Speech Language Pathology - M.A. and Ph.D. Download to print

The Master of Arts in Speech Language Pathology educates competent speech-language pathologists to critically evaluate communication disorders and the methods used in the habilitation and rehabilitation of those disorders.

The Doctor of Philosophy in Speech Language Pathology provides the student with a strong theoretical background and research competencies in communication processes and/or disorders and is ideal for those interested in academic and research careers in communications sciences.

Official transcript(s), GRE, goal statement and three letters of recommendation. Students applying to any of the graduate programs are required to have earned a recognized Bachelor's degree, but not necessarily in areas of speech and hearing. However, students wishing to enter the Master's degree program who have neither 1) completed an undergraduate degree in speech and hearing, nor 2) the necessary course work specific to professional clinical training in these read are required to complete a core group of courses (essentially the major-specific KSU courses required of UG students in speech-language pathology and audiology) prior to being considered for admission into the Master's program. See program website for more specific information.

Please refer to the university policy for graduate admission.

M.A.: The degree requires a minimum of 40 semester hours of graduate coursework.

Licensure Requirement (not required for graduation):
Candidates seeking Speech-Language Pathologist licensure are required to pass Praxis II test Speech-Language Pathology (0330 and 5330).

Ph.D.: Students may be admitted to the Ph.D. program on a part time basis; hover, all students must meet a residency requirement with two consecutive semesters of full-time enrollment prior to acceptance into candidacy.

After admission to the Ph.D. degree program, students and their sponsor/advisors cooperatively plan a program of at least 45 (post master's degree) or 75 (post bachelor's degree) semester credit hours of pre-candidacy study. This plan of study will encompass their general needs and specific interests while consisting of a least 24 hours in a major area of study, 15 hours in each of two minor focus areas and a minimum of 6 semester hours of research tools coursework. Students who have not completed a master's thesis are required to complete and defend a research project prior to taking their comprehensive examination.

Students must maintain an overall grade point average of at least 3.000 throughout the program. After completion of doctoral coursework, students take the candidacy examinations, consisting of both written and oral portions. The written portion entails 16-20 hours of writing on material studies within the major and minor concentrations. The oral portion occurs two to four weeks later and can cover information on any topic in addition to those covered on the written portion. Successful completion of these examinations culminates in "admission to candidacy" and allows the candidate to begin work on the dissertation.

Doctoral Candidacy:

Once admitted, candidates are expected to maintain continuous enrollment in Dissertation, including summers, until the dissertation is defended.

See the College (EHHS) and program (SPA) handbooks for more specific details.

Council on Academic Accreditation in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology