Adler School of Professional Psychology Catalog 2008 – 2009

internship. Students applying for internship are expected to make adequate
progress on their dissertation (See Internship Handbook available on
Scholar360 for further detail).
Completion of the Doctoral Dissertation and Oral Defense requires
students to demonstrate the ability to evaluate, synthesize, integrate, and apply
relevant psychological research and practice culminating in a scholarly paper of
publishable quality. Although the Oral Defense is focused on a discussion of the
findings of the Doctoral Dissertation, it may include other areas such as
research theory and design, professional psychology, clinical knowledge, and
other psychology-related topics and issues.
Dissertation students must meet requirements specified in the edition of
the Dissertation Handbook that is current at the time they are registered for
Course 697. The School reserves the right to require students to meet any new
dissertation requirements when students take longer than two years from the
time of registration in Course 697 to complete the dissertation.
Students must register for Doctoral Dissertation (Course 901) within three
consecutive terms after approval of their dissertation proposal or in any term in
which they are actively working on their dissertation with their committee
members. Once students register for dissertation, they must continue
registering for three consecutive terms (901, 902, 903). Students completing
their internship may be waived of this requirement with the permission of their
dissertation chairperson and the Director of Training and Community Service.
Such permission will only be granted if the student is not actively engaged in
working on their dissertation with the chair and/or any member of their
dissertation committee. In those instances where permission is granted,
students must register for a total of three terms of dissertation. Students who
have failed to complete their dissertation after registering for three terms are
required to register for 065 Doctoral Dissertation Continuation until they are
approved for the Oral Defense. Students receive a grade of In Progress for any
term in which they are making satisfactory progress on their dissertation and a
grade of No Progress when they are failing to complete the project in a timely
manner. Any student who has received three consecutive grades of NP for
either Dissertation Proposal or Dissertation will be automatically referred to the
Student Comprehensive Evaluation Committee for review. When a student
satisfactorily completes the dissertation proposal or dissertation, a grade of CR
(Credit) will be issued and all prior grades of NP and IP will be changed to
Credit. Failure to complete the dissertation within two years of completing the
internship may result in administrative dismissal from the Psy.D. program.
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