The purpose of the Ph.D. program at the University of Miami is to develop a high quality, multidisciplinary leadership training model in special education to foster collaboration with general education and disciplines related to the education of children with disabilities. Ten students from underrepresented groups will be prepared over a three-year period to assume leadership positions in universities as teacher educators and researchers. These students will acquire knowledge and skills in teacher education and research through a series of multidisciplinary seminars and specialized cognates; research courses and supervised research internships; and clinical experiences that focus on the integration of theory, research, and practice.

Current trends in prevention and early intervention, inclusion, multicultural education, parent involvement, and school-community service delivery models as well as a recognition of the vast cultural and linguistic diversity in our schools necessitate doctoral programs in education that are broad in nature and truly collaborative in structure. To address this need, the program provides doctoral students with a variety of perspectives and experiences that cut across special, general, and multicultural education and related disciplines such as psychology, counseling, sociology, and medicine.

Several features make this Ph.D. program unique:

• A broad focus on education in the Department of Teaching and Learning through four seminars in teacher education, special education, psychology and education, and multicultural education;
• A primary specialization in a specific area of special education such as early childhood special education, learning disabilities, or emotional disturbance;
• A secondary specialization in a related discipline such as family studies, psychology, or pediatrics;
• Research experiences in longitudinal studies that are collaborative efforts between special and general education and related disciplines;
• Clinical experiences in settings that focus on multidisciplinary collaboration;
• Teaching experiences that emphasize the integration of general and special education.

The program was designed to attract 10 students with special or general education backgrounds and provide stipends and full tuition for the duration of their full-time three-year program that leads to a Ph.D. in special education. The program actively recruits students with disabilities and students representing the ethnic diversity of the population found in South Florida (e.g., Hispanic, African-American, Haitian, Asian, and Native American). The program is multidisciplinary and builds on collaborative relationships established among the University of Miami’s Department of Teaching and Learning and the Department of Counseling Psychology in the School of Education, the Department of Psychology in the College of Arts and Sciences, the Departments of Pediatrics and Psychiatry in the School of Medicine, the Mailman Center for Child Development, Mental Health agencies in Miami-Dade County, and the Miami-Dade County Public Schools.