Graduation Requirements for Doctoral Programs

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

Once 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 an "Application to Graduate" form from his or her doctoral office. This submission for formal approval must be received by the appropriate Program Director and doctoral committees no later than 90 days prior to the commencement date of the semester he or she intends to graduate. 

The student must officially apply for graduation. The student must meet all requirements to graduate in the semester of application to graduate. Note: If the student does not apply for graduation in the semester in which requirements are completed, then the degree will be posted in the next graduation after the official application has been received.

A graduating student must pay all account balances in full by the time designated in the graduation application materials provided by the Registrar’s Office, or the student will be denied the privilege of participation in commencement exercises and access to his or her diploma and transcript upon graduation.  The student will be allowed to participate in a commencement exercise only after the previous and present balances are paid in full.  Students requesting to walk in a future commencement must have a balance of zero. It is the graduate’s responsibility to contact the Registrar’s Office when they have paid their balance. Only after the graduate contacts the Registrar’s Office will the graduate have their name added to the next available commencement ceremony and be allowed to participate in the ceremony.

Time Limit for Completion

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

Extension Appeals 

Students have seven years to complete the doctorate, beginning with the date of enrollment in their first doctoral course at DBU, inclusive of any break in enrollment. If a candidate has not successfully defended a final dissertation the month before the completion of the seven-year time limit, an Appeal for Extension of Time Limit form may be completed and submitted to the Ph.D. or Ed.D. Program Director. Granting an extension is considered on a case-by-case basis. 

Doctoral 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.

Heuristic Skills: Research and Statistics

Doctoral students must possess proficiency in the use of research skills. PHD students must demonstrate such proficiency by meeting the minimum threshold score accepted for the comprehensive assessment in Statistics II. A student who fails the assessment must schedule a re-take of the assessment in consultation with the statistics faculty. If a student fails the re-take assessment, the student will be required to re-enroll in Stats II.

Comprehensive Examinations

PHD Comprehensive Examinations

At the end of the third year, comprehensive written and oral examinations will be given over all reading lists and seminar content 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 the written or oral examination may petition the Academic Director of the PHD program to re-take the examination. 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 PHD program for failure to achieve satisfactory Comprehensive Examination scores.

EDD Program Comprehensive Examinations

EDD students are required to complete and pass written comprehensive examinations in the third year of study.

The comprehensive examinations provide doctoral students with the opportunity to demonstrate learning and understanding of the curriculum content for the EDD program, as well as critically engage the knowledge through a synthesis of the subject matter. The examinations assist faculty in the evaluation of the doctoral student’s knowledge and capacity to continue the scholarly exercise of the dissertation.

Two comprehensive written examinations will be given with a focus on the core curriculum as well as the concentration curriculum. 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 EDD and moving into the dissertation phase of the program.

Successful Completion of Doctoral Cohort Program Dissertation

Evaluation of the Dissertation

The dissertation will be submitted to members of the candidate’s Dissertation Committee, including a Research Reviewer, chosen from among the EDD or PHD faculty by the Director of Research in consultation with the doctoral director.

Once the manuscript receives approval by the Dissertation Committee, including the Research Reviewer, the program office will work in consultation with the student and his or her dissertation committee to schedule the dissertation defense.

 Defense of the Dissertation

Oral defense is the formal presentation of the dissertation to the dissertation committee. Approved Gary Cook School of Leadership doctoral faculty and doctoral candidates currently registered in dissertation hours may attend and participate in a designated question and answer time. Outside guests, family, or friends are not permitted to attend this academic presentation. All attendees will be asked to leave during dissertation committee deliberations. The dissertation committee may approve the dissertation, approve pending revisions, or reject the dissertation. It is most common for the committee to approve a dissertation, pending revisions. Upon completion of the dissertation defense, the dissertation committee chair must submit a Defense Completion Form to the EDD or PHD program office.