Residency Requirement for Doctoral Students Earning a PhD
The PhD requires 3 full-time academic semesters of residency, two of which must be consecutive. It is the student's doctoral committee's responsibility to provide guidance, supervision, and review of the doctoral residency requirement. The purpose of residency is to provide the doctoral student with significant time for sustained contact with faculty members and intense attention to course work, projects, research, and participation in academic life. Residency is a time for socialization into the shared community of professional life. It should include opportunities for the student to engage in activities outside of coursework that serve to transition the student to the new role of future colleague.
Each student's residency experience should be considered on an individual basis and include many varied activities. Quality of participation is important, but so is variety. Experiences that meet the goals of the residency requirement may include such opportunities as:
Collaborative research or grants with faculty or peers
Working with faculty on scholarly publications
Participation in non course-related scholarly groups (e.g., book or writing groups)
College teaching internships or assistantships
Research assistantship
Attendance at local, regional, or national professional meetings
Involvement in graduate student organizations (e.g., Graduate Student Senate)
Committee and/or service work within the department, college, or university
Assisting faculty in course development and teaching
Advanced course work beyond the minimum
Attendance at departmental colloquia
Considerable out-of-class interaction with faculty and/or students, especially on substantive issues
Organizing program events (brown bags, consortia, orientation programs) and so forth
It is difficult to accomplish these outcomes while physically distant from the campus. Thus, doctoral programs nationwide include "residency" requirements to assure that doctoral students, upon graduation, will be prepared for full professional participation in academic life.