Required of all students. After completing all course requirements, students must enroll in 12 semester credit hours of PHIL 6950 . Students may enroll in PHIL 6950  while preparing for the comprehensive exam. Doctoral students must maintain continuous enrollment in this course to remain matriculated

Upon completion of course work and comprehensive exams, students are required to submit a dissertation proposal to the dissertation director and committee members. The student defends the proposal to the director and committee; the proposal must be signed and approved before the student can begin the dissertation.

The dissertation should be a work of original scholarship. The dissertation defense takes place before the director and the committee and is open to the public. 

Limitation to taking independent study courses

Graduate students in the Department of Philosophy and Religion may take no more than two independent studies throughout their graduate career unless approved by the Director of Graduate Studies.

Comprehensive examinations

Satisfying the Toulouse Graduate School Requirement for Qualifying Examination and Admission to Candidacy.

The purpose of the comprehensive exam is for the PhD student in philosophy to develop a broad background in the major figures and themes in the history of philosophy.

Consistent with the Toulouse Graduate School Requirement for Qualifying Examination and Admission to Candidacy, this comprehensive exam will require the student to demonstrate competency in the basic areas of philosophy.

Students are eligible for the comprehensive exam following the completion of course work. Exams will be administered by the end of the spring semester. Exams can be administered by the end of the fall semester with the consent of the Director of Graduate Studies.

Students are required to take three PhD comprehensive examinations in the history of philosophy: one in ancient philosophy, one in modern philosophy, and one in contemporary philosophy. There are separate suggested readings lists for each exam. The questions for the exams will be based on the reading lists and recently offered courses. Sample questions are posted at the department web site.

Each exam will be four hours long, administered in the Department of Philosophy and Religion, written on internet disabled computers. Students take one exam per day over the course of one week.

Evaluation, Grading and Appeals

The Comprehensive Exam Committee will grade the student’s examination with a Pass/Fail grade in a timely manner.

Pass

The comprehensive exam satisfactorily meets the Graduate School’s Qualifying Exam Requirement. Students must pass all three exams.

Fail

The comprehensive exam does not satisfactorily meet the Graduate School’s Qualifying Exam Requirement.

A pass grade on all three exams is required to move the student to ABD status as a doctoral candidate.

One Fail grade per exam is permissible. Students may retake each exam one time. The retake will take place on or near July 1.  For students taking the exam in the fall, the retake will take place on or near February 1.

Appealing the Fail Grade

In the event of a second Fail grade, the student may appeal the grade. An appeals committee comprised of the Comprehensive Exam Committee, Director of Graduate Studies, and the Department Chair will confer to determine the merits of the appeal. If the appeal is upheld, the examination will be re-graded by the Executive Committee. If any members of the Executive Committee are also on the Comprehensive Exam Committee, the exam will be graded by members of the Tenure and Promotion Committee who are not on the Comprehensive Exam Committee.

A Fail grade after the appeal and second grading will result in dismissal from the program for unsatisfactory progress.