Degree Programs —

The Ph.D. Program

The University of Florida Religion Department offers a Ph.D. in religion with three specializations: Religion in the Americas, Religions of Asia, and Religion and Nature. The first two specializations provide advanced education in the academic study of religion with an inclusive focus on the religions and religious experiences of peoples in: 1) North, Central and South America, or 2) South and East Asia as well as the Asian diasporas. The third specialization addresses in a systematic way the religious and ethical dimensions of human attitudes and practices regarding the natural world.

Course requirements: The University of Florida requires 90 hours of course work for the Ph.D. These may include up to 30 hours from a completed M.A. degree. The number of hours credited toward the Ph.D. is at the discretion of department faculty. A minimum of 45 hours is devoted to course work at the doctoral level. The specific distribution of course work depends on the specialization, but will include intensive work in the major area of specialization, 6 hours of method and theory (If not taken at the M.A. level) and 15 hours devoted to dissertation writing and research.

Teaching: The department does its best to secure teaching experience for its doctoral students and views such experience as integral to the professional education it offers. The department also encourages doctoral students to give lectures in appropriate undergraduate courses taught by members of the faculty. Doctoral candidates may be able to offer their own courses after completing their qualifying examinations.

Language requirements: All doctoral students must demonstrate proficiency in at least one and in many cases two languages other than English. The chosen language(s) as well as how and when the student’s competence will be judged must be approved by the student’s supervisory committee chair. Frequently language competence is met through (1) taking an appropriate course or courses in the language with a grade of “B’ or better or (2) passing a translation exam (usually administered by a department member or a language department at the University) . Basic course work for scholarly languages will not count toward the required 90 credit hours. However, students studying a scholarly language connected to their research needs, above and beyond basic competence, can receive six (or more) credit hours for such advanced courses toward the required 90 total credit hours with approval of the students’ supervisory committee chair.

Supervisory committee: Each student admitted to doctoral study in religion will be assigned an advisor from his or her major field of interest. By the end of the second semester of study, a supervisory committee chair will be nominated by the student, in consultation with her/his advisor, to approve and monitor her or his program of study. By the end of the fourth semester of study, the student must establish a four member supervisory committee, including a chair and a member from outside the department. The chair and at least one additional member of the committee must be members of the religion graduate faculty. The Dean of the Graduate School is an additional ex officio member of all Ph.D. committees. The supervisory committee is formally nominated by the department chair, approved by the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and appointed by the Dean of the Graduate School. Membership on supervisory committees may be altered through the mutual agreement of a faculty member and the student. Changes can be made in the final term only by petition to the Graduate School.

Qualifying examinations: Qualifying examinations form a bridge between course work and dissertation research. Normally students will take qualifying examinations during one of two specified periods during their third year in residence. In the fall, the four written examinations will be taken within a four week period in October with the oral examination as soon as possible afterward, ideally and normally within two weeks after completion of the last written examination. In the spring, the exams will be taken within a four week period beginning in mid-February with the oral examination again as soon as possible afterward, ideally and normally within two weeks after the completion of the last written examination. All written examinations are closed book exams and are normally to be written within a five-hour period. The oral examination may last up to two hours. Students taking the same exam during the same fall or spring examination period will take it on the same day. The procedure will be to pick up the exam questions from the department secretary, write the exam on a computer in an available department office, and return it to the secretary within the normal 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. workday.

The nature of the exams is determined by the faculty in the student’s area of study. The precise areas of questioning and the reading list are decided by the members of the supervisory committee in consultation with the student well in advance of the examinations but no later than the beginning of the term in which the student intends to take the qualifying examinations.

The examinations are evaluated by the relevant members of the supervisory committee. After each exam is graded the grade and whatever comments thought to be useful are passed on to the committee chair. Students know they have passed all of their exams when the oral exam is allowed to go forward.

Individual exams are graded pass, conditional, or fail.

• Pass on all written exams is required to advance to orals.
• Conditional signifies that a part or parts of the written examination require a second written examination during the next examination period. If a pass is awarded then there is advancement to orals. Failure to pass the reexamination terminates the student’s career.
• Fail signifies that the whole of the written examination must be re-taken during the next examination period. If a pass is awarded then there is advancement to orals. Failure to pass the reexamination terminates the student’s career.

The final component is an oral examination normally taken within two weeks of the last written examination. It is administered by the entire committee and serves as an opportunity to discuss issues not addressed, or insufficiently addressed, in the written examinations. This is also an occasion for exploring in what ways the student’s study for the qualifying examinations has shaped or modified his/her understanding of the proposed dissertation topic. Students either pass the oral, fail, or are asked to retake each of the examinations. A candidate passes the orals if at least 75% of the faculty members present vote “pass.” Additionally, the committee can unanimously judge that the overall exams, including the oral portion, were passed “with distinction.” Upon the conclusion for the oral component this grade is reported immediately to the Graduate Program Assistant for submission to the Graduate School, using the appropriate forms.

Dissertation prospectus: After successfully completing their oral examination, doctoral students must by the end of the semester following their oral examination, submit a formal dissertation proposal to the faculty chair of their supervisory committee and arrange an open meeting with their supervisory committee and area faculty to discuss the proposal. If the proposal is accepted, the candidate is permitted to complete the project in consultation with the supervisory committee.

Admission to candidacy: Upon successful completion of the qualifying examinations and of the dissertation prospectus, and all other course and language requirements, and with the approval of the supervisory committee, students make formal application to the department and Graduate School for admission to Ph.D. candidacy. It is the responsibility of the student to confirm that all Graduate School deadlines for completion of all requirements are met. Candidacy signals the completion of all requirements except the dissertation and its defense. Through conferring the status of candidacy, the department and Graduate School officially confirm that a student is qualified to conduct the dissertation project she or he has proposed.

The Dissertation and its defense: The final years of the program are devoted to dissertation research and writing. It is crucial at this stage that the student set up a timetable for the completion of the dissertation, initiate and maintain regular communication with the supervisory committee chair. The student is expected to present the completed dissertation to the members of the supervisory committee at least four weeks prior to its public oral defense conducted by the supervisory committee. It is the student’s responsibility to obtain information on deadlines and format questions from the Graduate School well in advance of the defense. Note: The Graduate Council requires that doctoral students must complete all of their work within five calendar years after the qualifying examinations or else those examinations must be repeated.

Research Credits

Rel 6910 ~ Supervised Research. This is for research projects, especially at the ma level, not for library study exclusively. The supervisor should be a professor who overseas the research.

Rel 7979 ~ Advanced Research. This is for pre-qualifying exam research. Students may register for as few as three credits, and up to 9 credits, if this is necessary to maintain their assistantship requirement of taking 9 credits. (Alternatively, if they are taking a three credit course while studying for qualifying exams, they could register for six credits of this course when studying for qualifying exams, and so on.)

Rel 7980 ~ Doctoral Research. This is exclusively for students engaged in post-qualifying exam dissertation research. A student can take as many of these up to the maximum in a semester as required by assistantships, fellowships, or other stipends. Many students use these while they are on fellowship and need to fill up hours. Normally students will register for more than three credit hours given the intense time commitment required.

NOTE: in special circumstances, such as fulfilling an out of department environmental science credit or acquiring needed background training, undergraduate 4000 level courses can be taken for graduate credit.