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Program Requirements
For the Ph.D. degree, a minimum of 72 hours of graduate credit beyond the bachelor’s degree and 36 hours beyond the master’s degree are required. The overall GPA required for graduation, computed on all graduate-level courses completed whether they are listed on the candidacy form, must be no less than 3.00.
Graduate courses at the 6000-level may not be applied toward the official doctoral program of study.
Additional coursework beyond the minimum may be required at the discretion of the doctoral advising committee.
A minimum of 6 credit hours of dissertation (HMSE 9000) is required. No more than 6 credit hours of the dissertation may be included in the program of study. NOTE: Students should familiarize themselves with the Thesis/Dissertation Preparation Guide before starting to write the dissertation.
Residency & Professional Scholarship Requirement:
The doctoral candidate must be enrolled for a minimum of 9 credit hours on The University of Memphis main campus for each of two successive semesters.
Additional minimum requirements for completion of the residency include one first-author publication in a refereed journal in the discipline, one peer-reviewed first-author presentation at a national/international conference (both from research conducted while the candidate is enrolled in the doctoral program), and enrollment and successful participation in zero (0) credit hours of Seminar (HMSE 8142) each fall and spring semester until the comprehensive exams are passed.
Data collection associated with the publication requirement is under the direction of the Major Professor.
The official publisher/editor letter of acceptance is sufficient to satisfy the publication requirement.
The Thesis, Applied Project, or Dissertation does not satisfy this aspect of the Residency & Professional Scholarship Requirement.
Research Core Requirements (18 credit hours)
Post-Bachelor’s (12 credit hours)
Research core courses required before receiving the master’s degree are listed below.
HMSE 8010 - Research Methods in Health Sciences Credit Hours: 3
ESMS 8020 - Pub/Prop in Health & Biomed Credit Hours: (3)
PUBH 8150 - Biostatistical Methods I Credit Hours: (3)
PUBH 8152 - Biostatistical Methods II Credit Hours: (3)
Post-Master’s (6 credit hours)
Research core courses are planned with and approved by the Doctoral Advisory Committee with the courses listed below serving as suggestions.
The Doctoral Advisory Committee is comprised of three (3) Graduate Faculty members including the Major Professor, another person from the concentration area, and one person from outside the concentration area. A fourth member may be added as needed.
Doctoral candidates with a master’s degree who have not successfully completed the Post-Bachelor’s research core (or its equivalent) must complete the missing course(s) as prerequisites to enrolling in any of the Post-Master’s research core courses. These prerequisite courses will not be included in the student’s program of study.
Those who have previously satisfied all or a portion of these requirements may substitute other research design or statistics courses to fulfill the credit-hour requirement at the discretion of the Doctoral Advisory Committee.
PUBH 8152 or an equivalent is a prerequisite for the following courses
(see individual courses for any additional prerequisites):
EDPR 8512 - Psychomet Thry/Ed Appl Credit Hours: (3)
EDPR 8544 - SEM in EDU/Behav Research Credit Hours: (3)
EDPR 8547 - Survey Research: Sampling Design and Analysis Credit Hours: (3)
EDPR 8549 - Multivariate Methods Credit Hours: (3)
PUBH 8305 - Quant Meth Review Rsch Credit Hours: (3)
PUBH 8308 - Appl Multivariate Stat Credit Hours: (3)
*Price shown is for indicative purposes, please check with institution
September 2025
Herff College of Engineering
201 Engineering Administration Building,
University of Memphis,
MEMPHIS,
Tennessee,
38152, United States
A Baccalaureate or Master’s Degree: The applicant must provide an official transcript showing an earned bachelor’s or master’s degree, depending on program requirements. In cases, where a program’s accrediting body allows alternate admissions standards, exceptions may be made. If you are a UofM undergraduate student applying to Graduate School at UofM, you do not need to request that an official transcript be sent to Graduate Admissions. This office has access to your transcript. The degree must have been awarded by an accredited college or university. Only transcripts received directly from an issuing institution are considered official. Personal copies are not acceptable as official documents.
GPA: The applicant must have earned an acceptable grade point average, typically a minimum of 2.5 on a scale of 4.0, but departments may make exceptions for students whose overall GPA does not adequately reflect their ability to succeed in their chosen field.
International students must provide evidence of English Language Proficiency.
English proficiency test scores accepted by the University:
*There may be different IELTS requirements depending on your chosen course.
A degree from the University of Memphis is much more than a qualification. It is a community and an experience which prepares students for success.
