Doctor of Philosophy – Individual Interdisciplinary Doctoral Program
- Fall January 10
- Pullman: Yes
- 7 IELTS Minimum score
- 77 MELAB Minimum score
- 550 TOEFL Minimum score
- 80 TOEFLI Minimum score
Degree Description:
Each student works with an advisor and four additional members of the WSU faculty from at least three academic units. This committee oversees the development of the individual doctoral degree and works closely with the student to ensure a high quality doctoral education. The individual doctoral program must meet the following criteria: it will be of doctoral significance, no single recognized graduate degree-granting unit will be able to meet the student’s needs, and the academic resources to complete the proposed program will be available at WSU.
Admission Requirements:
Applicants must have a cumulative GPA of at least 3.5 in all graduate coursework, a 3.0 GPA in all undergraduate coursework, and have received a master’s degree from an accredited institution. English proficiency exams are only required for international students for whom English is not the primary language. Applicants must provide evidence in their application that they are capable of independent research. The following materials must be submitted to the IIDP at the Graduate School in addition to the application required by the Graduate School available online (which includes the requirement of 3 letters of recommendation that address the applicant’s scholarship): A brief description of the research area and a proposed program of study (no more than 3 pages), a letter from a permanent WSU tenure-track faculty member willing to serve as advisor commenting on the student’s potential for success and the proposed program sent directly to the IIDP Graduate Coordinator, emails from at least four permanent tenure-track WSU faculty members indicating their willingness to serve as committee members sent directly to the IIDP Graduate Coordinator, and a summary statement by the student of faculty interests and disciplines that has led the applicant to believe the IIDP is the program needed to best pursue the degree.
Student Learning Outcomes:
All graduates will be able to:
- To assist qualified students in designing and achieving the framework for a uniquely, individualized doctoral degree program, tailored to their interests in successfully integrating the knowledge and processes of three disciplines in their research and careers, the program aims to provide a variety of experiences that help students to:
- Develop knowledge and understanding of appropriate concepts, methods, and materials in three disciplines which appropriately constitute the framework of their studies.
- Attain fundamental experience to apply knowledge in three unique disciplines while providing opportunities for creative and integrative thinking.
- Prepare and present research in peer reviewed journals and conference papers at professional meetings on the local, regional, and national levels.
- Participate in professional organizations, becoming members and attending meetings.
- To prepare students to be effective researchers, engaging teachers, and innovative thinkers, under the mentorship of leading teachers and researchers in various fields, for productive careers that will produce interdisciplinary scholarship contributing to a positive and more global outcome, the program aims to provide a variety of experiences that help students to:
- Attain fundamental mentorship from committee members from all three disciplines in support of the interdisciplinary research through integrative thinking.
- Become independent researchers in an interdisciplinary area of study by developing substantial expertise in that area which will allow them to make an original contribution to it.
- Develop a research question with an understanding of previous and current research and be able to demonstrate that knowledge capably.
- Apply sound research methods and tools to the research question and describe the methods effectively.
- Analyze and interpret research data that makes clear sense of the data.
- Communicate effectively in both written and oral forms appropriate to the interdisciplinary study.
- To continue to maintain and enhance the visibility and importance of interdisciplinary studies, whether through existing interdisciplinary degrees or through the individual, independent program of IIDP, the program aims to:
- Attract and retain high-quality students and innovative thinkers.
- Provide effective advising and mentoring that encourages students to matriculate in a timely manner.
- Place graduates in position of academics and industry.
- Continue to maintain communication with disciplinary programs and faculty regarding the importance of attracting nationally recognized faculty, providing innovative advanced courses, and supporting independent, interdisciplinary studies for consistent interaction with IIDP students and their research.
Student Opportunities:
IIDP is not able to offer assistantship funding; however many IIDP students do hold assistantships through one of their identified disciplines from their program.
Career Opportunities:
Since 1983, approximately 85 individual interdisciplinary doctorates have been earned at WSU. Graduates of the program now work as university and college faculty as well as educational and business consultants and in government positions around the world.
Faculty Members:
Cohen, Matthew, Ph.D.
Research Interests
Subtle and complex proportional systems embedded in the 15th century buildings in Florence designed by Filippo Brunelleschi, the originator of Renaissance architecture.
Cottam, Martha L, Ph.D.
Serves as: chair of graduate committee
Research Interests
political psychology, international politics, U.S.-Latin American relations, and North-South conflict and cooperation.
Dasgupta, Nairanjana, Ph.D.
Research Interests
Non-parametric Statistics, Multiple Comparisons, Comparison to Control, Logistic Distribution, Optimal Designs, Design of Experiments, Innovative Methods of Teaching Statistics, The history of statistics.
Finley, Susan, Ph.D.
Serves as: chair, co-chair, or member of graduate committee
Research Interests
Poverty and homelessness, systemic barriers to educational access and equity, social and environmental justice policy and practice. Recent projects focus on the politics of advocacy and community-based, participatory research.
Fortenbery, Randy, Ph.D.
Serves as: chair of graduate committee
Research Interests
My research program currently focuses on agricultural price performance in local and national markets. It looks at impacts of new information on relative prices, as well as overall price levels. I also am engaged in studying the impact of futures price action on the stability of cash prices
Goldberger, Jessica, Ph.D.
Research Interests
Sociology of agriculture and aricultural science, rural sociology and development, adoption and diffusion of agricultural innovations
Local and Global Agro-Food Systems
The Land-Grant System
Gruen, Phil, Ph.D.
Serves as: chair, co-chair, or member of graduate committee
Research Interests
American architecture and urbanism of the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries; interdisciplinary methods of the cultural landscape emphasizing interpretation, story, and narrative; historic preservation; buildings and landscapes of the WSU campus.
Gunderson, David E, Ph.D.
Serves as: chair of graduate committee
Research Interests
International construction management and construction culture, affordable housing, construction contract selection, construction education and training.
Gursoy, Dogan, Ph.D.
Research Interests
Sustainability, services management, hospitality and tourism marketing, tourist behavior, travelers’ information search behavior, community support for tourism development, cross-cultural studies, consumer behavior, involvement and generational leadership.
Heidenreich, L, Ph.D.
Research Interests
Chicana/o Studies, Queer Studies, and Queer Chicana/o Studies.
James, E Lincoln, Ph.D.
Serves as: chair of graduate committee
Research Interests
Media planning, direct marketing, integrated marketing communications.
Joireman, Jeffrey, Ph.D.
King, C Richard, Ph.D.
Serves as: chair of graduate committee
Research Interests
Racial politics of culture. In particular the forms of memory, representation, identity, and sovereignty animating Native American-Euro American relations in the context of expressive culture and political struggles.
Kirk, William Max, Ph.D.
Serves as: chair of graduate committee
Research Interests
Cognitive processes in leadership in construction.
Leonard, David, Ph.D.
Research Interests
Comparative ethnic studies, African American studies, video games, popular culture/racialized representations, cultural politics of sport, race and sport (NBA), Black popular culture (film, television, and hip-hop), social movements (grassroots organizing), Black freedom struggle, and prison industrial complex.
Matthew, Susan, Ph.D.
McCluskey, Jill J, Ph.D.
Serves as: chair of graduate committee
Research Interests
Product differentiation and market power in food industries, including product quality, food safety, and food labeling issues, environmental damage and land use issues.
McIntyre, Lisa J, Ph.D.
Serves as: chair of graduate committee
Research Interests
Law & Society, Work & Labor Markets, Qualitative Methods
McPherson, Sterling Marshall, Ph.D.
Serves as: chair of graduate committee
Research Interests
Director, Program of Excellence in Addictions Research, Associate Director, Providence Medical Research Center: 1) Development of evidence-based substance use disorder treatments, 2) Behavioral pharmacology, 3) Innovative analytical methods to answer novel research questions in psychopharmacology and substance abuse, 4) Kidney disease and acute kidney injury, mental illness and drug and alcohol use as risk factors.
Okita, Thomas W, Ph.D.
Serves as: chair of graduate committee
Research Interests
Biochemistry of starch synthesis and protein localization; metabolic genetic engineering of plants for increased productivity; mRNA localization and the role of the cytoskeleton and endoplasmic reticulum
Palmer, Guy Hughes, DVM, Ph.D.
Serves as: chair of graduate committee
Potter, Nancy, Ph.D.
Research Interests
Motor speech disorders-assessment and treatment
Childhood apraxia of speech
Childhood dysarthria
Dysphagia (swallowing)
Movement disorders
Tongue strength
Facial rehabilitation
Simulation
Preston, John Thomas, Ph.D.
Serves as: chair of graduate committee
Price, Paula Groves, Ph.D.
Serves as: chair of graduate committee
Research Interests
Issues of equity, looking for solutions to the problems of inequalities in schools and society. Equity, broadly defined, includes fairness, social justice, and equality of both access and opportunity.
Roll, John, Ph.D.
Serves as: chair of graduate committee
Research Interests
Human behavioral pharmacology, the development and refinement of behavioral interventions for addiction and other psychiatric disorders, as well as technology transfer issues.
Sanders, Jeffrey C, Ph.D.
Serves as: chair of graduate committee
Research Interests
Environmental, Pacific Northwest, and U.S. West history
Shahani, Nishant, Ph.D.
Tan, Alexis S, Ph.D.
Serves as: chair of graduate committee
Research Interests
Communication strategies for reducing prejudice, and intercultural communication and stereotypes.
Ullrich-French, Sarah, Ph.D.
Serves as: chair of graduate committee
Research Interests
Interest in youth physical activity intersects with areas of social development, psychology, education, positive youth development, and health. Dr. Ullrich-French’s research addresses social context and motivational processes in youth physical, social, and psychological development. The first strand of her research involves examining physical activity motivational processes and behavioral outcomes in youth. The second strand of her research involves how physical contexts and interventions impact youth psychosocial, behavioral, and health outcomes. Current research activities address the measurement and application of movement-based mindfulness.
Wiest, Lori J, D.M.A.
Serves as: chair of graduate committee
Research Interests
Conducting, international and national touring, adjudications and clinics.
Wolcott, Michael P, Ph.D.
Serves as: chair of graduate committee
Research Interests
Biomass preparation
Biofuels industry logistics
Composite material development
Extrusion processing
Viscoelasticity and rheology
Adhesion
Anisotropic elasticity
Yan, Jia, Ph.D.
Research Interests
Transportation Economics, Applied Microeconomics, and Applied Econometrics.
Yoder, Jonathan, Ph.D.
Research Interests
Environmental, Natural Resource Economics, Contract Theory, Public Policy, and Applied Econometrics.