Curriculum & Instruction - Doctor of Philosophy (Online)

The Online Doctorate of Philosophy (PhD) in Curriculum and Instruction is a rigorous doctoral degree requiring intellectual and personal commitment. The program coursework requires students to demonstrate competency in foundational frameworks such as critical pedagogies, social justice education, emancipatory discourse, and more. C&I PhD students apply these underlying threads across coursework in bilingual education, literacy, educational technologies, multicultural education, and more. Doctoral students engage in a range of quantitative and qualitative methodologies on the way toward pursuing their research questions as part of their dissertation. Prescribed coursework totals 42 credit hours prior to the dissertation stage. Degree completion requires a dissertation based on original research inextricably grounded with an array of primary and secondary sources. Students must accumulate a minimum of 18 credit hours of dissertation, totaling a minimum sum of 60 credit hours for the degree. The prescribed roadmap features three years of coursework prior to dissertation and may be individualized based on student scholarly interests, academic expectations from the student’s dissertation committee, and recommendations from faculty. 

This program operates via a robust cohort model, with admission and coursework beginning in the summer term, and a three-summer commitment to a ten-day on-campus residency each summer. Students must attend the ten-day residency for the first three summers of their program, culminating with the completion of their coursework at the conclusion of their third summer and entrance into dissertation hours thereafter. 

To Apply

• Apply to the NMSU Graduate School (Select Intended major "Curriculum and Instruction"
• Apply to C&I by submitting your Application Portfolio by the posted deadline (via the Graduate School Application portal)
  • See the sections, “Applying to the Doctoral Program,” “Doctoral Intake Application Instructions” and the “C&I Doctoral Student Checklist” in the Doctoral Handbook.
  • NMSU Doc Portfolio Example – C&I (If the Sample portfolio does not open automatically, try a different browser or try saving the portfolio to your desktop before opening it.)

NOTE:  Potential students who have written successful portfolios will be invited to interview with the Doctoral Qualifying Committee (a committee of C&I faculty)

Once Applicants Are Accepted

• Attend the applicable Doctoral Orientation Meeting your first semester of classes
• Meet with your Interim Advisor during your first semester of classes
• Get to know our faculty
• Read the Doctoral Handbook and the sections of the NMSU Graduate Catalog that apply to you (this is your responsibility)
• Follow the Doctoral Program Checklist from the C&I Doctoral Handbook