MLIS Courses in the PhD Program

Students with the MLIS Degree:

A PhD student who already has an MLIS degree or equivalent is required to take six doctoral courses. As part of his/her program, a PhD student may want to take an MLIS course, for a variety of academic reasons. MLIS courses may be taken under an MLIS course number or a PhD course number, depending on the following circumstances:

  1. Joint Course: An MLIS course has been designed so that it is open to both MLIS and PhD students, and has incorporated advanced work for the doctoral students (such as additional readings, additional assignments, seminars etc.). In such a case, the course would bear both an MLIS course number and a PhD course number.
  2. MLIS Course with Added Doctoral Component: An established MLIS course has been designed primarily for MLIS students. However, if the content of the course lends itself to advanced study and if the faculty member is agreeable to providing advanced readings, assignments etc. in the course, a doctoral student may take the course under a PhD number as in #1 above. If such conditions are not met, the doctoral student must take the course under an MLIS course number.
  3. Strictly MLIS Course: An MLIS course may not be suitable for crosslisting at the doctoral level (such as a very hands-on or applied course) or a doctoral student may wish to take the course but not at an advanced level (for instance, the student merely needs the standard MLIS background on the topic). In these cases, the doctoral student may take the course under the MLIS course number.

Note: Under items 2 and 3, a PhD student may take only one MLIS-numbered course to count as one of the six mandatory courses during his/her doctoral program.

Students without the MLIS Degree:

A doctoral student who does not have an MLIS degree or equivalent is required to take five MLIS core courses in addition to the six required PhD courses. None of these five required MLIS courses can be substituted as a PhD elective. However, such students may take other MLIS courses as part of the six mandatory PhD courses as outlined in the three scenarios above.

Updated 10/22/2008