1. Complete three core seminars
2. Select a primary field of either Human Resources or Labor, Work, and Society, in which five courses will be taken
3. Either select a secondary field in which three courses will be taken, or take three electives if no secondary field is chosen
4. Complete four statistics and research methods courses
5. Complete a master's thesis
6. Complete a dissertation
7. Attend the Proseminar, consisting of presentations by SMLR faculty, outside scholars, and Ph.D. students

Students choose their courses in consultation with the graduate director. Courses can fulfill the specific requirements as listed here or be used to recognize expertise in primary or secondary fields of study. Each field has a specific set of courses that are required to be completed, which are listed under the links below. A customized secondary field can be developed in conjunction with the graduate adviser and the graduate director, which then must be approved by the Ph.D. Policy Committee.

Students can take doctoral courses at Princeton, Columbia, New York University, CUNY, Fordham, New School, or Stony Brook as part of their studies, through the Inter-University Consortium in which Rutgers participates.

Course Outline

Seminar in Industrial Relations: A Survey of the Scholarly Literature (3)

Seminar in Human Resources: Macro Foundations (3)

Seminar in Organizational Behavior (3)

Primary field (15): either 

1. Human Resources or 

2. Labor, Work, and Society

Secondary field (9): either

1. Human Resources or 

2. Labor, Work, and Society

3. Customized, or

4. No secondary field, with 9 credits of electives approved by director

Research Methods (3)

Statistics I (3)

Statistics II (3)

Advanced statistics or methodology elective (3)

Master's thesis (6)

Proseminar credits (3)

Doctoral thesis credits (18)