Educational Psychology (Ph.D.) Program Details

Degree Requirements

    ❱   Required coursework
    ❱   Qualifying or comprehensive examination
    ❱   Internship: A year-long internship
    ❱   Graduate School writing proficiency requirement
    ❱   Graduate School Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) requirement
    ❱   Dissertation 
    ❱   Final oral examination/Dissertation defense

Research Areas & Interests 

Faculty Research Interests

A sampling of research interests

  • Cross-cultural and developmental studies of at-risk children and adolescents
  • Identification of specific learning disabilities, cognitive assessment in children with chronic health conditions
  • Multicultural competence and cross-cultural applications of cognitive assessment
  • Mental health interventions for children and adolescents
  • Achievement motivation of African American adolescents
  • Impact of community violence on parenting, parenting stress, and early childhood outcomes
  • The role of interpersonal violence and/or community violence on children's outcomes
  • Overrepresentation of minority children in special education
  • Clinical evaluations and implementation of treatment strategies to address childhood psychopathology
  • Classroom contextual factors that contribute to the development of self-efficacy
  • Approaches to learning and mathematics achievement in young children
  • Within-group variation in social-emotional and cognitive development among African-American children

Program of Study* 

Fall Year 1 (10 CR)


HUDE 200 Introduction to Educational Research

HUDE 220 Advanced Educational Psychology

HUDE 201 Human Development (or Alt. Lifespan Dev.)

HUDE 503 Directed Individual Study

Spring Year 1 (12 CR)


HUDE 400 Intermediate Statistics

HUDE 320 Human Learning

HUDE 225 Advanced Measurement & Evaluation

HUDE 323 Motivation in the Classroom

Fall Year 2 (12 CR)


HUDE 331 Seminar in Black Child Development

HUDE 325 Theories of Cognitive Development

HUDE 500 Advanced Statistics

HUDE 301 Educational Research II (Thesis Credit)

Spring Year 2 (12 CR)


HUDE 328 Problems in Educational Psychology

HUDE 502 Multivariate Analysis

HUDE 301 Educational Research II (Thesis Credit)

HUDE 420 Seminar in Learning and Cognition

Fall Year 3 (9 CR)


HUDE 322 Indiv Assessment of Cognitive Abilities

HUDE 401 Evaluation Methodology

HUDE 455 Issues & Trends in Measurement Theory

Spring Year 3 (9 CR)


HUDE 403 Select Topics in Program Evaluation

Subspecialty Elective

HUDE 503 Directed Individual

Fall Year 4 (9 CR)


HUDE 518 Internship

EDAP 524 Adv Qualitative Research

Subspecialty Elective

Spring Year 4 (12 CR)


HUDE 501 Design & Analysis of Research Projects

HUDE 518 Internship

Subspecialty Elective

HUDE 503 Advanced Topics in Motivation 

Fall Year 5 (3-6 CR)


HUDE 509 Dissertation Research

Spring Year 5 (3-6 CR)


HUDE 509 Dissertation Research

*Courses included in the sample program of study are subject to change. Students should consult with their programs regarding their required program of study. 

Admission to Candidacy 

Students are admitted to formal candidacy by the Graduate School when they have completed the required coursework, passed the qualifying or comprehensive examination, submitted an approved topic for research, and been recommended by the Department. Candidates must also have satisfied the Graduate School writing proficiency requirement and Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) requirement.

Graduate Funding 

Admitted students may be eligible to compete for Graduate School competitive awards, which provide tuition remission and a stipend during the academic year. Additionally, graduate research or teaching assistantships may be available at the department level. Research assistants and teaching assistants work no more than 20 hours a week under the program's direction, usually in support of faculty research (research assistants) or in support of assigned courses (teaching assistants). Please see the Funding website for more detailed information.