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Ph.D. Degree Requirements

Students plan a program of study in conjunction with a faculty guidance committee. All doctoral students must demonstrate proficiency in one foreign language. The student will present to the committee a research proposal in which the soundness, originality, and feasibility of the investigative ideas are clearly revealed, and which, when approved, should serve as the basis of the doctoral dissertation. After the successful completion of all required courses, and the approval of the proposal, students who wish to be admitted to doctoral candidacy must demonstrate a broad basic knowledge of their major and minor fields and their ability to carry out basic research in zoology in a qualifying examination. All students must complete an original dissertation project, present the results at a public seminar, and pass an oral defense consisting of questions put forth by members of the dissertation committee.