Doctor of Juridical Science (S.J.D.)
Penn State Dickinson Law offers a limited-residency, three-year S.J.D. program that allows students to pursue supervised research leading to the production of a dissertation that should serve as an original and valuable contribution to legal scholarship.
Penn State Dickinson Law and Penn State Law are reunifying to operate as Penn State University’s single law school with two locations in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania: Carlisle and University Park. While ABA approval for the reunification is pending, both schools are currently fully accredited. We submitted an application for acquiescence to operate as a single law school in July 2024 and plan to enroll a unified class in Fall 2025.
Residency. All S.J.D. students are required to be in residence at Dickinson Law for one academic year (or two semesters), preferably during year one of the S.J.D. program. During the residency period, students complete two courses: Research Methods (2 credits) and Research Colloquium (2 credits). Whereas Research Methods focuses on the methodological considerations in the proposed area of legal research, the Research Colloquium is designed to engage scholars in a public facing discussion of their proposed research. S.J.D. students may enroll in additional Dickinson Law courses by assignment or with approval. Additional tuition and fees may apply.
Candidacy. In order to move into Candidacy, each S.J.D. student must pass an oral defense to an appointed Candidacy Committee, which usually takes place at the end of the first year. Candidates are encouraged to remain in residence unless their research requires other arrangements. In order to remain a candidate, each must submit an Annual Progress Report to demonstrate that satisfactory research progress is being made.
Defense. Students are expected to complete the program within two years after meeting the minimum residency requirement and achieving candidacy. When appropriate, a candidate’s faculty supervisor will recommend to the S.J.D. Program Committee that the candidate be scheduled to defend the dissertation to an appointed Committee of Examiners. Upon successfully defending the dissertation and submitting the written dissertation as prescribed to Penn State Dickinson Law, the S.J.D degree will be conferred.
S.J.D. students are required to remain enrolled full-time throughout the duration of their S.J.D. studies (i.e., generally a minimum of 12 credits per semester). As long as one stays enrolled full-time, there are no minimum credit requirements to fulfill the degree requirements. For example, a typical three-year program would include 12 credits per semester for six semesters (72 credits). In addition to the two required courses of 2 credits each, students will have earned 76 credits in total. A typical three-year schedule is as follows:
Contact Us
Please contact us with any questions. Prospective applicants may also direct questions regarding the S.J.D. program to:
Anthony C. Ogden, Ph.D.
Director, International Programs and Graduate Education
Email: DickinsonGradEd@psu.edu
Phone: 717-241-3532