Doctor of Philosophy in Rehabilitation Counseling Education

78 credit hours minimum
Oral Qualifying exam
Written Comprehensive exam
Dissertation and oral defense

The Rehabilitation Counseling Education PhD program is fully accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Programs (CACREP) in the area of Counselor Education and Supervision. The purpose of the program is to train doctoral-level students to become professional counselor educators who are proficient in the following areas: advanced-level counseling, post-secondary teaching, clinical supervision, research, scholarship, leadership, and advocacy. This program offers a student-focused and research-based curriculum that prepares leaders in the field of rehabilitation counseling at the highest level. Illinois Institute of Technology faculty view rehabilitation counseling as a specialized area of professional counseling practice in which the major goal is to assist a person with a disability or chronic illness to move to psychological and economic independence.

The program of study provides for the equivalent of two years (four semesters) of full-time didactic coursework and supervised experience, in addition to the completion of dissertation research. Students generally enter the program having already completed a 60 credit-hour master’s degree in rehabilitation counseling or a closely related field (preferably from a CACREP-accredited program). Students who have not met these criteria may have their coursework evaluated for equivalency and may be able to make up any deficiencies prior to beginning their doctoral-level coursework.

Within the program, students take 54 credit hours of coursework (15 of which can be transferred from a qualifying master's degree program) plus 24 credit hours of dissertation work. Students must successfully pass both an oral qualifying exam and a written comprehensive exam prior to commencing their dissertation research.

Curriculum