Program Requirements

In your first semester, you will meet with your advisors to create an individualize plan for academic and clinical activities during the 2.5 years of the M.S. portion of the M.S./Ph.D. program.

This plan will includes course work as well as clinical and research experiences. The aim is to give you an early introduction to research, while allowing time to complete the requisite course work and clinical hours to meet the M.S. degree requirements by the end of the fall semester of their third year of full-time study.

You and your clinical and academic advisors will sign the plan, and a copy will be kept in your file. You may modify your plan with the agreement of both advisors.

Your academic study plan is individualized. You will need to consult both the M.S. program course requirements and the Ph.D. program course requirements. You are encouraged to take courses out of the CS&D department that will support research interests and skill sets, including courses in research methods and/or statistical analyses. For doctoral students, it is required you attend the departmental Professional Seminar (ProSem) lecture series.

Clinical Experiences will also be individualized. Please see the M.S. Handbook for more information regarding clinical experiences.

You must complete a first-year project in collaboration with your program advisor. You must present the completed project at the department’s proseminar during the fall semester of the second year of graduate study.

Your first-year project could serve as the basis for the required Master’s thesis. The Master’s thesis, which would meet the requirement of the first-year doctoral project, must be completed by the end of the third year of graduate study.

The UW-Madison Graduate School has a breadth requirement. For our department, this is fulfilled by a minor concentration consisting of 10 credits taken outside the major area of concentration and must be approved by the student’s advisor. There are two options for fulfilling the minor requirement:

Option A: Single department or major field of study

Requires a minimum of 10 credits in a single department or major field of study. Students must refer to the individual department for specific requirements, as many departments require more than 10 credits. Option A requires approval from the minor department as well as the approval of your major advisor.

Option B: Distributed

Requires a minimum of 10 credits in one or more departments and can include course work in the major department. Option B requires signatures of your major advisor and major department chairperson.

Before official admission to candidacy for the doctoral degree, you must pass a preliminary examination in your area of expertise. The purpose of the doctoral comprehensive preliminary examination in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders is to assist the faculty in determining whether a student’s knowledge of pertinent facts, theories, and methods is sufficient to render the student generally capable of (1) undertaking effective research in an area within communication sciences and disorders, and (2) undertaking other forms of scholarship required or expected of persons who professionally use the doctoral degree. Research and other scholarly work require the ability to (a) apply terminology, facts, concepts, relations, procedures, theories, and issues accurately and appropriately, (b) invoke facts, reasoning and other evidence to support observations and opinions, (c) identify, organize, analyze and integrate information, (d) to evaluate one’s own work and that of others critically, and (e) communicate effectively. The Prelim exam serves to demonstrate that you have these required abilities and are competent to begin dissertation research.

The final examination committee will examine the candidate over the research project and other aspects of the doctoral program. The final exam committee is composed of at least five members of the graduate faculty including the student’s major advisor, who is the chairperson of the committee, and one member from outside the major department. Graduate faculty status is defined as: tenure-track faculty holding professional (full, associate, or assistant) rank in any department with graduate program authority. Tenure-track faculty members are automatically permitted to retain graduate faculty status for one year after their retirement or resignation. Annual extensions of graduate faculty status for retired or resigned faculty may be recommended by the departmental executive committee for consideration and approval by the Graduate School dean or designee. Pass must be by unanimous vote. If one of the committee members signs the warrant on the DISSENT line, then a pass/fail determination is made jointly by the Graduate School and the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders.