Educational Psychology

The name of your graduate program adviser is provided in the letter and will be a faculty member from the Department of Educational Psychology in your major area of emphasis.

Upon arriving at the university, you should set up an appointment with your program adviser to get acquainted and to work out your first semester classes.

Later in the first semester, you and your program adviser should meet and select two other Educational Psychology faculty members to serve on your doctoral program committee.

The three members of the program committee must come from the Educational Psychology faculty at Northern Arizona University. At least two of the three will come from your specialty area (Counseling Psychology, School Psychology, or Learning and Instruction).

You should have a formal meeting with your program adviser at least once each semester in order to review your academic and professional development.

Meetings should be scheduled with your program committee whenever major changes in your program of study are being considered.

When you get to the dissertation stage of your program, you should begin discussing the selection of a dissertation chair and committee with your program adviser. Refer to dissertation guidelines for further information. 

During your first semester of study, you and your program adviser will draft a program of studies which will meet the course requirements for the PhD.

Your program adviser will conduct an assessment of curriculum content completed during your master's program. Your coursework will be evaluated for adequacy, content, and level of instruction to determine whether the coursework will be eligible for transfer.

To help your adviser make this determination, you will need to provide them with:

• program of studies/curriculum plans
• syllabi
• graduate catalog descriptions
• copies of your transcripts

Coursework that is eligible for transfer should also be consistent with the Graduate College transfer of credit policies (see below).

You are required to complete:

• a minimum of 36 hours of NAU coursework, including all doctoral practica/fieldwork after admission to our doctoral program
• twenty-four of these hours must be within educational psychology
• all courses included in a doctoral program of study (including transfer) must have grades of "A" or "B"

Once you have your program of studies determined, you will submit the program to your three-member doctoral program committee for their review, comments, and eventual approval.

When the program of studies has been approved by your program adviser, a final typed copy should be routed to your program adviser and committee members for their signatures.

When signatures are obtained from your program adviser and committee members, present the program of studies to the Chair of Educational Psychology for review and approval.

Approved copies with signatures will be distributed to you and your program adviser, and a copy will be maintained in your official student file.

You will need to refer to this approved document each semester you register for coursework, when you apply for doctoral candidacy, and when you submit an application for graduation.

An approved copy will be submitted to the Graduate College when you apply for candidacy. 

The Department of Educational Psychology allows credits to transfer through the Graduate College. To be considered for transfer credit, your courses must:

• have been earned at a regionally accredited institution
• have been earned with a grade of A or B (we will accept a pass grade if the course is graded only on a pass-fail basis)
• have been earned within the six-year period required for completing your degree at Northern Arizona University (master's degree only)
• be applicable to a graduate degree at the institution where the credit was earned meets the Arizona Board of Regents' requirement for credit (minimum of 45 hours of work is required for each unit of credit)
• Note: An hour of work is equivalent to 50 minutes of class time, often called a "contact hour," or 60 minutes of independent study work. We require at least 45 contact hours for each 3-credit course, and we assume at least 90 hours of student homework for that course. Ordinarily, a course must cover a one-week period for every unit of credit given.
• the number of units you transfer from other institutions cannot exceed twenty-five percent of the total minimum units of credit required for your master's degree

Master's students must complete the petition for transfer credit form. 

For doctoral students, the transfer credit should be noted on the plan of study. The Graduate College will finalize the transfer credit at the time of admission to candidacy.

If you have a graduate non-degree standing, you may apply for 12 hours of appropriate credits taken in non-degree status with the approval of your adviser.

If you’re seeking a second master’s degree, you may apply for up to nine hours of previous master’s to apply toward a degree at Northern Arizona University.

All program requirements must be met for the second master’s degree and all but nine of the hours must be earned at Northern Arizona University.

Specific policies can be obtained from the graduate catalog.

The Department of Educational Psychology adheres to grade point average guidelines established through the Graduate College.

If you are working toward a degree, you must maintain a 3.0 grade point average for all courses taken and for all courses required in your plan. No more than 6 units of C grades can be counted on a master's degree. A grade below C does not earn graduate credit.

Admission to a program may be denied or revoked for any graduate student who receives unsatisfactory grades.

If you have more than 6 units of graduate work with a grade of C or below, you cannot continue in your master's or doctoral plan, regardless of your grade point average.

At the time of graduation, if you have earned a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.9 for all courses taken at Northern Arizona University on your plan of study, we recognize you with the notation "with distinction" on your transcript.

If you are not in an academic plan, you can continue as a graduate student as long as you maintain a cumulative graduate grade point average of 2.5 or better. For more information, read the academic catalog.