Ph.D. Student News

Welcome to the Ph.D. News Webpage. This Webpage site contains items of interest to iSchool Ph.D. students at University of Texas at Austin.

Monday-Saturday, March 28 - April 2, iSchool Week. The Student Association for the School of information is happy to sponsor the 2005 iSchool Week. Individual events are listed below under the date and time scheduled. For more information about any of the events, please contact one of the student association Co-Directors, Angela, Cristen, Jacob, or Vanessa.

Monday, March 28, 3:30-5:30 PM, SZB 238, iSchool Week--Course Fair. Are you curious about a certain class that is being offered in the Fall? Are you at a loss as to what to take? Do you have any burning questions hat you need answered about certain classes being offered? To answer all these questions and more, please join us for a course fair with the faculty. They will discuss classes they are teaching in the Fall and answer any questions you might have about classes. Refreshments will be served.

Monday, March 28, 8-9:30 PM, Bates, Kevin Noe, UT Symphony Orchestra. Admission is $7.00. Tickets are available at the door. For more information, please visit the Music Department Events Calendar, call the music events hotline, 471-5401, or contact School of Music Information by email or phone, 471-0806.

Tuesday March 29, 3-4:30 PM, SZB 556, iSchool Week--Tea With the Dean. Every semester, the students have a chance to sit down with the Dean to discuss any and all issues concerning the School of Information. Please come prepared with questions and comments. Refreshments will be served

Tuesday, March29, 6:30 - 8 PM, SZB 556, Grounded Theory Discussion Group. For more information please contact Don Drumtra.

Wednesday-Saturday, March 30-April 2, Radisson, Association of Recorded Sound Collections 2005 Conference. The UT General Libraries is sponsoring the Association of Recorded Sound Collections 2005 national meeting in Austin. The Association comprises curators of sound recording collections from across North America including those at the Library of Congress, the Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives at the New York Public Library, Stanford University, and our own Historical Music Recordings Collection, as well as private collectors. Students may register for $75.00. For more information please visit the Conference Website.

Wednesday, March 30, 9 AM - 11:30 AM, Erwin Center, iSchool Week--Education Career Day. The School of Education will hold its Spring Career Day at the Erwin Center. If you are seeking a school library position, you need to attend this fair. Last semester, many of the school districts were actively seeking people to fill their school library vacancies. Even if you already have a position, you may want to check out what is available. Open discussions with the school districts are between 9:00 and 11:30 a.m. For these events, dress professionally, know what you want to do, and have your resumes and initial greetings ready. You usually will get one chance to favorably impress a potential employer. Use this opportunity to have direct contact with the employers and create the right impression. Note the preparation workshop on Monday March 21 about. For more information, please contact Ron Pollock, Director of Career Services, via email or phone, 471-2623.

Wednesday, March 30, 10 AM - 3 PM, UNB Ballroom, iSchool Week--The Nonprofit and Public Jobs Fair. The School of Information, in cooperation with other UT Career Services Offices, will present the Second Annual Nonprofit and Public Sector Career Fair.Use this opportunity to have direct contact with the employers and create the right impression. While many of the organizations will be nonprofits (and may have IT and other LIS related opportunities), there will also be several libraries at the event. Libraries that have registered so far include:

Wednesday, March 30, 12-1 PM, SZB 556, iSchool Week--Lunch with Leaders. Come join us for a candid discussion with some of the emerging and notable leaders within the field of infomation. Students in their fist year of the program are especially encouraged to attend. Lunch will be served.

Thursday-Friday, March 31-April 1, Pickle Conf Ctr, Electronic Records Forum. See the agenda for details

Thursday, March 31, 2-4 PM, Hoover's Inc, iSchool Week--UTSLA Tour of Hoover's Library. Join the UT Student Chapter of the Special Library Association for a tour of Hoover's library, with an opportunity to speak with both people who work in the library at Hoover's as well as in the area of corporate intelligence. This will be an awesome opportunity to hear about a great Austin company who not only provides an incredible information resource to libraries, the public and business, but who also has hired many iSchool grads...so this may be your chance to find out about potential capstone opportunities, student jobs or post-graduation jobs. If you want to carpool, we'll meet on the ground floor (technically the 2nd floor) of Sanchez a little before 1:30, or you can meet as at Hoover's. We hope a lot of you can make the tour..we am honestly really excited about this! Hoover's, Inc.is located at 5800 Airport Blvd. Austin. Their phone is 374-4500. Please RSVP by Wednesday, March 30 so that Emilie may give Hoover's a headcount and provide us details on parking and access. For more information and RSVP, please contact Emilie Satterwhite SLA Chapter President.

Thursday, March 31, 4:30-5:30 PM, SZB 556, Bob Strauss, Kilgarlin Center Forum on deacidification products. Bob Strauss, President of Preservation Technologies, LP, will present on the company's deacidification products and services for libraries, archives, and consumers worldwide. PTLP patented Bookkeeper® Deacidification in 1992. For more information, please contact Ellen Cunninghal-Kruppa, Director, Kilgarlin Center.

Thursday, March 31, 4:30-8 PM, Spider House, iSchool Week--Come to the Spider House Coffee House to discuss books concerning the field of Information.For more information please visit the UT ASIST Website or blog or contact Valerie Gomez De La Tora.

Friday, April 1, 2-4 PM, CDL, iSchool Week--Edible Book Fest 2005. The Kilgarlin Center and the School of Information at the University of Texas at Austin are pleased to announce the Third Annual Edible Book Festival!

For edible book inspiration and more information please visit the event Website or contact Carie Mcginnis.

Friday, April 1, 5-7 PM, Scholz Garten, iSchool Week--Happy Hour. Student, Faculty , Staff , Friends, and Family Happy hour. Come when you can and leave when you want. When it is cool we are inside where it is crowded and noisy. When it is warm we are outside in the garden where it is more comfortable. Scholz Garten is located two blocks from campus at 1607 San Jacinto Boulevard For more information please contact the student association Co-Directors, Angela, Cristen, Jacob, or Vanessa.

Saturday, April 2, Noon -2 PM, Bartholomew District Park, iSchool Week, Faculty and Staff Appreciation Picnic. ]oin iSchool in honoring our faculty and staff at a picnic in Bartholomew District Park. Please bring a dish and be prepared to have fun. Feel Free to bring family members and/or pets. Bartholomew park is at 5201 Berckman Drive.

Saturday, April 2, Noon - 8 PM, UT, Forty Acres Fest. This year's fest will begin with a wide array of entertainment including games, rides, and live musical performances. More than 135 student organizations will be participating this year with booths throughout the Main Mall and East Mall. This year, for the first time, the Fest will kick-off with Texas Renegade, the winner of Battle of The Bands, which was hosted by the Student Events Center Music and Entertainment Committee. Several emerging and established artists are also scheduled to rock 40 Acres Fest throughout the day. Among the bands include The Good Looks, Steve Tenpenny, The Handsomes, Afro Freque, and Truepenny. Also for the first time this year, 40 Acres Fest will be hosting Drum War, which is a showdown between 8 of the best drummers across Austin. For more informatin please visit the event Website.

Monday-Friday, April 4-8, UT, GPSA Week-Graduate and Professional Student Appreciation Week. The Graduate Student Assembly is pleased to sponsor this annual week of activities celebrating the work of graduate and professional students that provide essential support to the teaching effort of the campus. The University of Texas will join campuses across the United States to honor graduate and professional students with special awards ceremonies, workshops, speakers, and rallies. Limited refreshments provided and all events. Specific GPSA Week events are listed below under the date and time of the event. For more information on any of the events please contact Erica Whittington, GSA Public Relations Coordinator.

Monday, April 4, 3-4 PM, UTC 3.132, GPSA Week-Student Loan Consolidation Workshop.

The purpose of the Iron Mountain - UT Student Internship is to establish a “revolving door” of Interns that can be cycled continuously to provide the students maximum exposure to the world of records management and provide Iron Mountain with an ample source of trained candidates for potential full-time employment. To launch the program, two Interns will be hired. An Intern may work one additional month after graduation. Iron Mountain Incorporated is the world's trusted partner for outsourced records and information management services. .Founded in 1951, the Company has grown to service more than 200,000 customer accounts throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and Latin America. Consulting Services is the international professional services group of Iron Mountain that specializes in comprehensive records and information program development and implementation. As a division of Iron Mountain, Consulting Services’ professionals work with current Iron Mountain clients and other companies alike. See the full Internship Description. For more information please contact Ron Pollock via email or phone, 471-3971.

Monday, April 4, 6-7 PM, SZB 556, Dr. Janise Richards. Public Health Informatics. Dr. Richards, Public Health Informatics Fellowship Director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, and is a graduate of the UT iSchool. She will discuss the growing field of public health informatics, career opportunities, and the CDC Public Health Informatics Fellowship Program, which she directs. The School of Information recently nominated Janise as a candidate for the Outstanding UT Doctoral Graduate award, the winner of which will be recognized at the all-UT spring commencement ceremony. Janise holds Masters degrees in Educational Technology and Public Health, and completed our PhD program in May, 2000. The title of her dissertation is Public Health Informatics: A Consensus of Core Competencies. The dissertation was instrumental in codifying and formalizing the then incipient field of public health informatics. After holding positions as an educational technology coordinator at UTHSCSA and distance education coordinator at the UT Houston School of Public Health, Janise served as Acting Director of Informatics for CDC. She was responsible for coordinating CDC's web and other information services during the 9-11-2001 attack, after which we feared a biological warfare attack. You are invited to attend her presentation. For more information, please contact Dr. Glynn Harmon.

Tuesday, April 5, 4-5:30 PM, GPSA Week-GSA Meeting. Join us in this annual officer election meeting. This is also an important meeting where a major revision to the gsa constitution will be discussed.

Tuesday-Friday, April 5-8, All day, Texas Library Association (TLA) Conference.For the first time in almost 40 years , librarians, library supporters, and vendors will gather in Austin for the annual TLA conference. We've assembled a conference experience like none other. National broadcaster and political commentator Cokie Roberts , chicana narrative artist Carmen Lomas Garza , MAD Magazine editor Joe Raiola , author Barbara Taylor Bradford , and (how cool is this!) actor and producer Henry Winkler are featured speakers. For registration, volunteering, and further information, Please visit the Conference Website.

Tuesday, April 5, last day for UT ASIST members to RSVP for the Student brunch on Sunday, April 10. For more information please visit the UT Chapter, ASIST Website or contact Kristin Davis.

Wednesday, April 6, 2:30-4:30 PM, UNB Ballroom, GPSA Week-GSA Awards Reception. The Graduate Student Assembly requests the pleasure of your company at our annual Livingston Awards Reception. All nominees for the William S. Livingston Outstanding Graduate Student Employee Award competition will be recognized at the reception. The top four winners will be announced, and each will receive a $1000 award due to a generous support of the University Co-op. During the evening we will also introduce our new GSA Executive Committee for the 2005-2006 academic year as well as acknowledge the work and commitment to excellence of Assembly representatives and appointees.

Wednesday, April 6, 3:30-5:30 PM, SZB 556. Bob Strong, dissertation defense. Dissertation defense. Bob's dissertation is titled Undergraduates' Information Differentiation Behaviors in a Research Process: A grounded Theory Approach. His committee members are Drs. Pedro Reyes (Education Administration and UT System), Mary Lynn Rice-Lively, Marilla Svinicki (Educational Psychology), Ron Wyllys, and Glynn Harmon (Chair). A review copy of his dissertation draft is on display on the table by the small copier in the School office. We welcome your attendance.

Thursday, April 7, 5-7 PM, UNB Underground, GPSA Week-Graduate Bowling & Pool Night. Join other graduate students for an evening of good fun.

Friday, April 8, 9 AM - Noon, UTC 1.102, GPSA Week- Grant Writing Workshop. Registration is required. http://www.utexas.edu/ogs/

Friday, April 8, 5-7 PM, Scholz Garten,-Happy Hour. Student, Faculty , Staff , Friends, and Family Happy hour. Come when you can and leave when you want. When it is hot or cold we are inside where it is crowded and noisy. When it is nice out, we are outside in the garden where it is more comfortable and much quieter. Scholz Garten is located two blocks from campus at 1607 San Jacinto Boulevard For more information please contact the student association Co-Directors, Angela, Cristen, Jacob, or Vanessa.

Friday, April 8, 6:30-9:30 PM, Dr. Gracy's, Potluck Dinner. April Norris, the newly elected President of the UT student chapter of the SAA, extends an invitation to all iSchool students, faculty and staff interested in archives, records management, preservation and/or conservation. Dr. Gracy and his wife Laura are generously hosting a Potluck Dinner at their home on 2313 Tower Dr. All you need to bring is yourself and something delicious to share with your fellow colleagues. Family members and friends are welcomed. And then
Friday, April 8, 9:30-? PM, Opal Divine's Freehouse, Continuation. After the potluck, the party will be moving to Opal Divine's. Even if you can't make it to the potluck, you can still come join us at Opal's, from 9:30pm on. Opal's is located just across Mo-Pac from Dr. Gracy's place, at 700 West 6th Street (on the SW corner of 6th and Rio Grande), and has ample parking available. We hope everyone can come – we expect a full house! For more information on these two events please contact April.

Saturday, April 9, 7:30-9 PM, Bass Concert Hall. Texas Review. The annual Texas Revue is a proud university tradition that began in the 1950s during Roundup Week under the name "Varsity Revue," This tradition was re-established in 1995 by the UT Leadership Board as "Texas Revue" in order to showcase the phenomenal talent of student organizations and individual performers in front of the Austin community to enjoy. Since its revival, attendance for the two shows has peaked at more than 6000, making Texas Revue one of the largest events of the year. Auditions are held during the spring semester several weeks before the show. For more information please visit the event Website.

Wednesday, April 13, 4-5:30 PM, SZB 556, Ruth Wolfish and Rachel Berrington, Alumni Speaker Series. Ruth is a UT MLIS 1977 graduate and the Eastern U.S. Customer Relations Manager for IEEE. She has had previous experience with Lucent Technologies and Bell Labs, and is the incoming president of the New Jersey Chapter of SLA. Rachel graduated from the University of Arizona, is the Western U.S. Customer Relations Manager for IEEE, and was the former president of the Oregon Chapter of SLA. The Alumni Speakers Series brings graduates of our program back to campus to share their career experiences with students. Their stories provide valuable information about the job market, regardless of their own individual positions. As part of their talks, they will discuss their current position and how they chose their career, how they prepared for it with work experience and coursework, how they conducted their job searches, and what was successful for them. They will also talk about the current job market, what they consider important for graduates to know about job search today, and what they look for when they hire new employees, from skills that are important to how they view resumes and conduct interviews. For more information please contact Ron Pollock, Director of Career Services, via email or phone, 471-2623.

Tuesday, April 19, 3:30-5 PM, SZB 468, iForum, presenter and topic to be announced. For further information please contact Dr. Randolph Bias, iForum Committee Chair, via email or phone, 471-7046.

Wednesday, April 20, 5:30-6:30 PM, LBJ Library, 2005 Celebration of Volunteerism. The Volunteer and Service Learning Center and the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library proudly present the 2005 Celebration of Volunteerism and Service learning with reception immediately following. This annual event recognizes the dedicated students, faculty, staff and UT organizations who have made significant contributions to the Austin and Central Texas communities through their work as volunteers and leaders.
Honored speakers and guests will include: Stephanie Hamm of First Tee of Greater Austin, UT President Larry Faulkner, Vice President for Student Affairs James W. Vick and Dr. Betty Flowers, Director of the LBJ Library. We invite you to take part in this annual event by nominating yourself, a colleague, students or student organizations as well as faculty or staff organizations. For more information please contact Yvonne Fuentes, Volunteer Recognition Ceremony Chair, via email or phone, 471- 6161.

Thursday, April 21, 6:30-9 PM, ACE Avaya-Dr. Jeffery Andrews, Broadband wireless access with WiMax/802.16: Current performance benchmarks and future potential. (Broadband wireless access with WiMax/802.16: Current performance benchmarks and future potential. The IEEE 802.16 family of standards, and its associated industry consortium WiMax, promises to deliver high data rates over large areas to a large number of users in the near future. This exciting addition to current broadband options such as DSL, cable, and Wi-Fi promises to rapidly provide broadband access to locations in the world's rural and developing areas there broadband is currently unavailable, as well as competing for urban market share. WiMax's competitiveness in the marketplace largely depends on the actual data rates and ranges that are achieved, but this has been difficult to judge due to the large number of possible options and competing marketing claims. This talk will first provide a brief tutorial overview of 802.16. Then, based on extensive recent studies, we will present the realistic attainable throughput and performance of expected WiMax compatible systems based on the 802.16d standard approved in June 2004 (now named 802.16-2004). We also suggest future enhancements to the standard that could at least quadruple the achievable data rate, while also increasing the robustness and coverage, with only moderate complexity increases.

Dr. Jeffrey G. Andrews is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, in the Wireless Networking and Communications Group (WNCG). He received the B.S. in Engineering with High Distinction from Harvey Mudd College in 1995, and the M.S. and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University in 1999 and 2002, respectively. He helped develop Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) systems as an engineer at Qualcomm from 1995 to 1997, and has served as a frequent consultant on communication systems to numerous corporations, startups, and government agencies, including Microsoft, Palm, Ricoh, and NASA. Dr. Andrews serves as an associate editor for the IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications. He also is actively involved in IEEE conferences and is co-chairing the DSP for wireless applications area at the fall 2005 VTC, as well as serving as a member of the technical program committee for ICC and Globecom. Dinner for members with reservation - $5.00, members at door - $7.00 non-members with reservation - $7.00 n on-members with at door - $8.00, Students-free. Please RSVP to Howard Headrick. You do not have to eat to attend to attend the lecture. For more information please contact R. Talbot or Howard Hedrick.

Monday, April 25, 8:-9:30 PM, Bates, Kevin Noe, UT Symphony Orchestra. Admission is $7.00. Tickets are available at the door. For more information, please visit the Music Department Events Calendar, call the music events hotline, 471-5401, or contact School of Music Information by email or phone, 471-0806.

Tuesday,April 26, 3:30-5 PM, SZB 468, iForum, Dr. Lynn Westbrook, topic to be announced. For further information please contact Dr. Randolph Bias, iForum Committee Chair, via email or phone, 471-7046.

Monday, May 2, 8-10 PM, Bates, Combined Concert, Classical Perfection. Mozart Mass in C Minor, (The Great) and Beethoven Choral Fantasy. Dr. James Morrow conducts the UT Choral Arts Society, UT Chamber Singers,and the UT Symphony Orchestra in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Mass in C Minor, K. 427 (The Great), and Ludwig van Beethoven, Choral Fantasy. Featuring Anton Nel, piano. Admission is $16.00 for the general public, $13.00 for faculty/staff, and $10.00 for students. Tickets are available on the web, by phone, 477-6060, at the UT PAC ticket office, at the Erwin Center, at HEB stores, and at the door. For more information, please visit the Music Department Events Calendar, call the music events hotline, 471-5401, contact School of Music Information by email or phone, 471-0806, or contact Dr. James Morrow via email or phone., 471-0806.

Saturday, May 21, 9-11AM, Bass, Graduate School Convocation for Masters Students. For more information please visit the Office of Graduate Studied Website and the UT 122nd Commencement Website.

Saturday, May 21, 11 AM - Noon, Alumni Center, Graduate School Reception for Masters Students. For more information please visit the Office of Graduate Studies Website.

Saturday, May 21, Noon-1PM, Bass, Graduate School Convocation for Doctoral Students. For more information please visit the Office of Graduate Studies Website. and the UT 122nd Commencement Website.

Saturday, May 21, 1-2 PM, Alumni Center, Graduate School Reception for Doctoral Students. For more information please visit the Office of Graduate Studies Website.

Saturday, May 21, 3-4 PM, UNB 2.228 (Texas Union Theater), iSchool Convocation.For more information please contact Melba Claymon by email or phone, 471-2185.

Saturday, May 21, 4-6 PM, UNB 3.502 (Santa Rita Room), iSchool Graduation Reception. For more information please contact Melba Claymon by email or phone, 471-2185.

Saturday, May 21, 7:00-10:30 PM, South Mall, UT Commencement. For more information please visit the UT 122nd Commencement Website.

Sunday-Friday, May 22-27, Texas A&M, History of Books and Printing Workshop. The Fourth Annual &M Workshop in the History of Books and Printing will take place at the Cushing Memorial Library and Archives of Texas A&M, College Station, TX. This five-day workshop provides an intensive, hands-on introduction to and survey of the history of books and printing. The workshop is intended for librarians, archivists, students, teachers, collectors, private individuals and others who work in areas related to or who have an interest in the subject. The course consists of a unique combination of labs and seminars designed to provide students with practical experience as well as a broad historical survey of the field. The lab sessions will concentrate on printing in the hand press era and its allied technologies--typecasting, papermaking, bookbinding, illustration, and ink-making. Students will have the opportunity cast type in a hand mould. They will also set type, impose forms, and print on a replica common press. The seminar sessions will provide a chronological survey of book and printing history, beginning briefly with pre-codex structures and then concentrating on developments in the hand press era. Tuition is $600 and may provide three hours of graduate credit from University of North Texas. For registration and other information, please visit the workshop Website or contact Chris Morrow, at the library, via email or phone, 979-845-1951.

Monday, May 30, Submission Due: Full papers and posters submission to be included in the Proceedings.
Wednesday, June 15, Submission Due: Abstracts of oral presentations (PowerPoint presentation and reports).
Saturday, July 30, Submission Due: Final version of full papers and posters due for conference proceedings.

Call for papers for the Second International Conference on Knowledge Management--Nurturing Culture, Innovation, and Technology--Jointly organized by the Information and Knowledge Management Society ( i KMS) & The American Society for Information Science & Technology (ASIS&T) http://www.ickm2005.org . The second International Conference on Knowledge Management (ICKM2005) will be held at the ASIS&T Annual Meeting in the Westin Charlotte, North Carolina on October 27-28, 2005 . The conference will bring together academics, researchers, developers, practitioners, and users in the areas of knowledge management and information processing. It will serve as a platform for networking, exchange of research ideas, practical applications and best practices. Authors are invited to submit original and unpublished work on all aspects of information and knowledge management. Specific topics of interest include but are not limited to the following:

Tuesday-Sunday, August 16-21, New Orleans, SAA Annual Meeting. Please contact Dr. Gracy for more information.

The information on the Ph.D. student Webpage is slowly growing. Names of all current Ph.D. students have been added. Your other information is needed to complete it . Please send Don a jpeg photo, information to post, and a link to your Website whenever you can. What is this Webpage? Well, as we agreed in spring semester, 2002, we wanted to have a summary page with a list of all Ph.D. students and links to more detailed information on each of us. The summary page consist of a photo, name, academic interest, contact information, and links to other pages. A detail page repeats the summary information and provides, education, a brief biography, and specialization. Students information should be linked to each student's individual Website with their vita, resume, and any other information they may wish to provide. If there is interest, we can also add Ph.D. alumni to this list. There is an input form that might work with your browser. Otherwise you can copy and paste.

Information on professional associations, student governance organizations, email lists and and other forums of interest to Information school Ph.D. students is provided through the Ph.D. Forums link on the left. Included is information on email lists, Blackboard, Websites and other forums.

The school of information sponsors weekly or fortnightly iForums (or iFora) of interest to School of Information Students and Faculty. Scholars from across the campus and occasionally from other universities are invited to present their work at a forum. From time to time, Ph.D. students are also invited to present their work to the forum. Each individual forum will be listed in the above schedule when details are known.

In 2001 and 2002 , Ph.D. students organized the Ph.D. students organized a colloquia to share their work in a friendly environment. The last series we had was the Fall 2002 Ph.D. Colloquia Series. Such a series could be reestablished if there was an interest. If you are interested in leading such a series, please contact Don Drumtra for his experience on leading the 2002 Colloquia

Disclaimer. The following information is compiled from various sources and is current as of the time it was written and the documents available. It is not official UT, Graduate School, or School of Information policy. It is offered to help Ph.D. students gain an overview of Ph.D. requirements. Please refer to official sources for current information before taking irreversible action.

General. UT Graduate School requirements for award of the Ph.D. degree are listed in the UT Graduate Catalog. Detailed requirements for the School of Information are listed the provided on the Doctor of Philosophy Webpage. Lisa Kleinman provided an unofficial summary of the requirements to the participants in the Fall 2004 Ph.D. Orientation.

Milestones. Program milestones consist of development and approval of a Program of Study, satisfactory completion of course work and a comprehensive doctoral examination including written, oral, and research components, presentation and approval of credentials to Graduate School (including a separate Program of Work), approval of a dissertation proposal, research and completion of a dissertation culminating in a final examination consisting of defense of the the dissertation and final presentation approval of the student's credentials to the Graduate School. Administrative progress through most of these milestones is described in the Checklist for the Doctoral Program (1993). Annual reviews are submitted to the students Advising Committee so that the committee may evaluate the student's progress. The student's Supervising Committee monitors the student's progress after the student reaches candidacy.

Graduate Studies Committee. Within the School of Information, the Graduate Studies Committee or GSC approves the students Program of Study and Annual review.

Qualifying Procedures. In order to qualify to apply for candidacy, the iSchool requires a written exam and oral defense (often called the comprehensive exam or "comps") and a research paper accepted by the student's committee. This committee (perhaps, it could be called the Examination Committee) ordinarily consists of three members of the iSchool faculty and one outside member. The three iSchool members could be your Advising Committee, potential members of your Supervising Committee, or any other three members who agree to serve.

Application for Candidacy. On June 1, 2004 the UT Office of Graduate Studies automated the application for candidacy and placed it online. Instructions for completion of and a link to the actual online form is provided in the application Webpage. Other candidacy requirements are also provided on that page including the requirement for the Program of Work.

Dissertation. Requirements for the content of your dissertation are developed between you and your Supervising Committee and the Graduate School sets guidelines for format. There are two format guidelines are provided by the Graduate School (Office of Graduate Studies or OGS), print guidelines and electronic submission guidelines. Even though you must submit your dissertation electronically, you would do well to meet both guidelines because someone might very well want to print your dissertation in the future. An a point of interest, the final authority on both the content and format of your dissertation is your Supervisory Committee--not the folks in the Office of Graduate Studies. However, the OGS folks can make life really difficult for you if you do not listen to them.

Dr. Harmon and eleven other UT advisors have published dissertation tips for doctoral students. It is posted on the UT Intellectual Entrepreneurship, Dissertation List-Serve and Resources Webpage. The Webpage also contains a dissertation writing bibliography, reflections of former graduate deans on dissertation completion, advice from UT alumni, and numerous other useful items for Ph.D. students.

Final Oral Exam (Defense of Dissertation. A satisfactory final oral examination is required for the approval of a dissertation. The Office of Graduate Studies publishes the time and place of this examination. The exam is open to all members of the University community and the public, unless attendance is restricted by the Graduate Studies Committee. Information is available in the Graduate Catalog and an application form are available from the Office of Graduate Studies.

Application for Graduation. There are lots of forms for graduation listed by the Office of Graduate Studies. You would be well advised to visit the office of Graduate Studies well before the deadlines to be sure you have the latest information and do not forget an essential form the absence of which might hold up your graduation.

Graduation. After all that work you won't want to miss the graduation celebration and fireworks at the end of the spring semester. UT introduced a new doctoral robe in 2001, which will be first available for graduating students in May, 2005. You can be one of the first scholars to wear one.

Additional Sources. The University of Texas and the UT Office of Graduate Studies provide the latest information on degree and administrative requirements requirements in three publications:

The iSchool PhD Methods Courses Webpage lists many research methods courses available in the university that may be suitable for meeting the iSchool Ph.D. research methods requirements listed on the iSchool Doctor of Philosophy Webpage. Lisa Kleinman has written an excellent summary that should be of particular interest. She describes her summary as follows, "yo, in case (like me) you were overwhelmed by the number of research methods courses that seemed available at UT, but were suspiciously vague in terms of description -- here is a list that I've compiled with/ course names & descriptions. the doctoral studies committee & your own advisor may be able to make further recommendations as to which would be specifically appropriate for you" (2003 Dec. 15, personal communications). Doctoral Committee recommendations will be posted on this Website as soon as they become available.

Research Methods in Information Systems, MIS 381N.26. Earlier, Lisa provided us this information on a this course. "The Information Systems department in the Business School is interested in having more iSchool folk taking their courses. In particular, Ph.D. students may want to consider taking “Research Methods in Information Systems” taught by Salina Circus. I took this class last year, and it provides an excellent survey of the multitude of different research methods (both qualitative and quantitative) as applied to understanding the effects of information technology. Alina is very flexible about the core focus areas, so if a whole bunch of people want to “study X”, she'll find a way to incorporate it. If you’re a Masters student, you can take this course if you’re interested in subjecting yourself to reading a ga-zillion journal articles from the latest sexy issues of MIS Quarterly... which ain’t the “Miss Quarterly” that I was hoping for, let me tell you... The course is offered in spring 2004" (personal communications). Information provided by Lisa Kleinman. For more information about the course see the Course Webpage or contact Dr. Chircu" (2003 Oct. 31, personal communications).

Statistics Website. The Website, www.statpages.net, provides about 600 links and about 380 statistical calculators. It is now owned by AOL. Recently AOL has begun restricting its content to AOL members, so please let me know if this Website becomes inaccessible.

Graduate School Courses provide a unique opportunity for School of Information Ph.D. students because they provide a multidisciplinary atmosphere of learning. Students from across the campus attend these courses and share experiences and viewpoints form their own departments. Two courses of major interest to our programs are:

Check to Be Sure. Please do not forget however, that not all of the courses listed will be satisfactory to meet any particularly student's Ph.D. program requirements. "Since advancement to candidacy is contingent on faculty approval of a course of work, the student should consult regularly with their committee on matters of course selection" (School of Information, undated, Academic programs, Ph.D.).

Information on Qualitative Research Methods. In September 2004, Dr. Davis loaned a copy of the three-volume Sage Encyclopedia of Social Science Research Methods (2004) to the lab for our use. It not only provides excellent summaries of lots of issues and topics related to research methodology, but it provides reference sources under each topic to allow further exploration. A copy is also available is also at the PCL reference desk.