Audiology
Joint Doctoral Program between San Diego State University
and the University of California, San Diego
http://chhs.sdsu.edu/slhs/audmain.php
Professors
Courses
Professional Doctorate in Audiology (Au.D.)
A professional doctorate in audiology (Au.D.) is offered jointly
by San Diego State University (SDSU) and the University of California,
San Diego (UCSD). The Au.D. program is a four-year graduate degree
program designed for individuals who intend to specialize in clinical
practice and to meet professional standards requiring a clinical
doctorate as the entry-level degree for a certified audiologist.
Graduates of this program will have the knowledge base, research
exposure, and advanced clinical skills to enter the workforce in
any setting, and will be prepared to function as independent audiology
professionals in the expanding health care arena. The program encompasses
academic, clinic, and research experiences in audiology and otology,
through the combined resources from the Department of Speech, Language,
and Hearing Sciences at SDSU and the Department of Surgery (Otolaryngology)
in the School of Medicine at UCSD. More information about the program
and admission can be found on the Web site, http://chhs.sdsu.edu/slhs/audmain.php.
Faculty members of the cooperating institutions teach courses,
provide clinic instruction and research experiences, and are available
as members of joint doctoral committees and advisers for student
doctoral projects.
Admissions
Students will apply to the Au.D. Joint Doctoral Program through
SDSU. It is expected that students will come into this program from
a variety of different science backgrounds, including communicative
disorders, biological and physical sciences, engineering, psychology,
nursing, or a pre-med curriculum. Applicants for admission to the
Au.D. program must meet the general requirements for admission to
both universities with classified graduate standing as outlined
in the respective catalogs. Applicants must also meet the special
requirements of this program. These include (a) overall grade-point
average of 3.20 or better in undergraduate courses and in any graduate
courses completed; (b) submission of scores on the GRE with satisfactory
performance on both quantitative and verbal portions of the examination;
(c) prerequisite completion of at least one course in statistics,
three courses in biological/physical sciences, two courses in behavioral/social
sciences, and one course in American Sign Language. Deficiencies
in these areas may be completed after admission to the program if
approved by the admissions committee.
Applicants must submit transcripts of all post-secondary coursework,
three letters of recommendation from former or current professors,
supervisors, or other appropriate persons able to judge their academic
potential, and an applicant essay (statement of purpose) indicating
their interests and strengths relative to their career objectives.
Details of these requirements will be made available with the application
form. Assuming that students meet the requirements for admission
outlined above, each student admitted to the program will have a
program advisor evaluate their preparation in view of their needs
and career goals, as well as professional certification requirements.
Applicant files are reviewed as a group by an admissions committee
composed of Au.D. program faculty from each campus. Other Au.D.
program faculty may review files and make recommendations to the
admissions committee. Given the limited number of spaces available
(ten new admissions each year are anticipated, subject to available
facilities), the admissions committee will select the best-qualified
applicants to fill the available spaces. No minimum set of qualifications
will guarantee an applicant admission to the program. The admissions
committee will make recommendations for admission to the graduate
deans from each campus.
Students seeking admission to the Au.D. program should consult the
program’s Web site or contact the Au.D. program directors
for more information, online applications, and application instructions.
A complete application requires the following:
appropriate application form
applicant essay (detail provided in application packet)
transcripts of academic work complete
results of Graduate Record Examination
three letters of recommendation
Students will be admitted to the Au.D. program only in the fall
semester (first year is at SDSU). Complete applications must be
received by January 20 to be considered for the program beginning
in the following fall semester.
Post Master’s Degree Admissions: Students admitted
to the Au.D. program with a master’s degree in audiology will
be expected to complete the four-year Au.D. curriculum. However,
some students may have had a master’s preparation in audiology
in which some of the course work was similar to some of the foundation
courses in the Au.D. program. Upon entering the program, each individual
will be assessed to determine competencies/knowledge in material
that would put them on par with expectations for the Au.D. program.
For some of the foundation core courses offered the first year at
SDSU, e.g., Audiology 705, 710, 725, students may be given credit
for the courses or be required to substitute a Doctoral Special
Study (Audiology 798) course for one or more of these courses to
ensure competencies or remediate deficiencies if approved by the
program faculty. Credit for some of the first year clinic units
may also be approved based on work experience; however, a full-complement
of expected clinical skills must be demonstrated.
Requirements for the Au.D. Degree
Upon admission to the program, each student will be assigned a
faculty adviser. The faculty adviser will help the student select
a program of study to meet all program requirements. The Au.D. program
is a four-year program, including summer semesters (summer semester
between year two and year three may be optional if the requirements
are satisfied in other ways). An exact unit minimum is not specified
due to the mixing of semester units (SDSU) and quarter units (UCSD)
and differences in clinical hours at different settings; however,
the program is approximately 134 semester-equivalent course units.
All students in the Au.D. program will fulfill the following requirements.
Any alternative method of fulfilling these requirements requires
advanced written permission from the program directors.
Residency
After formal admission to the Au.D. program, the student must complete
a minimum of course hours equivalent to one year’s full-time
enrollment at each campus. The definition of residence must be in
accord with the regulations of San Diego State University and the
University of California, San Diego. The program is designed to
be shared between the two campuses. The first year is entirely at
SDSU, the second year is entirely at UCSD, and the third year will
have options from both campuses. The fourth year of the program
will be a full-time clinical externship at a program-approved clinic
agency or site. Both campuses will share equally in the academic,
clinic, and research components of the program.
Courses
The program for each student will consist of prescribed set of
courses, with the first year of courses entirely at SDSU and the
second year of courses entirely at UCSD. The student’s faculty
advisor will approve any changes to the standard curriculum.
Clinic
Each student will progress through a variety of clinical experiences
involving patient assessment and management throughout their program
of study. Clinic experiences will require concurrent enrollment
in clinic courses appropriate for the campus in which they are doing
the clinical work. These supervised clinical experiences are completed
in the SDSU Audiology Clinic, UCSD Otology Clinics, and in community
field sites. Clinic courses may be repeated as needed and require
adviser approval prior to enrollment. Prior to the fourth year externship,
each student will obtain approximately 500 hours of clinic experience.
A minimum of 2,000 clinical hours is required by the end of the
program.
- Clerkship in Otology. All students will have at least
one quarter of a clinical rotation with otology staff associated
with UCSD. Students will accompany otology faculty during their
clinics, surgeries, and receive training in one or more of the
following areas—clinical otology, pre-and post-operative
assessment of patients, pharmacology related to otology, design
and implementation of clinical trials with balance disorders,
and pediatric otology.
- Clinical Staffings. In addition, all students will
be required to regularly participate in formal clinical case study/staffing
experiences. At SDSU, these clinical staffings include student
and faculty presentations and discussions of interesting cases
seen in their clinics. At UCSD, these staffings include, the Chairman’s
Conference, where Au.D. students/residents and medical staff discuss
otological problem cases and disorders and the Neurotology Conference,
where UCSD and community physicians, and students/residents discuss
cases dealing with neurological diseases and vestibular disorders.
- Fourth-Year Externship. The fourth-year externship
is a full-time clinical experience in an approved agency/site.
These externships may require a competitive interview process
by the agency. Externship sites may be in other parts of the country.
All students in their fourth-year externship must also enroll
in the online clinical seminar at SDSU each semester.
Research Practicum
Each student will spend at least two semesters or quarters participating
in research being done by program faculty. Students are encouraged
to spend time in two different laboratories (one on each campus)
with different methodologies. Students will not be conducting independent
research, but will actively participate in data collection and analysis
at the discretion of the lab director. Students must enroll in the
research practicum course for the appropriate campus.
Examinations
All students in the program will be evaluated at the following
levels:
- First Year. Students must have achieved a 3.0 grade-point
average on all core and elective courses during the first year,
and have appropriate clinical skills as determined by the student’s
clinic supervisors. The student’s ability to integrate the
academic material and clinic procedures appropriate for the end
of the first year will be assessed through a first year qualifying
exam. This examination will be a written examination to be taken
at the end of the spring semester. The first year qualifying exam
may be repeated once following additional directed study by the
student’s adviser. Students must pass the first year evaluation
in order to enroll in second year courses.
- Second Year. Students must have achieved a cumulative
grade-point average of 3.0 on all core and elective courses, and
have appropriate clinical skills as determined by the student’s
clinic supervisors. The student’s ability to integrate the
academic and clinic procedures appropriate for the end of the
second year will be assessed through a second year qualifying
examination. This examination will be a written examination to
be taken at the end of the spring quarter. The second year qualifying
examination may be repeated once following additional directed
study by the student’s adviser. Students must pass the second
year evaluation in order to enroll in third year courses.
- Comprehensive Examination. At the end of the third
year, and after advancement to candidacy (see below), the student
will take a comprehensive examination, which has an integrative
written component and a practical component involving clinical
procedures. The comprehensive examination must be passed before
a student can be registered for the externship.
Advancement to Candidacy
Candidates will be recommended for advancement to candidacy after
successfully completing all course, laboratory rotation, and clinic
requirements for Year 1 and Year 2 (with a minimum grade-point average
of 3.0), satisfactory performance on the first and second year evaluations,
and approval of the doctoral project proposal. Students cannot enroll
in the doctoral project course, take the comprehensive examination,
or register for their externship until advanced to candidacy. The
program’s executive committee recommends students eligible
for advancement to candidacy to the graduate deans of both institutions
Doctoral Project
Each student will complete an innovative doctoral project. The
doctoral project can take the form of a number of different options,
e.g., a research-based investigation, evidence-based position paper,
critical literature review with applications to clinical problem
solving, grant proposal, development of a clinical protocol based
on published research findings, or other projects proposed by the
student that are accepted by the committee. The project should be
designed to allow an opportunity to demonstrate critical thinking
on clinical issues. Each student will select a doctoral project
committee comprised of two Au.D. program faculty (one from each
campus) and a faculty member external to the program. The chair
of the committee can be from either campus. The executive committee
will approve each student’s doctoral project committee. All
doctoral projects will be written in a format approved by the student’s
doctoral project committee. The student’s final written document
will be approved by the student’s doctoral project committee.
Each student will enroll in the appropriate doctoral project course
depending on the campus in which their committee chair resides.
The Doctor of Audiology (Au.D.) degree will be awarded jointly
by the Regents of the University of California and the Trustees
of The California State University in the names of both cooperating
institutions.
Funding for graduate students cannot be guaranteed, although every
effort will be made to provide some financial support for as many
students as possible, through graduate/teaching assistantships,
research grants, clinical traineeships, and/or scholarships. Financial
support will be awarded consistent with the policies of the two
universities. Tuition and fees will be charged in accordance with
the extant policies at the campus in which the student is matriculated
in a given year.
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