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 Communicative Disorders 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 one
of the otology faculty during their clinics
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
semester. 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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