The Doctor of Philosophy in Urban Planning and Environmental Policy Program, Courses, and Faculty

Degree Requirements

The overall requirements to earn the Doctor of Philosophy in Urban Planning and Environmental Policy are:

1. Completion of 54 credit hours, 21 of which will be core courses. In addition to the core requirements, students are required take 12 hours of specialization courses and 9 hours of elective coursework. The remaining 12 hours will be dissertation credits.
2. Of the 54 total hours, not more than 9 (not including the dissertation) can be transferred into the program from another university. All transferred hours must have been earned in a doctoral program, and the student must have earned a 3.0 grade point average (B) or better.
3. Satisfactory performance on qualifying examination
4. Satisfactory performance on the comprehensive examination
5. Completion of residency requirement
6. Presentation and acceptance of dissertation proposal
7. Completion of the research for an acceptable dissertation
8. Satisfactory performance on an oral examination about the dissertation
9. Publication of at least one professional journal article

The Qualifying Examination

The purpose of the qualifying examination is to test a student’s preparation to undertake doctoral work, and will gauge the student’s level of understanding of basic concepts in the area of urban and regional theory, planning theory and quantitative methods. Students are assigned to take the examination after the completion of 12 credit hours. Without successful passage of the exam, a student will be unable to enroll in advanced doctoral coursework. A student will be allowed to retake the qualifying examination.

Comprehensive Examination

The comprehensive examination is intended to test a student’s mastery of the skills and knowledge that should have been acquired in the program of study. Upon the successful completion of the comprehensive examination, provided all other graduate school requirements have been met, the student becomes a candidate for the doctoral degree.

The examination is taken at the end of the period of formal coursework, but prior to substantial work on the dissertation. The examination cannot be taken until all credit hour requirements are completed.

The Ph.D. Policy Committee

The Ph.D. Policy Committee will be responsible for administering the departmental portions of the comprehensive examination. The departmental portions consist of three exams that cover urban and regional planning theory, planning theory and methods, and environmental policy.

Number of Times Comprehensive Can Be Taken

A candidate will be given two attempts to take and pass the comprehensive examination. However, a doctoral student who fails the comprehensive examination the second time may petition for a third exam to be administered. The petition must show a plan of action designed to enhance the student’s chance of passing the portion of the exam that was failed. The chairperson of the student’s doctoral committee, the department head, the dean of the college and the dean of the graduate school must then approve the petition. A student who fails to pass the comprehensive exam or any part of it after the third attempt will be automatically withdrawn as a student in the program.

Doctoral Candidacy

The doctoral student must satisfy the following requirements before he or she can be considered a candidate for a doctoral degree:

1. Unconditional admittance into the Doctor of Philosophy in Environmental Policy program
2. Two consecutive semesters of full-time residence or an approved equivalence
3. Satisfactory completion of 54 semester hours of doctoral level course work
4. Pass the doctoral comprehensive examination

Dissertation Committee and Oral Defense

After achieving candidacy, the student will work with his or her academic advisor to create a dissertation committee. This committee should consist of at least three graduate faculty members, and must have a dissertation advisor, who will also serve as chairperson. The student’s advisor will then recommend the dissertation committee to the dean of the Graduate School. After approval, the Graduate School dean will appoint a graduate school representative to the dissertation committee, and the student can begin work on the dissertation proposal.

Once the dissertation proposal has been approved, the candidate will prepare a dissertation and make an oral defense to the committee. If the student does not successfully defend his or her dissertation, the dean of the Graduate School must be petitioned for permission to re-defend. A second oral defense will not be permitted within one semester of the initial failure.

Dissertation

The overarching purpose of the dissertation is to satisfy the academic community, the university and the supervisory committee that the student is capable of undertaking and successfully completing independent, scholarly research regarding an important issue in the field of urban planning and environmental policy. Hence, concerted work on the dissertation will not normally begin until the student has passed the comprehensive examination. A successful dissertation will require original research and is expected to reveal significant advances in knowledge about the subject.

Time Limit for the Completion of the Doctor of Philosophy Degree

A student is given seven years from the time of admittance into the program in which to complete all program requirements.

The student’s doctoral advisory committee and the dean of the Graduate School must approve continuation in the doctoral program beyond the seven-year limit. The maximum time allowed to complete the program, including all approved extensions, is nine years. This time limit, however, does not include work done as part of the requirements for the master’s degree. Credits earned more than seven years prior to the completion date of doctoral degree requirements at Texas Southern University cannot be accepted toward satisfying those degree requirements.

Standards of Performance

To continue in the program, a student must make a reasonable and timely progress toward the degree in terms of completed course work and examinations. The determination that a student is not making satisfactory progress and should be terminated from the program may be made for several different reasons, including the failure to achieve and maintain a GPA of at least 3.00, failure to pass 12 credit hours within a 12-month period, failure of the qualifying or comprehensive examinations, or failure to successfully defend a dissertation proposal or final dissertation. In all such cases, a recommendation of dismissal must be made to the admission committee and program coordinator, which will review the case and issue a final decision.

Program Curriculum

The requirements for the doctoral program are as follows:

Core Curriculum Requirements

All doctoral students in urban planning and environmental policy will be required to take 21 core course credit hours in three areas (Theory, Methods and Planning Application, and Environmental Policy) and participate in the doctoral research curriculum.

The core curriculum is designed to provide all students with a general introduction to planning through analytical methods, planning techniques, and environmental issues and policies.

The core curriculum is shown below:

Specialization and Concentration

A specialization is a broadly defined area in which students develop an in-depth knowledge and set of practice skills. A concentration is defined as a more narrowly focused area which exists within a general field of specialization, and which provides the student an opportunity to focus on a particular sub-set of specialty issues.

The specializations offered by the program are designed to respond to current and anticipated future needs of the field. Students will be required to select a specialization according to their particular interests and career goals, but the choice will not be made until the end of the second or beginning of the third semester. Students may elect to develop an individualized specialization in consultation with their advisor. To do so, however, the student will be required to obtain an approval from the doctoral program committee.

A specialization will consist of four required courses and three elective courses. Doctoral students can select their elective courses from appropriate, approved doctoral graduate courses offered at the University.

Course Descriptions

UPEP 900 - Advanced Planning Theory and Practice (3)
Examines the intellectual and professional roots of contemporary planning theory and practice. Efforts are made to analyze these roots with an eye to stimulating new perspectives and concepts for a sustainable community orientation.

UPEP 901 - Advanced Urban Theory (3)
Evolution of Urban Theory. Focuses on the genesis and structure of planning thought and methods; economic, political, and social factors influencing the development of urban theories and policies; the theory and development of urban structure; and the history of cities.

UPEP 902 - Advanced Planning Analysis I (3)
Analysis of the methods for investigation urban and environmental phenomena; models, data-gathering techniques; sources and applications of aggregate data; data preparation and data processing; measures of association and statistical significance.

UPEP 903 - Advanced Planning Analysis II (3)
Applied statistics and computing, inferential statistics; multivariate statistical methods; selecting the appropriate statistical test for analyzing bivariate relationships and procedures for more complex designs.

UPEP 904 - Environmental Planning and Policy (3)
Examines contemporary environmental policy and practice and the institutional framework for establishing policy and programs. Analysis of environmental planning case studies spanning the federal, state and local levels.

UPEP 905 - Environmental Planning and Natural Resources Management (3)
Examines the problems related to resources management and environmental planning. Discusses the relationship between the physical environment and the quality of urban life and examines the global population’s impacts to local air pollution control and management.

UPEP 906 - Environmental Monitoring and Analysis (3)
Interpretation and analysis of scientific information, and the examination of the chemistry of atmospheric, land and water environment, with particular emphasis on urban and industrial sector pollution.

UPEP 907 - Environmental Legislation and Policy (3)
Legal principles and institutions involved in protecting the environments, including air, water and noise pollution. Discussion emphasizes the approach of lawyers and courts, as differentiated from that of a planner.

UPEP 908 - Pollution Control (3)
Examines the technological and management options for controlling and preventing air, water and solid waste pollution.

UPEP 909 - Population and Development Planning (3)
Examines issues, methods, strategies and problems related to the integration of population information with policies for guiding the social and economic development of third world countries.

UPEP 910 - Comprehensive Planning and Growth Management (3)
Explores the comprehensive planning process by developing a plan for a local jurisdiction. Important topics to examine include problems and needs for growth management and planning approaches and methods for controlling growth in the urban environment.

UPEP 941 - Research Colloquium (3)
Doctoral seminar addressing issues of interests in research, teaching and career development.

UPEP 942 - Dissertation
Supervised research and dissertation preparation.

Urban Planning and Environmental Policy Faculty

		Dr. Akpan Akpan Professor - Urban Planning and Environmental Policy Ph.D., Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Hannah Hall, Room 334B Phone: (713) 313-7398 E-mail: Akpan_AI@tsu.edu
		Dr. Mustapha Beydoun Assistant Professor - Urban Planning and Environmental Policy Ph.D., The Ohio State University Hannah Hall, Room 338B Phone: (713) 313-7304 E-mail: beydounm@TSU.EDU
		Dr. Olurominiyi Ibitayo Associate Professor - Urban Planning and Environmental Policy Ph.D., Arizona State University Hannah Hall, Room 334C Phone: (713) 313-7403 E-mail: ibitayo_oo@TSU.EDU
		Dr. Qisheng Pan Associate Professor - Urban Planning and Environmental Policy Ph.D., University of Southern California Hannah Hall, Room 334E Phone: (713) 313-7221 E-mail: pan_qs@TSU.EDU
		Dr. Lalita Sen Professor - Urban Planning and Environmental Policy Ph.D., Northwestern University Hannah Hall, Room 336B Phone: (713) 313-7448 E-mail: Sen_LX@tsu.edu
		Dr. Laura Solitare Assistant Professor - Urban Planning and Environmental Policy Ph.D., Rutgers University Hannah Hall, Room 334A Phone: (713) 313-7772 E-mail: solitarelg@TSU.EDU