SPPD Unveils New, Integrated Ph.D. Program
by Darren Schenckfrom SPPD Community Connections Fall 2004
Next fall, a dozen or so students will form the first entering class in the USC School of Policy, Planning, and Development's new Ph.D. program, the only such program the school will now offer.
The new program replaces the two separate Ph.D. programs that the school currently administers. Although these programs have contributed to SPPD's top-10 ranking among schools of its kind nationally, SPPD faculty and leadership identified the need for a consolidated program some three years ago.
"The new Ph.D. program in policy, planning, and development more accurately reflects the mission, strengths, and strategic direction of the school," says Dan Mazmanian, SPPD's C. Erwin and Ione L. Piper Dean and Professor. "Combined with our new strategic plan, the integrated Ph.D. program signals the school's priorities and illumines its path to excellence."
It also embraces goals established by the university in its strategic planning documents, in particular USC's commitment to engaging the urban environment and to interdisciplinary research and teaching.Niraj Verma, associate professor of planning and management and director of the school's doctoral programs, says that a revised Ph.D. program was the next logical step in the school's evolution.
"When the faculty were talking about a new strategic plan, it became clear that a new Ph.D. program could reflect that plan and present a more cohesive program to potential Ph.D. applicants," he says. "In addition to attracting talented individuals to the program, we want to produce strong cohorts of students who share common elements in their Ph.D. education."
The new Ph.D. degree will draw on wide-ranging faculty expertise in such areas as planning, public policy, public administration, management, real estate development, and health administration to produce graduates whose expertise is enhanced by a common core curriculum.
"We expect the integrated program to encourage more synergy among students and faculty," says Verma. "Many current students are interested in switching to the new Ph.D. degree, and all of our tenure track faculty will participate in the admissions process for next year's class."
Students choose to specialize in one of four areas: planning, public management, public policy, or urban development. All tracks share in common three core courses and two courses in research methodology. Ph.D. candidates will be required to take a teaching seminar and provide an annual statement of progress. A screening exam will be administered at the end of the first year of coursework; when students have completed all of their coursework, they will take a qualifying exam. And, as in most Ph.D. programs, students will be required to complete and defend a dissertation.
Despite the heavy workload the program requires, Verma believes that most students will earn their Ph.D. in four years.
"I know that's ambitious, but we believe our students can do it," he says. "All of our Ph.D. candidates will receive financial support that allows them to study full-time for those four years."
What the freshly minted doctors then do for the next 40 is up to them.