Program Description
Rehabilitation science is a broad and growing field that improves the treatment, care, and lives of people with potentially disabling health conditions. It includes researchers, educators, and professionals who advance, teach and apply knowledge to care for people with health needs.
The Ph.D. in Rehabilitation Science program educates students to become innovative educators, researchers, and leaders in rehabilitation science. Our graduates become scholars in higher education and other settings who advance and distribute knowledge to enrich the lives of people with communication and movement disorders. Our program emphasizes the athletic training, audiology, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and speech-language pathology rehabilitation domains. We foster interprofessional and interdisciplinary collaboration to advance treatment and enablement theories that will improve rehabilitation practice. We welcome qualified students from related clinical and non-clinical backgrounds who are passionate about rehabilitation science, learning, teaching, and research.
The Ph.D. RS program offers Communication Sciences and Disorders (CSD) and Movement Sciences and Disorders (MSD) concentrations. The program's face-to-face curriculum includes several distance course options. Faculty from seven programs and two departments educate Ph.D. students in rehabilitation science foundations, professional development, teaching methods and practices, research design and statistics, technical writing, and research. Students develop an individualized concentration plan, including seminars, research methods, and discipline-specific courses. They take electives from other programs, departments, and schools at TTUHSC and TTU. Students choose academic and research emphases based on their interests and career goals. All students complete a research project, comprehensive qualifying examination, and doctoral dissertation. Graduation requires 86 semester credit hours over typically four years, with up to 24 graduate-level transfer hours possible. Ph.D. students may enroll full or part-time, and teaching and research assistantships are available.
Program Admission
Applications for admission are due by February 1 for the Summer semester, March 15 for the Fall semester, and October 15 for the Spring semester.
Ph.D. RS program admission is competitive and based on the applicant's academic record, professional experiences, goals, interests, optional GRE scores, and potential to contribute substantively to rehabilitation science. The admission requirements are
- graduate degree in rehabilitation science or a related area
- official transcripts reflecting all coursework, an earned graduate degree, and a minimum GPA of 3.0 out of 4.0 in the last 60 semester credit hours
- GRE scores (verbal, quantitative, writing) are optional but recommended
- three letters of recommendation
- application essay describing the applicant's research interests, career goals, and relevant experiences
- sample of research writing
- résumé or curriculum vitae
The admissions committee will interview qualified applicants before making an admission decision.
Ph.D. RS Curriculum
The Ph.D. RS program requires 86 semester credit hours, including up to 24 hours from graduate-level transfer courses. All students take a 44-hour core curriculum and 42-hour concentration in Communication Sciences & Disorders or Movement Sciences & Disorders.
Note: The Ph.D. RS is a face-to-face program, but students may take several distance courses and receive degree credit for up to 49% of the hours taken in the program.
REHABILITATION SCIENCE CORE (44 hours) |
All students take the following core courses or approved substitutes, as applicable.
|
FOUNDATIONS (3 hours) |
HPPH 7101 Rehabilitation Science Foundations
|
HPPH 7102 Professional Development (repeat for 2 hours)
|
TEACHING (8 hours) |
| HPDS 7304 Educational Evaluation in Health Professions |
| HPDS 7305 Curriculum Design & Teaching in Health Professions |
| or another approved education course, and |
| HPPH 7115 Teaching Practicum (repeat for 2 hours) |
RESEARCH DESIGN & STATISTICS (9 hours) |
| HPPH 7321 Research Design & Statistics |
| HPPH 7322 Intermediate Statistics |
| HPPH 7323 Selected Topics in Statistics |
or another approved statistics course
|
TECHNICAL WRITING (6 hours) |
| HPPH 7331 Writing for Publication |
| HPPH 7332 Writing for Grants |
or another approved technical writing course
|
RESEARCH (6 hours) |
| HPPH 7099 Research |
DOCTORAL DISSERTATION (12 hours) |
HPPH 8000 & 8001 Doctoral Dissertation
|
CONCENTRATION (42 hours) |
Students choose a concentration in Communication Sciences & Disorders (CSD) or Movement Sciences and Disorders (MSD), completing graduate-level required, selected, and elective coursework. |
Communication Sciences and Disorders (CSD) Concentration |
REQUIRED CSD COURSES (12 hours) |
HPPH 7171, 7272, or 7377 CSD Seminar (select and repeat courses for 9 hours)
|
| HPPH 7350 CSD Research Methods (3 hours) |
SELECTED CSD COURSES (18 hours from the following) |
HPPH 7171, 7272, or 7377 CSD Seminar (may be repeated for credit; 6 hours maximum)
|
HPPH 7350 CSD Research Methods (may be repeated for credit; 6 hours maximum)
|
| HPPH 7010 Independent Study (may be repeated for credit; 6 hours maximum) |
| HPPH 7020 Special Topics (may be repeated for credit; 6 hours maximum) |
| HPPH 7386 Computer Research Applications |
| Courses from |
- the MSD concentration
- other Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences programs (e.g., AuD, SLP)
- other SHP programs (6 hours maximum)
- other TTUHSC departments (6 hours maximum)
- TTU (6 hours maximum)
|
ELECTIVE CSD COURSES (12 hours) |
| Students take approved elective courses to complete the CSD concentration. |
Movement Sciences and Disorders (MSD) Concentration |
REQUIRED MSD COURSES (12 hours) |
HPPH 7181, 7282, or 7387 MSD Seminar (select and repeat courses for 9 hours)
|
HPPH 7360 MSD Research Methods (3 hours)
|
SELECTED MSD COURSES (18 hours from the following) |
HPPH 7181, 7282, or 7387 MSD Seminar (may be repeated for credit; 6 hours maximum)
|
HPPH 7360 MSD Research Methods (may be repeated for credit; 6 hours maximum)
|
HPPH 7010 Independent Study (may be repeated for credit; 6 hours maximum)
|
HPPH 7020 Special Topics (may be repeated for credit; 6 hours maximum)
|
HPPH 7386 Computer Research Applications
|
| Courses from |
- the CSD concentration
- other Department of Rehabilitation Sciences programs (e.g., DPT, OTD, MAT, or ScD RS)
- other SHP programs (6 hours maximum)
- other TTUHSC departments (6 hours maximum)
- TTU (6 hours maximum)
|
ELECTIVE MSD COURSES (12 hours) |
| Students take approved elective courses to complete the MSD concentration. |
|
Additional Requirements for Graduation |
- Completion of a supervised research project concurrent with HPPH 7099 Research
- Completion of a comprehensive qualifying examination for advancement to candidacy
- Completion of a doctoral dissertation
|
