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Curriculum

The doctoral program in Health Education & Behavior (HEB) trains health behavior researchers for positions in academia, health agencies and post-doctoral fellowships.

Did you know?

The Graduate School requires that the Ph.D. program include at least 90 credits beyond the bachelor’s degree work.

Planning a Program of Study

Within the first semester, Ph.D. students will meet with their major professor and, if selected, their supervisory committee to brainstorm suggestions for their program of study. After the meeting, the student and major professor take care of details such as deciding on final committee members (if the committee still isn’t complete) and putting together a formal program of study that will be approved by the Supervisory Committee.

The Department provides students with a Ph.D. Program Planning Template. In addition to specifying coursework in the various categories, the overall plan includes projected dates (semesters) for taking the qualifying examination, presenting a formal dissertation proposal, and defending the dissertation.

The student and major professor also project a month and year for graduation. The dates may change, but the student and Supervisory Committee begin work with a projected calendar. All Supervisory Committee members sign the program of study.

A copy of the approved program of study should be placed in the academic file by the end of the second semester.

  • HSC5956 (3 credits): Writing for Professional Publications
  • HSC6318 (3 credits): Planning Health Education Programs
  • HSC6506 (3 credits): Epidemiology
  • HSC6603 (3 credits): Theories of Health Behavior and Practice
  • HSC6712 (3credits): Evaluating Health Education Programs
  • HSC6735 (3 credits): Research Methods in Health Education
  • HSC7937 (3 credits): Advanced Seminar in Health Education
  • PET5936 (3 credits): Grant Writing
  • HLP7939 (3 credits): HHP Ph.D. Professional Development Seminar

Required Core: 6 credit hours

  • STA6126 (3 credits): Statistical Methods in Social Research I
  • STA6127 (3 credits):  Statistical Methods in Social Research II

Additional Courses Selected with Advisor Approval: At least 12 credit hours

  • EDF6471 (3 credits): Survey Design and Analysis in Educational Research
  • EDF7412 (3 credits): Structural Equation Models
  • EDF7491 (3 credits): Evaluation of Educational Products and Systems
  • EDF7439 (3 credits): Item Response Theory
  • EDF7932 (3 credits): Multivariate Analysis in Educational Research
  • EDA7985 (3 credits): Research Design in Education
  • STA5503 (3 credits): Categorical Data Analysis
  • STA5507 (3 credits): Applied Nonparametric Methods
  • GMS6846 (2 credits): Meta-Analysis in Clinical, HSR, and Public Health
  • EDF6475 (4 credits): Qualitative Foundations of Educational Research
  • EDF7483 (3 credits): Qualitative Data Collection
  • EDF7479 (3 credits): Qualitative Data Analysis
  • NGR6815 (3 credits): Foundations of Qualitative Research in Nursing
  • NGR7814 (3 credits): Field Methods for Health-Related Research
  • SYA6315 (3 credits): Qualitative Research Methods
  • HLP 7979 Advanced Directed Research Requirement: (6 credits)
  • Minor, Graduate Certificate Interest Area, or Elective Coursework: (24 credits)

Students who pursue a minor must comply with the requirements specified by the minor department. By approval of the supervisory committee, students may select lecture and non-lecture courses in HEB to support the concentration in health behavior or their dissertation research focus or select additional research and statistic courses.

Transferred Coursework

Students may request to transfer up to 18 credit hours of previous graduate lecture coursework relevant to the field of health promotion, health education, and health behavior or their officially declared minor by approval of the supervisory committee and the HEB Graduate Program Advisory Committee.

  • Examinations include both written and oral components
  • Please refer to the Ph.D. handbook (PDF) for more information

Work closely with the Major Professor and Supervisory Committee at all stages in developing a dissertation proposal. Dissertations may use either the traditional format or a publishable paper format.

Students will prepare a dissertation proposal that includes three fully developed chapters:

  1. Introduction
  2. Literature review
  3. Proposed methodology or an agreed-upon format for the publishable paper

Final defense presentations typically last about 30-45 minutes and often include a brief handout of the presentation outline with main points and electronic presentation formats. Advisors help students decide on an appropriate format.