The college offers an interdisciplinary program leading to the Doctor of Philosophy degree in Design, Construction and Planning.
Inter-College Specializations. Ph.D.'s are offered in five areas of specialization within the college. These include architecture, building construction, interior design, landscape architecture, and urban and regional planning. During the first three semesters, an interdisciplinary core is taught by DCP faculty members to identify commonalities, diversity and trends in the theory, history, methods and scientific traditions of research and teaching among the five disciplines. Students are encouraged to develop and expand their own research focus and skills through collaboration with their supervisory committee in selecting their specific program of study. In addition to taking courses, graduate students become involved through graduate assistantships in faculty research as well as teaching.
Academic Unit Specializations. Within the area of building construction, specialization options include sustainable construction, information systems, facilities management, construction safety, affordable housing, productivity, and human resource management. These specializations prepare students to assume college-level faculty positions and industry research positions in construction management and the building sciences.
General Requirements. The Doctor of Philosophy is a research degree and is granted on evidence of general proficiency, distinctive attainment in a special field, and particularly on ability for independent investigation as demonstrated in a dissertation presenting original research with a high degree of literary skill. Consequently, doctoral programs are more flexible and varied than those leading to other graduate degrees. The Graduate Council does not specify what courses will be required for the Doctor of Philosophy degree. The general requirement is that the program should be unified in relation to a clear objective, that it should have the considered approval of the student's entire supervisory committee, and that it should include an appropriate number of credits of doctoral research.
Course Requirements. A minimum of 90 credits beyond the bachelor's degree is required for the Ph.D. degree in all fields. These include a 10 credit hour core and a minimum of 15 credit hours for the dissertation. All master's degrees counted in the minimum must have been earned in the last seven years. Each student must develop with his or her temporary committee a plan of study during the first semester in the Ph.D. program.
Transfer of Credit. No more than 30 semester credits of a master's degree from another institution will be transferred to a doctoral program. The supervisory committee chair, director of the doctoral program, and the dean of the Graduate School must approve the 30 credit hour master degree transfer.
If a student holds a master's degree in a discipline different from the doctoral program, the master's work will not be counted in the program unless the academic unit petitions the Dean of the Graduate School.
All courses beyond the master's degree taken at another university to be applied to the Ph.D. degree must be taken at an institution. All courses to be transferred must be graduate level, letter graded with a grade of B or better and must be demonstrated to relate directly to the degree being sought. All such transfer requests must be made by petition of the supervisory committee no later than the third semester of Ph.D. study. The total number of credits (including 30 for a prior master's degree) that may be transferred cannot exceed 45, and in all cases the student must complete the qualifying examination at UF. In addition, any prior graduate-level credits earned at UF (i.e. a master's degree in the same or a different discipline) may be transferred into the doctoral program at the discretion of the supervisory committee and by petition to the Graduate School. In such cases, it is essential that the petition demonstrate the relevance of the prior course work to the degree presently being sought.
