Dual Degree: Doctor of Philosophy - Higher Education & Juris Doctor

Course Requirements

Degree Requirements

1. Students must be admitted to both the J.D. and Ph.D. programs with graduate standing. The candidates must successfully complete the 80 credit hours of Law course work and 54 credit hours of the Ph.D. required course work.
2. William S. Boyd School of Law cannot award credit for any class taken before matriculation. J.D./Ph.D. candidates are required to enroll at the Boyd School of Law and complete one year of study before taking any Ph.D. courses.
3. Students without a background in statistics may take EPY 721 Descriptive/Inferential Statistics, but the course will not count as credits toward the doctoral program.
4. In consultation with his/her advisor, a student will organize a dissertation committee of at least three departmental members and one law school representative. In addition, a fifth member from outside the department, known as the Graduate College Representative, must be appointed. The Dual Degree Program Coordinator will sit on all dissertation committees. Please see Graduate College policy for committee appointment guidelines.
5. Students in the J.D./Ph.D. program must remain in good standing in both J.D. and Ph.D. programs.
6. The doctoral comprehensive examination consists of two parts: A core examination and an individualized examination. Part I: Core examination:
   1. The core examination is offered twice a year (usually September and February). Students should take this examination as early in their programs as possible. Students are eligible to the Comprehensive Examinations if they have passed all core courses with a “B-” or better. No student with anything less than a “B-” in any core course will be allowed to take the Comprehensive Examination. A core course may be repeated, allowing the student an opportunity to earn a “B-” or better.
   2. To be eligible to sit for this examination, students must have completed the required core courses, the required research courses, and the methodology course.
   3. Each section of the comprehensive examination is taken over a two week period.
   4. Section One: Covers research design. It draws heavily on the research core courses. Students are encouraged to integrate information from other methods courses into their answers. Information about this question is provided to students prior to the examination.
   5. Section Two: Affords student the opportunity to integrate basic historical, organizational, financial/economic, policy, and legal perspectives into a discussion of one or more current issues. Faculty members will meet with students prior to distributing this question to talk about specific, appropriate issues that may be addressed in this section of the exam.
   6. The evaluation rubric is available for download from the department website. Students who do not pass a section of the comprehensive exams meet with their current advisor to discuss options and potential remedies.
   7. The purpose of the individualized examination is to help students fill in gaps in their knowledge base and to help them move forward into the dissertation stage of the program.
7. All students are required to engage in an internship experience. Each internship is an individually designed, semester-long experience that can be repeated for credit for up to a maximum of 6 hours. Ordinarily, the internship is completed after the student has successfully passed the core comprehensive examination. There are three types of internships for doctoral students: Administrative, Teaching, and Research.
   1. Administrative internships enable students to apply theory to practice. Internship placements are available in a variety of professional settings including UNLV, the Community College of Southern Nevada, Nevada State College, the Nevada System of Higher Education administrative departments, as well as in neighboring institutions of higher education and government policy and business environments. These are challenging experiences in which students are expected to make meaningful contributions that advance the goals of the host site.
   2. Teaching internships are done under the aegis of a faculty member. Doctoral teaching assistants may team with a faculty member in a Master’s course or teach undergraduate courses.
   3. Research internships are usually done with the student’s doctoral chair. These internships allow students to team with a faculty member on a research-based project, which may entail design, data collection, analysis, or writing.
8. Students must complete the residency requirement. Residency requirements are met following the completion of 42 credit hours, the comprehensive examinations, and by completing these outcomes:
   1. Completion of remaining course work, including research courses and electives.
   2. Combination of doctoral internships and/or independent studies, as advised by student’s doctoral advisor.
   3. Successful completion of EDH 790 – Doctoral Internship and EDH 796 –Dissertation Proposal Preparation.
   4. Completion of a national presentation and/or a manuscript submitted for publication consideration.
9. Students may use three credits of dissertation hours (EDH 799) towards their residency.
10. Residency requirements must be fulfilled prior to the dissertation proposal defense. Students must review an outcomes checklist with their advisors prior to the proposal defense to verify completion of residency. Upon completion of residency students should have 9 to 12 dissertation credits remaining in the program of study.