graduate credit in Agricultural and Extension Education
• 16 graduate credits in statistics, research, and evaluation
• 12-18 graduate credits in a minor or supporting area
• 0-12 graduate elective credits
• 20 credit hours of dissertation research/dissertation

Health Promotion Area of Emphasis

The Health Promotion Area of Emphasis requires the following six courses:

• FNH 8513 - Theory and Practice of Health Education
• FNH 8523 - Health Promotion Techniques
• FNH 8553 - Behavioral Epidemiology
• FNH 8613 - Design and Administration of Health Promotion Programs
• FNH 8653 - Implementation and Evaluation of Health Promotion Programs
• FNH 8543 - Health Education for Diverse Populations Students must also select three courses from the following list:
• FNH 6393 - Prevention and Control of Disease
• FNH 6783 - School and Community Drug Use Prevention
• FNH 8193 - Problems in Health Education
• FNH 8563 - Principles of Epidemiology and Health Science Research
• FNH 8333 - Food Safety and Security in Public Health

Examinations and Dissertation

Students must pass a written and an oral comprehensive examination in both the major and minor/supporting area. To be eligible for the preliminary/comprehensive examination, a graduate student must have a 3.00 GPA on all graduate courses taken after admission to the degree program. Students must also pass the final dissertation examination, which is supervised by the student's graduate committee.

Certification

Students in the Health Promotion Area of Emphasis may sit for the Certified Health Education Specialist exam offered by the National Commission on Health Education Credentialing after successfully completing at least 25 hours in the Health Promotion area.