PhD in Regional Planning Program
A Handbook for Students and Advisors
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Table of Contents
Handbook Intent
Program Statement
Organizational Structure and Responsibilities
Advising
Course Requirements
Qualifying Examinations
Dissertation Work
Committee
Preliminary Examination: Proposal
Defense
Final Examinations: Dissertation Defense
Time Limits
Admissions Requirements and Procedures
APPENDICES
Faculty
Frequently Asked Questions
HANDBOOK INTENT
This handbook has been prepared to help students and faculty
in keeping track of the requirements and procedures of the
PhD in Regional Planning. The official university statement
of the program is included in the next section. Questions from
faculty or students should be directed to the PhD Program Coordinator.
PROGRAM STATEMENT for PhD Program in Regional Planning
(Effective: August 2004)
The curriculum is designed for students who have completed
a master’s degree in urban planning or a closely related
field. Students will, therefore, already have taken a set of
required courses and should be ready for coursework focused
on preparing for the qualifying examinations in planning theory,
research methods, and the chosen substantive area of intended
research. Faculty advisors and the PhD program coordinator
provide guidance in selecting coherent sets of courses appropriate
for individual students.
Students are required to take 64 hours of credit, usually
32 hours of courses and 32 hours of dissertation research.
A student with a master's degree in a closely related field,
but not in planning, may be required to take more than 32 hours
of course work to fill gaps in preparation. Careful selection
of additional courses may permit such students to also obtain
a Master of Urban Planning degree.
All students take an advanced planning theory course. Students
without prior course work in planning theory will take an introductory
planning theory course before taking the advanced course. Of
the remaining seven courses, one will usually be in research
design, two in research methods and four in the substantive
area.
All students must pass a qualifying examination covering planning
theory, research methods, and a substantive area of intended
research. The qualifying examination is tailored to the focus
of each student and includes a written portion and an oral
defense before a committee. The content of these exams and
the courses to prepare for them vary depending on the type
of research the student chooses to pursue. For example,
research methods may focus on qualitative or quantitative approaches. The
substantive specialization may be defined by functional attributes,
such as transportation or land use, cultural and institutional
situations, such as international development or community
development, or tools development, such as regional economic
modeling or planning support systems.
A successful dissertation in planning reports original research
on a subject appropriate to the field, the results of which
produce significant advances in knowledge about that subject.
Each student takes a Preliminary Examination, which is an oral
examination based on the dissertation proposal and is administered
by the student's dissertation committee. Upon approval of the
dissertation proposal, the candidate can proceed with the research,
written analysis, and findings. When the candidate and supervisor
agree that the research and writing are complete, the candidate
is ready for the final examination, which is a defense of the
dissertation before the committee.
ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE AND RESPONSIBILITIES
The PhD in Regional Planning is administered as a program
in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning. In
addition to the faculty of the department, several faculty
from other departments are identified as PhD Program Faculty
and are eligible to serve as chair of dissertation committees
and primary advisors. All of these faculty are actively
engaged in the curriculum and admissions decision making of
the program.
Day to day tasks are the responsibility of the PhD Program
Coordinator, who is appointed by the Department Head.
ADVISING
Students are accepted into the program both because they have
an outstanding academic record and because a faculty member
has identified common research interests from the student’s
application material and agreed to be the student’s advisor. The
letter offering acceptance into the program identifies a faculty
member who has agreed to serve as advisor. Often the
advisor already has a research grant on which the student is
expected to work; otherwise, the advisor is prepared to develop
a research project and/or grant application with the student.
Students should work closely with their advisor to choose
courses, prepare for examinations, develop research proposals,
and complete dissertation work. Both the student and
advisor are responsible for arranging frequent meetings to
accomplish these tasks. The PhD program coordinator is available
to assist in advising.
It is recognized that upon meeting and working together a
student and advisor may find they are incompatible in research
style, personality, required research skills, or research interest. During
PhD studies a student may develop new interests and choose
a dissertation topic in which the original advisor has no interest
or expertise. As long as the student is successfully
completing the course work and assistantship obligations, the
advisor will not drop the student. A student is free
to approach any other member of the program faculty about becoming
his/her advisor.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
Students are required to take 64 hours of credit, usually
32 hours of courses and 32 hours of dissertation research.
A student with a master’s degree in a closely related
field, but not in planning, may be required to take more than
32 hours of coursework to fill gaps in preparation. Careful
selection of additional courses may permit such students to
also obtain a Master of Urban Planning degree
Faculty advisors and the PhD program coordinator provide guidance
in selecting coherent sets of courses appropriate for individual
students. There is one required course, UP 580
Advanced Planning Theory (4 hours). Students without previous
course work in planning must take the masters core course in
planning theory, UP 501 Cities, Society, and Planning, before
taking the advanced course. Of the remaining courses,
eight hours will typically be in research methods, four in
research design, and sixteen in the substantive area, but there
are no established categories of courses.
QUALIFYING EXAM
Following completion of coursework all students must take
and pass a qualifying exam. The qualifying exam covers
planning theory, research methods, and a substantive area of
intended research. The qualifying exam is tailored to
the focus of each student. Student and advisor work together
to develop reading lists to aid the exam committee in writing
pertinent questions. For example, research methods may
focus on qualitative or quantitative approaches. The
substantive specialization may be defined by functional attributes,
such as transportation or land use, cultural and institutional
situations, such as international development or community
development, or tools development, such as regional economic
modeling or planning support systems.
The exam is generally taken at the end of the final semester
of coursework or shortly thereafter. It has written and
oral components. Students generally have one week to
complete written responses to the questions. An oral
defense of these responses before the exam committee occurs
not more than ten days after completion of the written exam. The
qualifying exam committee must include the student’s
advisor and at least two other program faculty members who
in combination are knowledgeable about planning theory, the
research methods of interests, and the student’s area
of specialization. Other program or non-program faculty
may be included in the committee. It is recommended but
not required that the qualifying exam committee also serve
as the student’s dissertation committee.
The qualifying exam is not required by the Graduate College
and is under the jurisdiction of the Department and the PhD
Program Faculty. Committee members may take one of three actions
on the exam: they may pass the student, fail the student,
or require a re-examination. A disagreement must be
discussed by the committee members and a single result agreed
upon. A student is allowed only one re-examination attempt.
DISSERTATION WORK
Procedures for dissertation proposals, committees, preliminary
and final exams, and deposit of the completed dissertation
are governed by the Graduate College. Check the Graduate College
website for elaboration of the procedures and requirements
described here.
http://www.grad.uiuc.edu/gradhandbook/default.htm
Proposal
Students should develop, write, and defend their dissertation
proposal within six months after passing the qualifying examination.
A dissertation is research on a significant problem or issue
in planning. A dissertation must demonstrate rigorous
and thorough research, show scholarly originality, and clearly
advance knowledge in the subject area. Students should
have a dissertation topic in mind and begin to develop a proposal
as they are developing their area of specialization and preparing
for the qualifying examination. Hints and sources about
preparing a dissertation proposal are included in the appendices,
but students should recognize that all of their coursework,
experiences as a research assistant, and collaborations with
advisor and other faculty are preparation for writing a proposal.
Committee
A dissertation committee should be formed as early as possible
after the successful completion of the qualifying exam. In
the PhD in Regional Planning, the dissertation committee
is the same as the Final Examination Committee. The purpose
of this committee is to assist the student with their research
work. Committee members should be chosen for their
expertise in the student’s research area, but may also
be chosen to give diversity in viewpoint, methodology, or
academic discipline. The minimum size of the dissertation
committee is four members. At least three of these
must be members of the Graduate Faculty and at least two
must be tenured. The committee chair and at least one other
committee member must be members of the PhD in Regional Planning
Program Faculty. Individuals who are not faculty of the University
of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign may be included contingent
on the approval process established by the Graduate College.
Note: The preliminary exam committee and the final exam committee
must be appointed by the graduate college. This process
takes at least two weeks, so it is essential that the forms
(see Graduate College website) be submitted three weeks before
the intended examination date.
Preliminary Examination
The Preliminary Examination is an oral defense of a written
dissertation proposal. An acceptable dissertation proposal
and successful Preliminary oral examination should indicate
1) that the student has a clear and concise research question
appropriate to the PhD in Regional Planning, 2) that answering
the research question will produce a significant advance
in the research topic, 3) that the research design is adequate
to deal with the research question, 4) that the student is
familiar with the background literature on the question and
topic, and 5) that the student has the scholarly expertise
to complete the research. There is no limit to the
number of times a proposal can be defended and amended. In
some cases the student’s advisor or examination committee
will require an additional course to help write or design
the proposal or further develop analytical skills critical
to the research.
Dissertation
After passing the Preliminary Exam a student should sign up
for research units under UP599. It is also appropriate to
sign up for UP599 in the semester in which a student expects
to take the preliminary exam. Students can take a maximum
of 32 hours of UP599 dissertation work. To provide
flexibility in course work fewer units may be taken. Eight
hours of UP599 are the minimum. Students should work
with their advisor to find research funding to support their
dissertation work. Our experience is that students
typically take 4 to 8 hours of UP599 per semester and finish
the dissertation work and final defense in 1 to 3 years after
passing the preliminary exam.
It is important for students to keep in contact with the advisor
and other individual committee members to discuss ideas and
findings regularly – not waiting until substantial portions
of the work are completed. Committee members in turn
should respond promptly with constructive criticism that presents
alternative solutions to problems and with assurances, where
appropriate, that satisfactory progress is being made.
Final Examination
Procedures for the final examination are governed by the Graduate
College. A completed dissertation must be presented
to the dissertation committee members and an additional copy
must be placed on public display in the Department of Urban
and Regional Planning office by the Doctoral Committee at
the time it is submitted for final review and defense. Defense
of dissertations is oral and open to the public. Students
must be registered for the entire term in which they defend. All
voting members of the dissertation committee must be present
at and participate in final examinations, which may include
up to two voting members participating via electronic communication
media. The committee chair and the defending student,
however, must be physically present at the final examination.
TIME LIMITS
For students with a Master’s Degree in Urban Planning
from the University of Illinois who continue directly to the
PhD there is a total of seven years allowed from the time they
started their Master’s to completion of the PhD. For
students who continue for a PhD after a substantial break,
have a degree in a closely related field not planning, or enter
with a Master’s degree from another university there
is a total of six years allowed to complete the PhD from the
time they enter the program.
ADMISSIONS REQUIREMENTS AND PROCEDURES
We admit only students who will have
completed a master’s degree in planning or a closely
related field before enrollment. A baccalaureate degree equivalent
to those granted by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
with a minimum grade point average of 3.0 (A=4.0) for the last
60 hours of undergraduate study and scores for the verbal,
quantitative, and analytical tests of the Graduate Records
Examination are required. All foreign students whose native
language is not English must submit their scores on the Test
of English as a Foreign Language exam. A score of at least
590 on the TOEFL exam is required. In recent years we have
admitted approximately one of every ten applicants.
Give particular attention to the space provided on the University's
application form for an “Applicant Statement.” In
addition to information requested on the form, this statement
should fully describe your 1) research, teaching, or other
career interests, 2) past experience relevant to your career
interests, 3) reasons for pursuing a PhD in Regional Planning,
and 4) particular research interests or ideas that will help
us match you with potential faculty advisors.
The deadline for international applicants is December 15, and
for domestic applicants the deadline is February 1.
The PhD Program Coordinator invites two additional faculty
to serve as the PhD admissions committee. The committee
review the applications and identifies a few (usually three
to five) applicants who are particularly outstanding and divides
the remaining applicants into qualified and not qualified.
The list of outstanding and qualified applicants is then circulated
to all PhD Program faculty. Admissions decisions are
made by the PhD coordinator based on commitments from individual
faculty to work with students. A special effort is made to
identify faculty to work with the outstanding students and
to attract these students to the program.
APPENDICES
FACULTY OF PHD PROGRAM IN REGIONAL PLANNING
Anderson, Jim
Anthony, Kathryn
Bates, Lisa
Deal, Brian
Edwards, Mary
Feser, Ed
Harwood, Stacy
Hewings, Geoff
Hopkins, Lew
Isserman, Andy
Johnston, Douglas M.
Kim, T. John
Kovacic, David
Miraftab, Faranak
Nedovic-Budic, Zorica
Olshansky, Rob
Pallathucheril, Varkki
Schneider, Daniel
Sweet, Betsy
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