Doctor of Philosophy in Rehabilitation Counseling Education

78 credit hours minimum
Qualifying exam
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 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 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.

Curriculum

Statistics and Research Design (12)
PSYC 540Research Methods3
PSYC 545Graduate Statistics I3
PSYC 546Graduate Statistics II3
PSYC 554Survey of Multivariate Statistics3
Rehabilitation Core (9)
PSYC 566Addictive Behaviors and Principles of Behavior Change3
PSYC 577Professional and Ethical Issues in Rehabilitation and Counseling3
PSYC 588Graduate Psychology Seminar3
Experiential Components of Rehabilitation Counseling Education (9)
PSYC 549Practicum in Rehabilitation and Mental Health Counseling3
PSYC 586Concepts of Supervision3
PSYC 588Graduate Psychology Seminar (Curriculum Development and Practice Teaching)3
Internships (9)
Students are required to complete three internships that total 600 hours in three of the following areas: research, teaching, supervision, counseling, and/or leadership and advocacy.
PSYC 589Rehabilitation Internship III9
Elective Courses (15)
Select 15 credit hours from the following courses:15
Medical Aspects of Disabling Conditions3
Assessment in Rehabilitation and Mental Health Counseling3
Theories of Psychotherapy3
Psychopathology3
Evidence-Based Practice in Rehabilitation and Mental Health Counseling3
Applied Counseling Techniques: Group Counseling3
Job Placement3
Human Growth and Career Development3
Rehabilitation and Mental Health Counseling Research Seminar3
Rehabilitation Engineering Technology I: Survey of Interdisciplinary Application of RET3
Psychiatric Rehabilitation3
Research Courses (24)
PSYC 691Research and Thesis Ph.D.24
Total Credit Hours78