Doctor of Philosophy in Rehabilitation Counseling Education

78 credit hours minimum
Comprehensive exam
Dissertation and oral defense

The purpose of the doctoral program is to prepare leaders in the field of rehabilitation counseling at the highest level of training. 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 mission of the Rehabilitation Counseling Education Program at Illinois Tech is to offer a student-focused and research-based curriculum that prepares doctoral-level students to become professional counselor educators trained to perform advanced-level counseling, post-secondary teaching, clinical supervision, research, scholarship, leadership, and advocacy activities. 

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 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 oral and written comprehensive exams.

Curriculum