General Information

The Ph.D. Degree

The Ph.D. degree program is offered to students wishing to enhance their knowledge and competence in teaching and research and to contribute to scholarship in a specialized area of the 30 departments and 14 schools at KAILASA’s NHU. The Ph.D. is a research doctorate and requires students to give evidence of the highest standards of scholarship at every stage of the degree program.

The primary learning outcomes of the PhD include:

1. a breadth of knowledge and in other cognate disciplines with mastery of knowledge in a particular academic discipline;
2. capacity to conduct advanced scholarly research and writing that makes an original contribution to the discipline that is significant for the academy, society, and humanity;
3. growth in one’s identity as a researcher, including:
   • the ability to access appropriate resources in the study of one’s discipline, to analyze and assess critically the findings of others, and to synthesize existing knowledge with one’s findings;
   • the ability to employ primary doctoral-level research methods appropriate to the study of one’s chosen discipline; and
   • the ability to communicate one’s research appropriately to scholars within one’s discipline and to other scholars, professionals, or the public beyond one’s discipline;
4. growth in one’s identity as a teacher, including:
   • the ability to design a course with appropriate, achievable, and measurable learning outcomes; the ability to facilitate and evaluate learning within a course through a variety of methods;
5. growth in one’s professional identity as a scholar within the academy, including:
   • familiarity with the teaching profession and the academy; the responsibilities and expectations of a faculty member; and the ethical standards of one’s discipline;
   • a commitment to collaborative inquiry, mentoring, publication, and other modes of transferring knowledge
   • growth in one’s capacity for a robust embrace of and engagement with social and theological diversity and one’s capacity to relate across differences.

Graduate Committee (GC)

The Graduate Committee (GC) is a faculty committee providing oversight for the operation of graduate degrees. Concerning the Ph.D., the GC reviews and approves dissertation prospectuses considers some student degree program petitions, makes recommendations to the faculty regarding degree program policies, and monitors student academic progress.

All prospectuses and other material submitted for approval and all petitions for extensions or exceptions arising out of the stipulations in this handbook should be directed in writing to the Committee through the Program Coordinator.

Advisors

In the admissions process, each student is assigned to a faculty advisor. Ordinarily, students work with their assigned advisor through their qualifying exams and that advisor becomes the student’s first reader on the prospectus and dissertation.

Pathway of Learning (Summary)

• Dissertation Prospectus
• First Draft of Dissertation
• Draft of Dissertation for Defense
• Final Oral Examination/Defense of Dissertation
  • Submission of Final Draft of Dissertation

Following a successful defense, the candidate submits the completed dissertation, incorporating changes required at the defense.

Maximum Time Allowable for Ph.D. Degree

The University expects students in the Ph.D. degree program to complete the degree within five years.

There is a seven-year limit for completion of the Ph. D. degree, from matriculation to graduation. In extraordinary situations, extensions beyond seven years may be granted by petition to the GC. No petition for extension beyond ten years will be granted.