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Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Communication Sciences and Disorders
Coordinator: Dr. Charles Runyan (runyancm@jmu.edu)
The Ph.D. program is designed to provide graduate students, both those with and without clinical backgrounds in audiology or speech-language pathology, with advanced and in-depth study in specialized areas of communication sciences and/or communication disorders. The program provides the independent learning skills and research training that are essential for academic and research positions in universities and for administrative and/or research appointments in business, education, and healthcare settings. Individuals with the Ph.D. degree are typically seen as leaders in their fields.
The program consists of advanced discipline-specific coursework, guided and mentored university teaching and/or clinical supervisory experiences, research and statistics coursework, and research involvement in partnerships with faculty and culminates in students' planning and executing one or more research projects, guided by expert faculty, and presenting the research in the form of a dissertation. Students can enroll on either a full-time or part-time basis. See the Graduate Catalog for more specific information about the content of the program.
Students can enter the Ph.D. with various backgrounds:
| Sample Curriculum for post-Masters: | Credit Hours |
|---|---|
| Core course work | 8 |
| Major concentration course work | 14 |
| Outside, related course work | 6 |
| Research tools | 12 |
| Directed research | 6 |
| Teaching/Supervision | 2 |
| Dissertation | minimum of 9 |
| Total Hours | 57 |
| Sample Curriculum for post-Bachelor’s: | Credit Hours |
|---|---|
| Post-Bachelor’s course work (individually determined) | 36-44 |
| Core course work | 8 |
| Major concentration course work | 14 |
| Outside, related course work | 6 |
| Research tools | 12 |
| Directed research | 6 |
| Teaching/Supervision | 2 |
| Dissertation | minimum of 9 |
| Total Hours | 93-101 |
| Sample Curriculum for Dual Au.D./Ph.D.: | Credit Hours |
|---|---|
| Doctor of Audiology requirements (includes 6 credits of dissertation) | 103 |
| Core course work | 8 |
| Major concentration course work | 3 |
| Outside, related course work | 6 |
| Research tools | 3 |
| Directed research | 3 |
| Teaching/Supervision | 2 |
| Dissertation | minimum of 5 |
| Total Hours | 133 |
| Sample Curriculum for post Au.D: | Credit Hours |
|---|---|
| Core course work | 8 |
| Major concentration course work | 3 |
| Outside, related course work | 6 |
| Research tools | 3 |
| Directed research | 3 |
| Teaching/Supervision | 2 |
| Dissertation (assumes 6 dissertation credits in Au.D.) |
minimum of 5 |
| Total Hours | 30 |
Students work closely both with fellow graduate students in order to share and examine ideas and with faculty who serve as their academic mentors. In conjunction with their academic mentors, students are encouraged to present their work as papers at national and international conferences and research symposia and as published journal articles. The number of faculty is sufficiently large to have research expertise in diverse areas in order to accommodate and support a wide range of students' research interests. The Department's many well-equipped research laboratories and on-campus Speech, Language, and Hearing Applied Laboratory, which provides clinical services to communicatively impaired children and adults and clinical education for students and serves as dynamic clinical research laboratory, support the research activities of students and faculty.
Departmental research labs include:
- Auditory Research Lab, Director, Dr. Brenda Ryals
- Child and Adolescent Language Lab (CALL), Director, Dr. Vicki Reed
- Clinical Research in Neurogenic Communication Disorders Lab (CRNCS), Director, Dr. Cynthia O’Donoghue
- Cognitive Auditory Research Lab (CARL), Director, Dr. Jeffrey Marler
- Computational, Speech, Sensory, Development & Diseases Lab (CSD2), Director, Dr. Lincoln Gray
- Hearing Aid Research Lab (HARL), Director, Dr. Ayasakanta Rout
- Neural Development of Communication and Cognition (planned for Fall, 2009), Director, Dr. Christy Ludlow (arriving Fall, 2009)
- Psychoacoustic Research Lab, Director, Dr. Dan Halling
- Research Applications in Clinical Education (RACE), Director, Dr. Carol Dudding
- Sensory-Neural Engineering Research Laboratory, Director, Dr. Jonathan Spindel
- Sign Language Research Lab, Director, Dr. Brenda Seal
- Speech Research Lab, Director, Dr. Rory DePaolis
- Stuttering Research Lab (planned for Fall, 2008), Director, Dr. Kia Johnson (arriving Fall, 2008)
- Video Analysis Lab, Director, Dr. Charles Runyan
- Vocal Function Research Laboratory, Director, Dr. Christopher Watts
Graduate Assistantships (GAs) are available on a competitive basis to graduate students. Fellowships are funded from a variety of sources, including the university, endowments, organizations and service groups such as Scottish Rite and Lion’s Club, and external grant funding from both public and private sources. Contact the Coordinator of the program listed above for more information.
Graduate Catalogs can be reviewed online at http://www.jmu.edu/grad
To Apply
See complete application instructions in the current Graduate Catalog, which is available on The Graduate School web site.
In Summary
| Applicants need to… | and send materials |
|---|---|
Use the following link to apply electronically to The Graduate School |
Electronically to: The Graduate School James Madison University 17 West Grace Street, Room 3A, MSC 6702 Harrisonburg, VA 22807 Phone: 540-568-6395 Fax: 540-568-7860 http://www.jmu.edu/grad |
Provide recent GRE scores, per the electronic application instructions http://www.jmu.edu/grad/prospective |
|
| To the Department, submit 3 letters of recommendation on letterhead stationary. (There is no set form for these) | Dr. Charles Runyan, Graduate Coordinator Communication Sciences and Disorders HHS 1126, MSC 4304 James Madison University Harrisonburg, VA 22807 Phone: (540)568-3870 Email: runyancm@jmu.edu |
| To the Department, provide a personal written statement regarding your career goals, reasons for pursuing a doctoral degree, and areas of research interest. | |
| Participate in a personal interview. | Applicants will be contacted about scheduling this interview after the application is complete and all materials are received. |
Additional information is available in the department's Ph.D Student Handbook.
For further information, contact
Dr. Charles Runyan, Graduate Coordinator
Communication Sciences and Disorders
HHS 1126, MSC 4304
James Madison University
Harrisonburg, VA 22807
(540) 568-3870
runyancm@jmu.edu
