Ph.D. Home Page
Dear Prospective Doctoral Student:
Thank you for your interest in the University
of Tennessee, College of Nursing Ph.D. Program. The College of
Nursing offers a doctoral program leading to the Doctor of Philosophy
degree with a major in Nursing. The doctoral program prepares
nursing scholars capable of integrating research, theory, and
practice into their roles as researchers, educators, and/or administrators.
Given the impending shortage of nursing faculty in the U.S., we
place special emphasis on preparation for the faculty role through
course work and preceptorship experiences. Newly available is an accelerated curriculum option for nurse educators, involving 4 consecutive semesters of course work (15 months), followed by the dissertation. Students pursuing this option will earn a certificate in Nursing Education.
Faculty
research expertise is strong in the areas of women’s physical
and mental health, anger and violence, empathy, gerontology, psychoneuroimmunology,and
nursing education. The College of Nursing is a Cooperating Site
of the International Institute for Qualitative Methodology (co-directors
Joanne Hall and Sandra Thomas). Discourse analysis, phenomenology,
hermeneutics, and grounded theory are prominent among the qualitative
approaches used by faculty researchers. A new manuscript dissertation option is available.
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Program objectives
Upon completion of the doctoral program, graduates should be all to:
1. Analyze, test, refine, extend and expand the
theoretical basis of nursing practice.
2. Conduct nursing research that generates knowledge and advances
nursing as a discipline.
3. Provide leadership as nurse scientists who can function in
a variety of roles and settings.
4. Collaborate with members of other disciplines in health-related
research.
5. Develop, implement, evaluate, and recommend health care policy
at various levels.
6. Demonstrate professionalism, advocacy, ethical principles and
scientific integrity.
The over-arching philosophy of our program is
individualized education. Each student’s program of study
is designed to foster his or her unique interests and career goals. The Faculty value community, quality, innovation, and accessibility.
We have small classes and committed faculty who are engaged in
nursing research and scholarly writing. Our students become part
of an exciting community of scholars, devoted to extending and
expanding nursing knowledge. Many students have presented formal
papers and posters at meetings, have published papers in scholarly
journals and contributed chapters to faculty edited books.
Admission Requirements:
1. Meet requirements for admission to the Graduate School.
2. Hold a master’s degree in nursing from a program accredited
by the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission or Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education. Some outstanding applicants
who are prepared at the bachelor’s level in nursing may
be considered. In such cases, graduate level courses in nursing
theory, clinical specialties, and/or research will be integrated
into the formal program of doctoral degree requirements.
3. Have a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.3 on a 4.0
scale for previous college work.
4. Have successfully completed a basic statistics course and graduate
nursing theory and research courses prior to enrollment in the
nursing doctoral courses.
5. Have achieved a competitive score on the verbal and quantitative
portions of the Graduate Record Examination.
6. Complete College of Nursing Graduate Program Data Form.
7. Submit three (3) Graduate School rating forms from college
level instructors and/or nurses and administrators who have supervised
applicant’s professional work.
8. Submit a sample of scholarly writing (e.g., thesis, published
paper).
9. Submit an essay describing personal and professional aspirations.
10. Have 2 personal interviews with the College of Nursing PhD
program Admissions Committee. Interviews can be conducted by telephone in some cases.
11. Submit entire application (3 rating forms, essay, Graduate
Application for Admission, Graduate Program Data Form, academic
transcripts, writing sample, and GRE scores) by the specified deadline.
12. Submit TOEFL Scores if native language is not English. A minimum
score of 550 is required.
Admission is closed for the Class of 2010. Applications for the
Class of 2011 will be accepted in the fall of 2010. Transcripts must be
submitted directly to the Graduate School, 218 Student Services Building,
University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996; other items should be sent to: Dr.
Sandra Thomas , College of Nursing, UT Knoxville, 1200 Volunteer Blvd.,
Knoxville, TN 37996. Testing dates for the Graduate Record Examination are in
October, December, February, April and June. Application to write the
examination on a specific date must be made approximately one month prior to the
testing date. The Educational Testing Service has also developed a computerized
GRE which permits immediate score reporting; 100 cities offer this new form of
the test. Contact the Educational Testing Service, Princeton, NJ 08450, or call
609-771-7670 for application forms. You can access the graduate catalog online
at http://admissions.utk.edu/graduate/. The PhD program in Nursing requires 43
semester hours of course work and 24 hours of dissertation credits. The course
numbers, titles and semester hours are as follows:
601 Philosophy and Theory of Nursing
Science 3 ence Seminar 2
612 Health and Nursing Policy/Planning 3
613 Nursing Leadership in Complex Systems 3
Inferential Statistics 3
Multivariate Statistics 3
Cognates 6
Elective 3
600 Dissertation 24
Total: 67
*1 hour per semester must be taken for 2 semesters.
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Important Facts
There are four (4) options* to complete the program:
- An accelerated option for nurse educators that includes a minor in education (course work in completed in 15 months).
- A full-time curriculum for students desiring cognates other than education.
- A part-time curriculum (2 courses per semester).
- A BSN-to-PhD curriculum for students who do not have an MSN degree.
* Note that all options make maximum use of summers. Possible cognate areas include but are not limited
to anthropology, child and family studies, psychology, education,
gerontology, management, medical ethics, philosophy, public health,
social work, and statistics. |
Program Delivery Mechanisms
The PhD program is delivered by a combination of on-line learning and periodic block scheduling of on-campus orientation and instructional activities. Students are required to be on campus once early in the semester and once near the end. On-campus time is for professional development, face to face meetings, classes, presentations, examinations, seminars, discussion and mentoring. On-campus schedules may vary slightly from term to term. |
An agreement among cooperating Southern states
for sharing certain graduate programs allows residents of some
states to enroll in certain programs at UT Knoxville at an in-state
tuition rate. Additional information may be obtained from the
Admissions Specialist in the Office of Graduate Admissions and
Records: 865-974-3251.
After you have reviewed the enclosed informational
materials, I will be happy to answer questions about our program.
We welcome both full-time and part-time students. Visits to the school to meet faculty and students
are highly encouraged. I will look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Sandra P. Thomas, RN, PhD, FAAN (sthomas@utk.edu)
Professor and Director of the PhD Program
PhD Brochure
PhD Brochure Insert
PhD Program Data Form
PhD Program Schedule 2009-2010
BSN to PhD curriculum plan
PhD Graduate Handbook 09-10
PhD Rating Form
