PhD Program

The doctor of philosophy (PhD) program is designed to meet the educational needs of nurses who are committed to playing a significant role in the creation, clarification, and refinement of nursing knowledge. The program prepares nurse scientists who advance the discipline of nursing through research, theory development, and other academic endeavors. Graduates are expected to provide leadership for the advancement of the discipline in the scientific community and in academic and service institutions.

A graduate of Rutgers College of Nursing PhD program will be prepared to:

Evaluate the theoretical, philosophical, and historical concepts of nursing;
Critique the multiple dimensions of contemporary research;
Design and test theoretical explanations about phenomena of concern to nursing;
Design, conduct, and evaluate original research;
Provide leadership in the creation and dissemination of new knowledge;
Collaborate effectively with scholars in the scientific and professional communities.

The PhD program in nursing was initiated in 1989 and is the first PhD program in nursing in New Jersey. Until now, classes have been held in the traditional classroom setting. Today’s doctoral students desire more flexibility in their options for coursework due to, for example, family, work, and financial demands. Therefore, beginning in Fall 2006, Rutgers College of Nursing began to offer the PhD program in an online and blended format. This means that the majority of nursing courses will be offered online in a synchronous and asynchronous manner. Statistics, research methods, and cognate courses may be taken in either an online or in a traditional classroom setting either at Rutgers or a university where the student resides.

Admission and Application

The PhD degree is awarded through the Graduate School-Newark. The requirements for admission are:

A baccalaureate degree in nursing from a nationally accredited program;
A master's degree with a major in nursing from a nationally accredited program;
A cumulative graduate grade-point average of at least 3.2 (where A=4.0);
GRE scores (verbal, quantitative, and analytical and/or writeing abilities). For information on the GRE exam, you may call the Educational Testing Service at 609/771-7670 or visit their website at http://www.gre.org;
Applications, whose native language is not English, must take the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) and obtain a score of 550 or higher on the written examination or 213 or higher on the computerized examination;
A personal interview (a telephone interview, when appropriate, may be arranged);
Prerequisites: master's level course in theoretical foundatins and nursing research, and a basic statistics course;
Submission of the following materials:
- Current registered nurse licensure;
- An essay describing the applicant's goals for PhD study and career goals relative to nursing research;
- Curriculum vitae;
- Two scholarly papers of which the applicant is sole author;
- Three letters of references from professional sources that support the applicant's ability to succeed in the PhD program. Two of these letters must come from nurse academicans;
- Two official transcripts of all previous college work;
- Completed application form.

The College's PhD Admissions Committee will examine the credentials of all applicants and make admission decisions. Applications for fall entry are due April 15. An application can be found at http://gradstudy.rutgers.edu.

The Curriculum

The online and blended curriculum requires a minimum of 59 credits; 26 of these credits are in nursing. The nursing courses include 18 credits of theory development and research, 6 credits of dissertation seminars, and 2 credits of contemporary issues in nursing. In addition, 15 credits are required in the following areas: research methodology, statistics, and cognates (9 credits must be taken). Eighteen credits are allocated for dissertation research. A course in data management must be completed prior to or upon initial enrollment in the program. Examples of full and part-time study and a PhD tracking form detail the curriculum.

Students will be required to attend a four-day residency period in June in each of the first four years of the program. A required research experience may be completed in collaboration with Rutgers nursing faculty or can be arranged to be conducted with qualified nursing faculty where the student resides. PhD students at Rutgers are required to complete a qualifying examination after they have completed the majority of their coursework. The examination entails application of course content to a phenomenon of interest to the student. Ideally, the phenomenon of interest selected by the student becomes the focus of their dissertation. The purpose of this examination is to determine whether a student has acquired sufficient mastery of their coursework in order to advance to the dissertation stage.

After successful completion of the qualifying examination, the student becomes a candidate for the PhD degree and is ready for the final stage of the PhD program, which is the dissertation. The dissertation process is comprised of (a) the identification of the dissertation chair and three committee members (one member has to be from outside the College of Nursing), (b) the successful approval of the dissertation proposal by the chair and committee, (c) supervised conduct of original and independent research, and (d) a successful defense of the dissertation to the chair, committee members, and the public who attend the defense.

PhD Program Frequently Asked Questions

For more information about this program, please view the program plans and frequently asked questions. You may also contact:
Wendy M. Nehring, RN, PhD, FAAN, FAAIDD
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Director of the Graduate Program,
and Associate Professor
973-353-5293, ext. 606 (ph)
nehring@rutgers.edu (email)