Graduate Catalog: 2012-2013 - Alabama A&M University

4. Three letters of reference indicating the student'sacademic background and ability to pursue thePh.D. program.5. A letter of application which includes a personalstatement on career objectives and researchinterest.DEGREE REQUIREMENTS FOR THEDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHYTo fulfill the Doctor of Philosophy requirements, atleast 50 percent of the credit hours required forgraduation must be earned, within a period of twoconsecutive calendar years, at Alabama A&MUniversity. The Department’s Graduate Committeeand the School of Graduate Studies must approvedeviations from this. Additionally, each candidatemust complete the following program requirements:1. Complete all core courses recommended by theDepartment’s Graduate Committee.2. Complete a minimum of 48 semester hours ofgraduate course work beyond the master's levelof which a minimum of 30 credit hours must beat the 500 level or above. Nine credit hours,excluding doctoral dissertation, must becompleted at the 700 level. All courses must befrom the approved course listing.3. Complete an acceptable written dissertationwhich constitutes a significant contribution tocurrent knowledge in the area of Plan and SoilScience.4. Ph.D. candidates must demonstrate proficiencyin two languages or comprehensive command ina single language. Normally, this requirement isfulfilled through the satisfactory completion ofadvanced reading courses administered by theforeign language department (with a grade of Bor above) or through the completion of sixsemester hours of computer science languages(with a grade of B or above). Languagerequirements must be fulfilled before a studenttakes the Ph.D. project examinations describedbelow.5. Must pass a teaching experience course after thecompletion of 75% of the required coursework.6. Successfully complete both a written and oralcomprehensive examination after the completionof at least 80 percent of the prescribed coursework. The comprehensive examination covers abroad aspect of the course work taken by thestudent as well as the subject matter within thestudent's area of concentration. Thecomprehensive is used as a means of judgingwhether the individual has a mature andsubstantive grasp of the discipline as a whole.PROGRAM REQUIREMENTSRequired ProgramSem.HoursNRE 502 Scientific Writing in2Biological SciencesNRE 529 Statistics 3NRE 591 Graduate Seminar 1NRE 798 Teaching Experience for2Doctoral StudentsApproved area Concentration 28CoursesNRE 799 Doctoral Dissertation 12Total 48 See pages 74-75 for the list of concentrationcourses.79