Doctor of Philosophy in Global Affairs

DEGREE REQUIREMENTS

Seventy-three (73) credits are required for the Ph.D. in global affairs. All students must complete:

• six core courses with grades of B (3.0) or higher, (18 credits);
• two semesters of the Colloquium on Global Change and Governance with grades of Pass, (4 credits);
• two methodology courses, (6 credits);
• four courses in a specialization or sub-field, (12 credits);
• four other DGA courses, (12 credits);
• Dissertation Research, (21 credits); and 
• a language requirement, (no credit).

In addition, students must:

• pass the 52-Credit Review;
• pass the comprehensive examination;
• receive approval for a dissertation proposal; and
• write, successfully defend, and deposit a dissertation.

Students must maintain a grade-point average of 3.50 or higher in all nonlanguage courses taken at Rutgers University, in order to acquire the Ph.D. If academic performance falls below the expected standard, students may fail to pass the 52-Credit Review and the Graduate School–Newark may refuse them the right of future registration and terminate studies. Students with an insufficiently high grade-point average may submit an appeal to the DGA deputy director.

Course Requirements

Core Courses (18 credits)

Students must complete six core courses with grades of B (3.0) or higher in each in order to remain in the program. Students who do not receive a grade of B or higher in some core course must either retake it or take another core course from within one of the nine courses below.

All core requirements must be completed at Rutgers-Newark. Transfer credits may not be used in fulfillment of core requirements.

All five of the below courses must be taken:

26:478:537  Global Governance

26:478:541  Global Political Economy

26:478:572  Evolution of the Global System

26:220:518  International Economics I (All students must have passed Fundamental Economics prior to taking International Economics.)

26:478:573  Culture and Globalization

One of the remaining four courses must be taken:

26:478:584  International Law

26:478:538  Global Environmental Issues

26:553:601  Theory of International Business

26:478:585  Social Movements and Globalization

Colloquium on Global Change and Governance (4 credits)

Students must complete two semesters of the colloquium. Each 2-credit sequence (26:478:570, 571, 573, 574) consists of a series of seminars on a topic or geographical area of current significance. The colloquium is graded on a Pass/Fail basis. Grades are provided by the professor organizing the colloquium.

Students are encouraged to attend--on a noncredit, nonregistered basis--as many Colloquia on Global Change and Governance as possible, but only 4 credits may be counted toward the M.S. degree.

Methodology Requirement (6 credits)

Students must complete two 3-credit methodology courses. One 3-credit qualitative and one 3-credit quantitative. 

For a list of DGA courses that fall within the methodology requirement, please consult the DGA website or consult the DGA deputy director.  

Specializations and Subfields (12 credits)

Students must complete at least four graduate-level courses, for a total of 12 credits, in any one of the following disciplines represented by graduate programs at Rutgers-Newark: business, criminal justice, global affairs, history, law, political science, or public affairs and administration.

Dissertations must be written within the discipline of the specialization/subfield.

Internships may not be counted toward the concentration.

Other DGA Courses (12 credits)

Students must complete at least four graduate-level courses, for a total of 12 credits, in any discipline or disciplines other than the specialization. These courses should have a substantial global affairs component. Any courses considered that are not listed in this catalog must be approved by the DGA deputy director.

Internships may be counted toward the other DGA courses with prior approval from the DGA deputy director.

Recommended courses are listed on the DGA website.

Dissertation Research (21 credits)

After passing the comprehensive examination (see below), students must complete 21 credits of Dissertation Research (26:478:701, 702), either on a full- or part-time basis. Students may register for any number of Dissertation Research credits per semester. Students who register for Dissertation Research may be on or away from campus.

Dissertation advisers provide grades of S (Satisfactory) or U (Unsatisfactory) for Dissertation Research.

Language Requirement

All Ph.D. students must demonstrate, at any time during their course of study at Rutgers-Newark, reading knowledge of at least one modern language other than English. Reading knowledge involves comprehension of global affairs issues. Students can demonstrate reading knowledge:

• by completing four semesters of a language at Rutgers University or other approved and accredited institutions;
• by passing reading-knowledge examinations at Rutgers University (administered by the DGA or the Rutgers-New Brunswick Language Institute); or
• by demonstrating that they are native speakers of a foreign language.

Language courses do not count toward the credits necessary for a Ph.D. 

52-Credit Review

After completing 52 credits in the program--i.e., the six required core courses, two Colloquia on Global Change and Governance, two methodology courses, and the courses satisfying the specialization and other requirements--all Ph.D. students undergo a review of their academic record by the DGA graduate program director. Students must complete a 52-Credit Review Form available at the DGA. Only students who have a grade-point average of 3.50 or higher in all nonlanguage courses taken at Rutgers University and who successfully pass the review will be permitted to continue with their doctoral studies at Rutgers-Newark. Students with an insufficiently high grade point average may submit an appeal to the DGA deputy director.

Comprehensive Examination

After passing the 52-Credit Review, students must take an electronically distributed take-home comprehensive examination testing their knowledge of, and ability to think creatively and analytically about, the global affairs issues covered in the core course topic areas. Students wishing to take a comprehensive examination must inform the DGA deputy director of their desire to do so in writing by September 30 of the fall semester or by February 15 of the spring semester.

Students have two chances to pass the examination. Failure to pass the comprehensive examination on the second try will result in the student's withdrawal from the Ph.D. program.

Students must take the comprehensive examination within six months of passing the 52-Credit Review--and no later than four years after entering the Ph.D. program (regardless of whether students are part time or full time and regardless of whether they enter the DGA with or without transfer credits). Students who fail to take the comprehensive examination within this time may, after appropriate deliberations between the DGA core faculty and students, faculty, or dissertation advisers, be asked to withdraw from the Ph.D. program. (See Termination of Studies.) Students may submit a written request for an extension to the DGA deputy director.

Comprehensive examinations are scheduled twice a year. The examination is distributed by email to students at 9 a.m. on a Friday; their answers must be returned by email to the DGA deputy director by 5 p.m. on the following Monday.

Students must complete the Application for Admission to Candidacy for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (page 1 and part I, Qualifying Examination Committee Report) immediately after passing the comprehensive examination. Applications are available in the Office of the Dean of the Graduate School–Newark, Conklin Hall, Room 241. 

Study Plans

Students who successfully pass the comprehensive examination must submit annual study plans to their dissertation advisers and the graduate program director by November 30 of every academic year. Study plans should be one page in length; they should provide a detailed schedule of the student's dissertation-related research and writing. Students whose study plans are not approved by their dissertation advisers or who fail to produce annual study plans on a timely basis may, after appropriate deliberations between the DGA core faculty and students' dissertation advisers, be asked to withdraw from the Ph.D. program. (See Termination of Studies.) Students may submit a written request for an extension to the DGA director.

Dissertation Proposals

Dissertation proposals are developed in consultation with the student's dissertation adviser following the student's successful completion of the comprehensive examination. Dissertation proposals must be approved by the student's dissertation adviser and a second reader from the DGA core faculty. A final version of the proposal--signed and dated by the student's dissertation adviser and the second reader on the cover page--must be submitted to the DGA graduate program director.

Dissertation proposals must be approved within one year of a student's completion of the comprehensive examination. Students who do not receive approval for dissertation proposals in this time may, after appropriate deliberations between the DGA core faculty and students' faculty or dissertation advisers, be asked to withdraw from the Ph.D. program. (See Termination of Studies.) Students may submit a written request for an extension to the DGA deputy director.

Proposals should consist of no more than 20 pages of double-spaced text presenting, clearly and concisely, a 200-word abstract of the dissertation, a preliminary chapter outline, a thorough review of the relevant theoretical and other literature, an elaboration of the argument, a discussion of the methodology, a discussion of the empirical material, and a preliminary bibliography. Footnotes, not endnotes, should be employed.

Proposals must be written in Standard English, adhere to proper academic form, and be free of typographical errors. The cover page should provide the title of the proposed dissertation, the full name of the student, the student's Social Security number, the date on which the proposal was submitted, and two lines for the signatures of the professors approving the proposal.

Dissertations

Dissertations must address some dimension of global affairs--a multidisciplinary field concerned with theoretically informed, problem-oriented approaches to transnational issues and their interaction with local issues. Country case studies, single-issue studies, or comparative studies divorced from global affairs as defined above do not qualify as dissertation topics.

Dissertations must be written within the discipline of the concentration. They must situate their empirical findings within and address the theoretical debates of that discipline.

In general, dissertations consist of the following parts:

• statement of the problem or issue being addressed and explanation of its importance
• a thorough review of the relevant theoretical and other literature
• an elaboration of the argument or thesis
• a discussion of the methodology
• a detailed presentation of the empirical findings
• a conclusion 
• a bibliography

Dissertations (text and notes, minus the bibliography and ancillary quantitative material, if any) must be 200-250 pages in length, double-spaced. In mathematically oriented disciplines such as economics, dissertations may be shorter. Dissertations must be written in Standard English, adhere to proper academic form, and be free of typographical errors. Dissertations that do not meet these criteria will not be admitted to a defense.

The final draft of the dissertation must be prepared in strict accordance with the instructions given in the pamphlet Thesis and Dissertation Form, available at the Office of the Dean of the Graduate School–Newark, Conklin Hall, Room 241.

Students must defend their dissertations within eight years of admission into the Ph.D. program--regardless of whether students are part time or full time and regardless of whether they entered the DGA with or without transfer credits. Students who fail to meet this deadline will have to withdraw from the Ph.D. program. Students may not submit a written request for an extension to the DGA deputy director. 

Dissertation Defense

A four-member faculty committee, formed by the student and the dissertation adviser and consisting of the student's dissertation adviser and three other professors, examines the completed dissertation at an oral defense. Dissertation committees are chaired by the student's dissertation adviser who, together with the student, determines its composition. The members of the dissertation committee are usually drawn from the DGA core or associate faculty. It is recommended, though not imperative, that one member of the committee be from an institution other than Rutgers-Newark.

At the time of the defense, it is the responsibility of the student to obtain from the Office of the Dean of the Graduate School–Newark, Conklin Hall, Room 241, the Application for Admission to Candidacy for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (on Part II of which the Final Examination Committee Report is recorded) for completion by the committee at the defense. The committee members must also sign the title page of the dissertation, signifying their acceptance of it.

Once the DGA deputy director certifies that all program requirements have been completed, the student must return the candidacy application to the Office of the Dean of the Graduate School–Newark, Conklin Hall, Room 241.

Deposition of the Dissertation

Upon returning the candidacy application to the Office of the Dean, students should also submit one original copy of the dissertation on 100 percent cotton-content bond paper, one copy of the title page and abstract (not exceeding 350 words), the receipted payment form for microfilming, the microfilming agreement form, and additional survey forms as required. All these materials must be submitted to the Office of the Dean of the Graduate School–Newark, Conklin Hall, Room 241, no later than the announced deadlines for completion of degree requirements. (Diploma application deadlines are October 2, January 2, and April 2 for conferral of degrees in, respectively, October, January, and May/June.)