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Graduate Assistantship Availability: New GA positions for the 2026-2027 academic year are contingent upon the acquisition of funding through faculty grants, awards, and special projects. While we continue to accept graduate assistantship applications for consideration should funding be awarded, please be advised that no GA positions are open at this time. GA applications will be kept on file for one year from the date of submission.

Students in the master's and doctoral graduate programs may apply for graduate assistantships (although master’s assistantships are rarely awarded). A graduate assistant typically supports instruction, research, or administrative duties beneficial both to the appointee's professional development and to the School of TLC. To apply, please submit the Graduate Assistantship Application (linked from the Graduate Student Services Forms page) to the School’s Business Manager, Sherry Ernsberger: sernsber@kent.edu.

Important additional information:

• Admission to a graduate program does not come with funding, financial aid, or the guarantee of a graduate assistantship. Admissions and funding are two different processes.
• You must be fully admitted to the graduate program and have applied for an assistantship by March 31st to qualify for full consideration for a graduate assistantship within the Curriculum & Instruction Program. It is to your advantage to apply early; once funds have been expended, no further assistantships will be awarded.
• Assistantships are typically awarded for the academic year (starting in August and ending in May).
• Offers of assistantships are based on both the qualifications of the applicants, and the positions and funds available within the School during a given year. We receive applications from many more qualified applicants than we are able to support with our limited resources. Because of this, you might not receive an assistantship even if you have been fully admitted to the graduate program and submit your assistantship application correctly and on time.

Once an applicant's file is complete, the Admissions office forwards it to the C&I Program for review by C&I faculty members. Interviews with two or three C&I faculty members are also completed. These interviews may be conducted in-person, online, or by phone.

Admission decisions are made throughout the year on a rolling basis. Please be advised that while applications to the C&I Ph.D. are accepted all year, to ensure an application is reviewed for admission, an applicant should have submitted all required admissions paperwork and completed all interviews before the application deadline (see Admissions tab, below).

Advisory Phase

Once admitted into a C&I Doctoral program, students will be assigned an initial advisor or advisors from the C&I faculty in order to initiate the advisory phase.

Within the first three semesters of their course work, a student must organize an academic advisory committee. The advisory committee may or may not include the initial advisor(s). A student will then work with their advisory committee to complete a doctoral study prospectus (i.e., the plan of academic work during the advisory phase).

In addition to completing coursework requirements, students must also develop and implement a residency plan. The plan should include professional activities normally associated with life in an educational research institution and academic community setting (e.g., attendance and presentations at professional conferences, professional writing and publications, teaching undergraduate courses, workshops, attendance at doctoral defenses). Students may complete these activities collaboratively with faculty members or fellow doctoral students.

Upon completion of the coursework and other requirements listed on the student's prospectus and residency plan, the student engages in written and oral comprehensive examinations that cover academic work accomplished during the advisory phase. After the comprehensive examinations have been successfully completed, the student enters into Candidacy, better known as the dissertation phase of the doctoral program. At this point, the student's advisory phase committee is dissolved. The student is then responsible for organizing a dissertation committee.

Candidacy Phase

The Ph.D. candidate organizes their dissertation committee. This committee contains a minimum of three C&I faculty members and one faculty member from a ÐÔ¸£ÎåÔÂÌì University Ph.D. program other than Curriculum and Instruction (C&I).

The student works with the established committee to successfully write and defend a dissertation proposal. The student then proceeds through the dissertation process. The committee supervises the research progress and evaluates the final product. Once the student has successfully defended the dissertation, they receive the Ph.D.