Industrial-Organizational Psychology, Ph.D.

General Requirements

The Ph.D. degree requires completion of 90 credit hours, including 26-27 hours of I-O core courses (e.g., Personnel Selection, Work Motivation, Fieldwork; see below), 12 hours of general psychology courses (e.g., Personality), 12 hours of research methodology (e.g., Statistics), and 39-40 hours of electives, including dissertation research. The first two years of the program are structured to offer key foundational courses (e.g., Survey of I, Research Methods), with subsequent course work, research, and internships tailored to individual needs and interests. A master’s thesis is not required, but doctoral students lacking a master’s thesis must complete a pre-candidacy paper, usually in their second year, under faculty supervision. Doctoral students must also complete 400 hours of Fieldwork (i.e., internship; two credit hours), and successfully complete a comprehensive exam consisting of written, quantitative, and oral components, covering all major areas of I-O psychology. The dissertation is the last phase of the doctoral program. It requires formation of a dissertation committee, a proposal defense, data collection, data analysis, write-up, and an oral defense before the committee. Students are not formally admitted to doctoral candidacy until comprehensive exams are completed successfully and the student has passed their dissertation proposal defense. Students entering the doctoral program without a master’s degree are generally expected to earn the PhD within five years. More time may be needed for those seeking academic positions.