This program is being discontinued pending SACSCOC approval and is not accepting applications for admission. The University is still authorized to offer the program and issue the associated credential for students who are currently enrolled in the program.

The Inter-Institutional Distance Education Agreement for Learning and Leadership in Communication Sciences and Disorders (IDEALL CSD) Ph.D. is an extension of the UNC Greensboro CSD Ph.D. program to part-time doctoral students living in the western region of North Carolina and will prepare those who pursue careers in higher education for research careers in the academy and other settings. The IDEALL CSD Program prepares both UNC Greensboro and WCU graduates to teach and mentor undergraduate and graduate students in the areas of research and clinical supervision delivery as they create new knowledge. The educational objective of IDEALL CSD is to prepare teachers, scholars, and professional leaders. This objective will be achieved by providing an innovative, responsive, high quality, and accessible course of study to part-time CSD doctoral students who have demonstrated excellent academic achievement in CSD or closely-related disciplines.

IDEALL CSD is a UNC Greensboro degree. Students apply to IDEALL CSD through the UNC Greensboro Graduate School and graduate with a UNC Greensboro graduate doctoral degree.

The program requires a minimum of 63 credit hours. Students who enter with a master’s degree are required to earn 51 credits of course work and 12 credits minimum of dissertation. IDEALL CSD doctoral students will follow the exact course requirements that on-campus UNC Greensboro CSD Ph.D. students are required to take.

The IDEALL CSD Ph.D. program requires students to obtain 63 credit hours with 27 credits completed through WCU and 36 credits completed through UNC Greensboro. WCU courses will be delivered in a face-to-face format while UNC Greensboro courses will be delivered via distance/hybrid/face-to-face technologies.

For information regarding deadlines and requirements for admission, please see https://grs.uncg.edu/programs/.

Prospective students will apply to the IDEALL CSD Ph.D. program through the Graduate School at UNC Greensboro. Admission procedures will follow those described in the UNCG University Catalog and practiced by the doctoral program in Communication Sciences and Disorders.

Applications to the IDEALL CSD Ph.D. program are completed online through the Graduate School website. The following materials are required for an applicant to be considered for admission to the UNCG CSD Ph.D. program:

• University transcripts
• GRE scores; TOEFL scores for international students
• GPA minimum of 3.0
• Current vita
• Sample of writing
• Three letters of recommendation
• Interview with the CSD Graduate Program Director for Doctoral Education and a potential faculty sponsor in the applicant’s research area of expertise

A WCU faculty representative will sit on the program admissions committee for IDEALL CSD applicants, WCU will allow visiting IDEALL CSD students to enroll in courses pertaining to their studies. UNCG will remain the students' home institution.

Deadline for application is February 1.

Degree Program Requirements

Required: 63 credit hours

Plan of Study and Individual Program Planning Committee (IPPC)

Each doctoral student will have an IPPC assigned by the UNC Greensboro CSD Department Chair. Admitted students will work with their CSD faculty mentor in designing the student’s Plan of Study; the IPPC helps evaluate the student’s needs and assists in developing the Plan of Study.

IDEALL CSD students will have a UNC Greensboro faculty sponsor as chair of their IPPC, in charge of directing the dissertation and the submission of all UNC Greensboro Graduate School forms. The UNC Greensboro CSD Department will submit names of WCU faculty with Ph.D. adjunct appointments with UNC Greensboro, and the UNC Greensboro Adjunct WCU faculty can serve on an IDEALL CSD's student committee. 

The student must pass each of the reviews and examinations listed below.

Course List

Code	Title	Credit Hours
CSD Courses (15 credits)
Select 15 credits from CSD courses 1		15
Intersecting Disciplines (12 credits)
Select 12 credits of course work in related disciplines 2		12
Tools Courses (21 credits) 3
Select 12 credits in statistics 4		12
Select 3 credits in teaching		3
Select 3 credits in teaching practicum		3
Select 3 credits in grant-writing		3
Professional Seminars (3 credits)
CSD 751	Professional Seminars in Communication Sciences and Disorders 5	3
Dissertation (12 credits)
CSD 799	Dissertation	12
Total Credit Hours		63

¹

May be selected from CSD courses at the 600- and/or 700-level. CSD courses include CSD 760 Advanced Seminar in Communication Sciences and Disorders , CSD 780 Independent Study , and CSD 790 Directed Research.

²

IDEALL CSD doctoral students select a related minor area theme and take courses from one or more disciplines around that theme. Thus, not all the minor area courses will be taken in the same department. The Intersecting Disciplines are individualized for each doctoral student and will be the same requirement for WCU IDEALL CSD students. Many of our UNC Greensboro CSD students have selected courses from the Psychology, Gerontology, and Special Education Departments for their Intersecting Disciplines topic area. With the approval of the IPPC, select at least 12 credits of course work in a related discipline that is centered around a theme rather than a single area of study (i.e. aging, neuroscience, leadership, clinical supervision, etc).

The IPPC helps evaluate the student’s needs and assists in developing the Plan of Study.

³

Students may select tools courses from CSD courses or interdisciplinary doctoral courses taught by the UNC Greensboro School of Health and Human Sciences. The UNC Greensboro CSD department and the UNC Greensboro School of Health and Human Sciences will offer hands-on practicum courses in the areas of teaching, grant writing, clinical supervision, and academic administration.

⁴

IDEALL CSD students may take a fifth statistics course and earn a minor in statistics. 12 credits of statistics courses at WCU. These courses will then be transferred to UNC Greensboro. This requirement follows the UNC Greensboro CSD Ph.D. program requirement of 12 credits of statistics courses. The CSD Department does not have a specific statistics course sequence that all students must follow. Most of our Ph.D. students take their statistics courses through the UNC Greensboro Educational Research Methodology department.

⁵

Students will take three terms of CSD 751 to fulfill this requirement.

Reviews and Examinations

Qualifying Exams: The IPPC will prescribe the areas and elements of the exams. The exams will take place after at least three-quarters of the course work in the Plan of Study is completed and will follow the policies and guidelines as outlined in the UNC Greensboro Graduate School policies.

Dissertation: Dissertation Proposal Defense, Approval, and Advancement to Candidacy. Following completion of course work, qualifying exams, student will have an oral defense of their dissertation proposal (topic, literature review, and methods). Upon approval of their doctoral committee of their and approval of dissertation proposal, the student may make application to The Graduate School for admission to candidacy for the doctoral degree.

Final Oral Examination: Doctoral candidates will successfully pass an oral examination of their independent dissertation study to members of their doctoral committee.