Sociology, Ph.D.

(PSOCL)

The departmental-level academic course plan for each student will be developed in consultation with and approved by the student’s advisory committee. The committee will include the student’s major advisor and at least two additional members of the graduate faculty. Two of the committee members have full graduate faculty status (designated with “M” or “7M” on the list above), as required by the LSU Graduate School.

The degree requires a doctoral dissertation. Fifty-four (54) hours of credit at the graduate level must be earned including nine hours of credit for the dissertation (SOCL 9000 ) to count toward graduation. The curricular requirements include:

• At least 12 credits from 7000-level sociology topical seminars (SOCL 7351 , SOCL 7391 , SOCL 7491 , SOCL 7591 , SOCL 7691 ),
• A minimum core requirement of 21 credit hours in sociological theory, methods, and statistics,
• 3 credit hours from our two professional development seminars (SOCL 7903 , SOCL 7904 )
• Other graduate-level courses.

The student must pass a general examination following completion of required coursework consisting of written and oral assessments. The student then defends a dissertation proposal and must pass a final examination upon completion of his/her PhD dissertation. The final examination is a culmination of graduate study and consists of an oral defense of the dissertation.