Welcome to the Ph.D. News Website. This Website contains items of interest to iSchool Ph.D. students at University of Texas at Austin. The home page "Announcements," "Activities for this Week," and "Future Events" are normally updated each Sunday. Additions and changes to the current week as well as special announcements are noted in red (or other appropriate color) . Significant future calendar events are posted as they are received and time permits. Suggested additions, corrections, and other comments are always appreciated. Email me or grab me in room SZB 463 or in the hall.

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Announcements

Hooray!

Ron Houston Completed His
Qualification Examination October 27

Maria Gonzalez Successfully Completed Her
Qualifying Examination October 17

Bethany Letalien's
Was Accepted on October 10:
Developing a Reading Room and Activities Center
in the Favela of Rocinha, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Congratulate them all when you see them.

Recurring Events

Each Monday, 5:30-7:30 PM, Crown and Anchor Pub, Unofficial iSchool Happy Hour. Everyone--students, faculty, and staff--is invited. Domestic is $1.50 a pint so all can afford to participate. Hope to see you there. The Crown and Anchor is located at 2911 San Jacinto just north of campus. For more information, please contact Courtney Chartier.

Each Friday, 1-4 PM, SZB 556, Dr. Phil Doty, INF 391D8, DRT 1. As we end the semester we will have three weeks' worth of visits from faculty members and senior PhD students to talk about research and theory in their own work followed by two weeks of student presentations. All doctoral students are encouraged to join us, Nov 4-18, for the first part of class (1:00 - 2:15 or so) for the speakers, and then the class will meet privately in the second part of class. The final two classes, Dec 2 and 9, will involve public presentations by the students in the class of their final research papers.  We will provide the topics and specific order of presentations, and place for these as they evolve.  We'll be running the last two classes like conference sessions, and we will invite the School as a whole to the proceedings. Specific topics follow. For more information, please contact Dr. Doty.

Each Friday, 5-7 PM, Scholz Garten, Traditional iSchool Happy Hour. The Student, Faculty , Staff , Friends, and Family Happy hour. initiated by Dean Dillon. Come when you can and leave when you want. When it is cold or hot we are inside where it is crowded and noisy. When it is comfortable we are outside in the garden where it is quieter. Scholz Garten is located two blocks from campus at 1607 San Jacinto Boulevard. For more information, please contact Dean Dillon.

Activities Through Nov 5

Tuesday, Oct 25, 3-4 PM, SZB 556, IT "Town Hall" meeting.This event repeats on October 27 and 31. Please help us put your IT Fee money to work in ways that will improve instruction, IT projects, and your educational experience at the iSchool. Last year the IT Team initiated convening annual Town Hall meetings to solicit suggestions and to collect ideas for inclusion in our annual IT Vision Plan.  The IT Vision Plan is submitted each year to the University Information Technology and Assessment Committee (ITAC), a committee comprised of university faculty, students, and administrators.  The ITAC committee develops evaluation criteria to review the plans, and then recommends funding allocations from the university-wide IT Fee for each College and School. All funds collected from IT fees are used in the support of student computing and instructional needs. For more information, please contact Dr. Rice-Lively, Associate Dean, via email or phone, 471-2371.

Tuesday, Oct 25, 4-6 PM, SZB 556, Tea with Dean Dillon. Come and share Tea with the Dean. This is a wonderful opportunity to learn more about the iSchool and its programs and to share your concerns with the Dean. For more information please contact one of the association Co Directors: Maggie Gallup, d Johnston, Carie McGinnis, or Rob Yazzie.

Wednesday, Oct 26, ACE 2.302, 4-5 PM, Dr. Bradley Jensen, Mobile Devices and Mobile Application Development. This talk is oriented towards those interested in a high level overview of the Microsoft .NET Compact Framework and developing for mobile devices.  An introduction to the basic concepts of the .NET Compact Framework will be presented and it will be shown how the standard .NET Compact Framework integrates with mobile devices and supports mobile application development. Attendees will learn the basics of working with compact user interfaces, how to store and retrieve data on the compact device, and how to deploy mobile applications. This talk will be of interest to those working in embedded. Dr. Jensen received his Ph.D. in Business Computer
> Information Systems from the University of North Texas (UNT), with majors in Business Computer Information Systems and Computer Science.  He is a Microsoft Corporation Academic Relationship Manager responsible for Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana. Prior to Microsoft, he was an Assistant Professor in Information Technology and Decision Sciences and Assistant Director of the Information Systems Research Center at UNT, and was also President of JMC Consulting Services, an executive management consulting firm which provides strategic and tactical IT consulting services.  His research interests include privacy and security, networking, human factors, e-commerce, and document management.  Dr. Jensen has been an executive and consultant with more than 20 years of sales, marketing, and IT experience with several Fortune 100 companies.Dor more information, please contact Dr. Turnbull.

Thursday-Friday, Oct 27-28, Westin, Charlotte NC, Nurturing Culture, Innovation, and Technology. The second International Conference on Knowledge Management (ICKM2005), jointly organized by the Information and Knowledge Management Society (IKMS) & The American Society for Information Science & Technology (ASIS&T) will be held just before the ASIS&T Annual Meeting. 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. Registration for students is $150, or if you register for both ASIST and ICKM you will save $20.

Thursday Oct 27, 2-4 PM, SRH lobby. UT ALA/TLA Tour of the Benson Latin American Collection.Sid Richardson Hall is located off of Manor Road. There is some C parking on the corner of Clyde Littlefield and Red River, or you can take the FA bus which stops alongside Gregory Gym (across Jester). That bus stops at the Music or art Buildings and then a short hike up the hill to Sid Richardson Hall, Unit 1, first floor. The group will plan to meet in the lobby at 2:00. Hope to see you there! Please RSVP to me if you are definitely planning to make it so we can give Margo an idea of how many will be on the tour, but you are still welcome even without responding. To RSVP or for more information, please contact Melissa Keenan .

Thursday, Oct 27, 3-4 PM, SZB 556, IT "Town Hall" meeting.This event repeats on October 31. Please help us put your IT Fee money to work in ways that will improve instruction, IT projects, and your educational experience at the iSchool. Last year the IT Team initiated convening annual Town Hall meetings to solicit suggestions and to collect ideas for inclusion in our annual IT Vision Plan.  The IT Vision Plan is submitted each year to the University Information Technology and Assessment Committee (ITAC), a committee comprised of university faculty, students, and administrators.  The ITAC committee develops evaluation criteria to review the plans, and then recommends funding allocations from the university-wide IT Fee for each College and School. All funds collected from IT fees are used in the support of student computing and instructional needs. For more information, please contact Dr. Rice-Lively, Associate Dean, via email or phone, 471-2371.

Thursday, Oct 27, 4:30-6 PM, SZB 556, Amy Baker, Preservation Activities at the Catholic Archives of Texas, and Kate Mullen, General Conservation Survey at the Austin History Center. Amy is a 1st year conservator student and Kate is a 3rd year conservator student. All are Welcome. Kevin is a 3rd Year Conservation Student at the iSchool. For more information, please see the Kilgarlin Center Events Calendar or contact Ellen Cunningham-Kruppa, Director, The Kilgarlin Center for Preservation of the Cultural Record.

Thursday, Oct 27, 5-7 PM, Dog & Duck, GSA Colloquium. All graduate students invited.

Thursday, Oct 27, 5:30-6:30 PM, City Hall, Austin Mayor Will Wynn, Procamation of Archives Week. The Society of American Archivists University of Texas Student Chapter (SAA-UT) is pleased to announce that on October 27^th Austin Mayor Will Wynn will proclaim October 31^st – November 5^th, 2005 officially ARCHIVES WEEK! (cheers and applause.) Everyone is welcomed to attend the proclamation presentation which will be made at the new City Hall, 301 W. 2nd St. at 5:30 p.m. Here's a map to City Hall: http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/cityhall/map.htm.  Free parking is available in the underground parking garage.  For more information please contact April Noris, UT SAA President.

Thursday, Oct 27, 6-8 PM, Bruce Cole, Joseph D. Duffey, William R. Ferris and Sheldon Hackney, Reflections on their leadership of
the NEH and the Endowment¹s contribution to the intellectual and cultural life of the nation. Humanities Texas and the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum will celebrate the 40th anniversary of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) with this free public program. Chairman Bruce Cole is chairman of NEH and Joseph D. Duffey, William R. Ferris and Sheldon Hackney are former chairmen. Betty Sue Flowers, Director of the LBJ Library and Museum, will moderate the panel discussion. For more information about the NEH 40th anniversary program, please call Humanities Texas at 512/440.1991.

Thursday, Oct 27, 6-8 PM, Vivo Cocina, UT ASIST Happy Hour. Back by popular demand--please join UT ASIS&T for happy hour at Vivo Cocina. This is a unique opportunity for students, faculty, and professionals to network and share ideas. We hope to see you there!  Vivo Cochina is located at 2015 Manor Road, east of campus. For more information, please visit the UT ASIST events Webpage or contact Valery Gomez.

Friday, Oct 28 - Wednesday, Nov 2, Westin, Charlotte NC, Sparking Synergies: Bringing Research and Practice Together. The 2005 annual ASIST meeting will focus on the diversity of perspectives and insights from all those participating in the information science and technology community, as they generate innovative ideas,define theoretical concepts or work out the nuts and bolts of implementing well-tested ideas in new ways and in new settings. A wide variety of plenary and invited speakers, moderated panels, poster sessions and refereed papers will explore this theme. ASIST member student registration is $160. If you plan to go it is best to become a student member at $55 than pay the non-member student rate of $215. You may register online.

Friday-Sunday, Oct 28-30, TX State Capital, Texas Book Festival: A Celebration of Words. The Texas Book Festival celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. Follow American history from the Revolutionary War to the Civil War with noted historians David McCullough, Doris Kearns Goodwin and Gary Wills; experience a series of Unfortunate Events with Lemony Snicket; aid Alexander McCall Smith in unraveling the next mystery at the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency. The festival benefits Texas public libraries. Please visit the festival Website for details.

Friday, Oct 28, 8 AM - 1 PM, SRH 3.103, The NEA at 40: Cultural Policy and American Democracy Student Summit. This is a student summit dedicated to issues of cultural policy that includes discussion of the following topics: What is Cultural Policy? How do we articulate the role of cultural policy and its goals? What are the current and future career paths for arts policy advocates? What other policy fields does it relate to? The student summit is in conjunction with the NEA at 40: Cultural Policy and American Democracy Symposium at the LBJ Library and Museum through a roundtable discussion, interactive group dialogue, and a series of presentations about diverse cultural policy and arts topics presented by students from different regions of the U.S. Agenda:                 
8:00am ­ 9:00am        Welcome Breakfast & Introduction
9:00am ­ 12:00pm       Student Summit
12:00pm ­ 1:00pm       Lunch
Attendance is free but RSVP is required. To RSVP or for more information please contact pcoc@pcocarts.org.

Friday, Oct 28, 3:30 - 5 PM, Tarlton Library, SLA Tour. We have another tour happening! Jane O'Connell, head of student services at the Tarlton Law Library, will be taking us around to show us what our very own Law Library has to offer. Once again, the tour will be on a Friday at 3:30 p.m. Meet in the lobby area of the Law School, by the coffee cart, around 3:20. The library is on the north side of campus, across Dean Keeton from the Coop East. For more information, please visit the SLA Website or contact Heather Coleman.

Friday, Oct 28, 4 - 10 PM, Eastwoods Park, ACM Big Event. .It's that time again! The UTACM is having our Fall Big Event this Friday
at Eastwoods Park starting at 4 PM. There will be BBQ catered by Rudy's as well as a Pumpkin Carving contest afterwards. Faculty will be in attendance and it is always a great pleasure to be able to interact with them in an informal setting. Also, there will be a raffle with a bunch of great prizes! Hope to see everyone there! Happy Halloween! For more information, please contact UT ACM.

Friday, Oct 28, 8-9:30 PM, UPC, Katrina Benefit: Third Annual Halloween Monster Organ Concert. The event benefits hurricane victims and will feature Austin favorites Scott McNulty, Jean Fuller, Eric Mellenbruch, Scott Davis, and Chris Oelkers. Come howl at spooky music, and hear the famous Bach Toccata and Fugue in D minor (aka Phantom of the Opera). 2203 San Antonio Street (corner of 22^nd Street). If you are in costume, admissioni is $5; if not it is $10. For more information please visit the UPC Website or contact the UPC Office by phone, 476-5321, Ext 208.

Monday, Oct 31, Halloween and the first day of spring registration.

Monday, Oct 31, Last day for early registration for the 2006 ALISE Conference, From Research to Practice: The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in LIS Education , Jan 16-19, in San Antonio, Texas. The annual conference of Library and Information Science Educators is near by this year--we should all be participating in this event. If you are an ALISE member, log on to your member’s only page from the ALISE site and you will see an option to register for the conference.   Remember that your user id is your email address. Registration is $90 for students. If you are not a member you may join ALISE as a student for $60. If you have any questions regarding registration, please contact Jeremy Unthank via email or phone, 1-865-425-0155.

Monday, Oct 31 - Saturday, Nov 5, Archives week., REEL PRESERVATION: Archives and the Preservation of Moving Images. Archives Week is a nationally recognized, locally sponsored and organized week-long celebration intended to promote archival issues and trends that are of interest to the local community. Our goals for Archives Week 2005 are similar to those of previous years: to raise awareness of archives and their function in society, to highlight current preservation efforts, and to foster a healthy dialogue on archival issues among multiple communities. We have organized numerous free events, including:

• A lecturer series with Ken Weissman, head of the LoC Motion Picture Conservation Center delivering the keynote address and Drs. Caroline Frick and David B. Gracy II of the University of Texas as invited speakers,
• a tour of the film production materials in the Southwestern Writer’s Collection at Texas State University,
• a film showing at the Alexander Architectural Archive, and
• an Archive Clinic workshop co-hosted by the Austin History Center.  

We welcome everyone to attend. As the events draw nigh, I will post more detailed reminders, but in the meantime I encourage a visit the SAA-UT website (http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/~saa/) to learn more. This year is the 7^th annual SAA-UT Archives Week and we look forward to it being the best! For more information please contact April Noris, UT SAA President.

Monday, Oct 31, 4-5 PM, SZB 556, IT "Town Hall" meeting. Please help us put your IT Fee money to work in ways that will improve instruction, IT projects, and your educational experience at the iSchool. Last year the IT Team initiated convening annual Town Hall meetings to solicit suggestions and to collect ideas for inclusion in our annual IT Vision Plan.  The IT Vision Plan is submitted each year to the University Information Technology and Assessment Committee (ITAC), a committee comprised of university faculty, students, and administrators.  The ITAC committee develops evaluation criteria to review the plans, and then recommends funding allocations from the university-wide IT Fee for each College and School. All funds collected from IT fees are used in the support of student computing and instructional needs. For more information, please contact Dr. Rice-Lively, Associate Dean, via email or phone, 471-2371.

Tuesday, Nov 1, 5-6:30 PM, SSB, G1.310 (Glenn Mahony Room), GSA meeting. All graduate students are invited to attend Graduate Student Assembly meetings. The Student Services Building is on Dean Keaton (north campus). If you want to see how GSA operates you might want to attend. For more information please contact Don Drumtra, 2005-6 ischool Ph.D. rep.

Tuesday, Nov 1, GSB 2.120, 5:30-7:30 PM, UT McCombs School of Business Web 2.0 Panel. Web 2.0: The Next Generation of Internet Applications and Business Models. The Next Generation Internet has Arrived (And Why Microsoft Just Reorganized). Mark your calendars for this one-of-a kind event.The Entrepreneur Society and Information Management Association will host a panel on Web 2.0 -- The next generation of internet applications, technologies and business models -- and why it's important to you. Find out why Microsoft just reorganized and what is driving the strategy of Yahoo!, Google and hundreds of smaller technology companies and startups around the country and around the world. We're hosting four major local players in the Web 2.0 space:

• Dave Panos: Founder and CEO of Pluck, one of Austin's hottest start-ups with the #1 browser-based RSS reader and the software behind the Austin American-Statesman's citizen journalism/blogging program. Pluck has raised $10 million from leading venture capital firms, including Austin Ventures and Mayfield and has received CNET and ZDNET Editor's Choice Awards.
• Alexander Muse: Entrepreneur and venture capitalist Alexander Muse created M | Ventures, which focuses almost exclusively on the  Web 2.0 space.
• Brian Oberkirch: CEO, Weblogs Work, a Dallas-based blog consultancy helping all types of companies get in on the new online conversation via do-it-yourself media tools. Brian's a reformed ad agency guy, applying the good stuff he learned launching national communication programs for clients like Pergo, PrimeCo, Nokia and others in a Web 2.0 world. Find him blogging at http:// www.weblogswork.com and http://www.lightbox5.com/likeitmatters/.
• Ben Brown: Editor of Austinist -- one of Austin's most widely  read and informative blogs -- and creator of the hipster dating site  Consumating.

Web 2.0: The web as platform; data as the "Intel Inside"; network effects driven by an "architecture of participation"; innovation in  assembly of systems and sites composed by pulling together features from distributed, independent developers; lightweight business models enabled by content and service syndication; the end of the software adoption cycle ("the perpetual beta"); software above the level of a  single device; leveraging the power of "the Long Tail". For more information please visit the event Website.

Wednesday, Nov 2, 2:30-4:30 PM, UNG 2.228, (Texas Union Theatre), US Department of State, Briefing for International Students and Scholars. T he U.S. Department of State would like to invite you to an outreach event to discuss our efforts to attract foreign students and the U.S. visa process. While implementing many new security requirements following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the Department has also worked hard to provide the best possible service to legitimate students. We would like to share the news about our improvements with your community and reinforce the importance we attach to continued international exchanges. Please join us to learn about these issues. Although we cannot cover questions about specific cases, we will do our best to explain recent changes in the visa process and to answer any related questions. This event is hosted by the international Student and Scholar Services.

Wednesday, Nov 2, 4:30-6 PM, SZB 468, Father Justin Sinaites, Dr. David Cooper, Special Kilgarlin Center Fall Forum. Father Justin Sinaites, St. Catherine's Monastery, Mount Sinai, Egypt and Dr. David Cooper, Consultant to the St. Catherine's Project will present a lively forum on their project to digitize the 6th-century monastery's 3,300 ancient manuscripts.  Recently, some of the monastery's manuscripts and icons were presented in a special exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. For more information, please contact Ellen Cunningham-Kurppa, Director, Kilgarlin Center

Thursday, Nov 3, 9 AM - 4 PM. SZB 561, Information eXperience Lab Open House. The School of Information would like to invite you to an open house for our new Information eXperience Lab. This open hous is scheduled to coincide with “World Usability Day” -- a day-long celebration sponsored by the Usability Professionals Association with participation from 80 locations across 30 countries. The Information eXperience Lab is a research facility devoted to the study of human interaction with recorded and encoded information.  Throughout the day we will be offering tours of the new facility, snacks, a chance to win an iPod nano, and information about usability and information science.  We hope you will take some time to stop in and meet the faculty, students, and staff who will be working in this Lab on discoveries that will benefit people and their engagement with information.Thanks, and we hope to see you Thursday. For more information on World Usability Day, our involvement in it , or the open house, please contact Randolph Bias, via email or phone, 471-7046

Thursday, Nov 3, 5:30-9:30, Red Oak Ballroom, ARMA's 25th Anniversary Celebration. ARMA Austin is celebrating it’s 25^th Anniversary Hawaiian style! Wear your Hawaiian shirt and we will provide dinner, cocktails, music, comedy, and Polynesian dancing! Red Oak Ballroom is located at 2525 W. Anderson Lane, Austin. Price: $15 per person. For more information, please contact Stephens.

Friday, Nov 4, 5:30 - 7:45, SZB 468, Hepburn, Tracy, Desk Set. Please join us this evening in Sanchez 468 for Desk Set, a classic Katherine Hepburn/Spencer Tracy comedy about a brilliant reference librarian and an innovative computer scientist. We'll start  our brown bag suppers about 5:30 and the movie will open at 6. It's 103 minutes long so we'll be out by 7:45. If you've only seen this on tv, then come enjoy a wide screen version. Desserts and drinks provided -- bring your own stuffed bear, champaign, confetti, and burned shoes. Friends and family welcome -- drop by for whatever bit of the evening you have to share. See you there! For more information, please contact Lynn.

Friday, Nov 4, 8:30 AM - 3:30 PM, SZB Lobby, SLA Tour to San Antonio. Please join us next Friday, as UTSLA heads to San Antonio for a library tour double header. Tour #1, AM: University of Texas Health Science Center; Tour #2, PM : San Antonio Express-News.
Anyone interested in health or news librarianship should not miss this event. It will be a fantastic opportunity to meet people in the field and learn about the inner workings of these two wonderful organizations. We will carpool to SA. Let us know if you need transportation. Alternately, if you have a car and would be willing to drive, that would be great too. All are welcome. If you would like to attend, please e-mail Amy Reese by tomorrow. We'd like to get a head count, if possible. For more information, please contact Heather Coleman or Amy Reese.

Friday, Nov 4, 8-9:30 PM,.Bates Recital Hall, UT Chamber Singers, A fantastic program of American choral masterworks. Ives Psalm 90; Foss Behold! I Build an House Persichetti Flower Songs; Corigliano Fern Hill. $10 general admission. For more information please contact James Morrow, Director of Coral Activities via email or phone, 471-0806.

Saturday, November 5, 8:30 - 10 AM, Waller Creak Cleanup. Waller Creek, located on the University of Texas at Austin is a beautiful waterway, habitat to numerous animals and plants. It offers an escape from the close urban setting of the surrounding campus. The next Waller Creek Cleanup is scheduled for November 5, Register online.

Saturday, November 5-6 , 2 PM- 2 AM, Freedom Oaks, RIB-O-RAMA VII!-South Austin's best backyard barbeque. Meat & beer (15 kegs, but you might bring some backup) is provided, and you bring a side or dessert. Kid friendly, camping available, plenty parking. Here's the music line-up:
2 pm- 2:30      Kim Deschamps (stage #2)
2:30- 3:15       Steelbeam
3:15-4:15        Agave Tribe (stage #2)
4:20-5:20        Leeann Atherton Band with Miss Lavelle White
5:30-6:30        Trent Turner and the Moontowers (stage #2)
6:35-7:30        Lee Person Band
7:40-8:25        Doak Short and the Dirty Dogs
8:35- 9:20       Shelley King Band
9:30-10:30      Two Hoots & A Holler
10:45-12:15    Jesse Dayton Band
12:30- END      Flounders Without Eyes
Freedon Oaks is at 11241 Slaughter Creek Dr. in South Austin. For more information please contact Frank Mancuso of St. Arnold Brewing Company, by email or phone, 916-4565.

Future Events - Mark Your Calendar

Tuesday, Nov 8, 9-10 AM, SZB 556, Dr, Roy's ALA Presidential Campaign Student Circle, The Student Circle meets for a second time Tuesday. We have a great group and students have stepped up to serve as Campaign Manager, Treasurer, and Webmaster. We're working on dividing such tasks/roles as blog monitor, press assistant, volunteer coordinator, liaison to LIS students and faculty, and event planner. We're having lots of fun and learning a great deal. You're welcome to join the activities. For additional information, please contact Dr. Roy.

Wednesday, Nov 9, 12 - PM, NOA4.106, UT ADA Forum. Voice Your Concerns at the ADA Accessibility Forum. The first meeting of the University's ADA Accessibility Committee will be held later this month. As stated earlier, this committee will focus on institution-wide, systemic issues that fall under the scope of the Americans with Disabilities Act.  This committee is seeking your input on ADA issues which you feel need to be addressed.  Please join us for the November 9th meeting. Should you have need for reasonable accommodation in the provision of the training, please contact our office prior to the scheduled training and we will make every effort to assist you with the accommodation. For more information, please contact, Linda Millstone, UT ADA Coordinator, via email or phone, 471-1849.

Wednesday, Nov 9, 7:30 - 9:30 PM, LBJ auditorium, Ari Fleischer, Lecture.Ari Fleischer is former White House Press Secretary. He graduated from Vermont's Middlebury College in 1982 and later served as Press Secretary for George W. Bush. As White House press secretary, Fleischer was the official liaison between the White House and the members of the White House Press Corps. He was also the primary spokesman for the President and responsible for delivering the daily White House briefing. In March of 2005, Fleischer wrote Taking Heat which details his years in the White House and reached #7 on the New York Times best-seller list. Fleischer is currently president of his own firm, Ari Fleischer Communications, and resides in Pound Ridge, New York. Admission to the Fleischer lecture is free. A pass is required for admission but does not guarantee admission to the event. UT Students, Faculty, and Staff may obtain passes from the Texas Union Student Events Center Ticket Office (Room 4.300) beginning Wednesday, October 26th, at 8:00 am (pass distribution: weekdays 8am-5pm). This event is sponsored by the Texas Union Student Events Center Distinguished Speakers Committee (DSC) and the Student Endowed Centennial Lectureship (SECL). The Distinguished Speakers Committee is funded primarily by the Texas Union Fee paid by all students. For more information please visit theStudent Event Center's Website or the Distinguished Speakers Committee Website.

Thursday, Nov 10, 7-8:30 PM, UPC, G. F. Handel, Water Musick (complete). Performers will include the award winning LBJ High School Camerata Orchestra, with director Dr. David Davenport, organist Keith Womer, and harpsichordist Scott McNulty. Other music featured will be Handel’s Organ Concerto in Bb, Barber’s Adagio for Strings, and Elgar’s Sospiri. Admission is $7 and $5. Free parking is available across the street in the church lot or at the Co-Op lot on 23^rd Street. For more information please visit the UPC Website or contact the UPC Office by phone, 476-5321, Ext 208.

Thursday, Nov 10, 9-8 PM, Littlefield House, The Dean's Reception for iSchool award recipients. Attendance is by invitation.

Friday, Nov 11, 8:30 AM - 4:45 PM, UTSLA Tour of Two San Antonio Special Libraries, UTSLA has another tour event coming soon. 
On November 11 we've arranged 2 tours in San Antonio.  We'll be touring specia libraries at both the UTHSC (UT Health Science Center) and the Express News. The trip will take most of the day, and the itinerary is as follows:

    8:30 leave SZB
    Arrive at UTSC 9:45ish
    Tour at 10-11:30
    11:30-noon  Travel to lunch spot
    12noon-1:30 lunch
    1:30-2pm Travel to Express News
    2-3:30 Tour of E-N
    3:30-4:45 Return to Austin

We will need RSVPs on this one and an indication as to whether you might be willing to provide transportation.  This promises to be informative and a lot of fun.  If nothing else, it gets you out of Austin for the day.  :) For more information, visit the http://www.library.uthscsa.edu/ and http://www2.mysanantonio.com/aboutus/expressnews/ We hope to see you there! 
Dor more information please contact Amy or Heather.

Friday, Nov 11, 11:30-1 PM SZB, 468, Sue Compton, Mary Alford, and Gheri Gross, Trends in Librarianship. Sponsord by the Student Chapter of the American and Texas Library Associations, with support from the Texas Library Association. Sue Compton is a librarian at Flower Mound Public Library, Mary Alford is a librarian at Bellaire City Library, and Cheri Gross serves at Plano Public Library System. This will be a brown bag presentation, so feel free to bring a lunch. Drinks and dessert will be provided.For more information, please contact Melissa Keenan.

Wednesday-Saturday, Nov 16-19, 6-9 PM, UNB Ballroom, Madrigal Dinner. A long, long time ago, in a ballroom far, far away... Okay, so it started in 1979 and it was in the Texas Union Ballroom, but we like to think that Madrigal Dinner takes you back to a different time and a different place. A time where kings were kings, ladies were ladies and jesters were annoying little men who could never do a thing right and always fell in love with the princess while fighting a duel against the most evil person in the land who was trying to take over the kingdom. Good times... good times... The menu for 2005 is as follows:

•     Cranberry and lemon poppy seed breads
•     Spring salad with choice of ranch or raspberry vinaigrette dressings
•     Wassail (spiced, hot cider)
•     Meat entree:  Chicken breast stuffed with gouda cheese, pine nuts, spinach, and mushrooms
•     Vegetarian entree:  Eggplant Napoleon; eggplant layered with parmesan and mozzarella cheeses, and topped with marinara sauce
•     Chocolate chip bread pudding with warm whiskey sauce

Student and Adult tickets will go on sale November 18 at at the Frank Erwin Center, HEB locations around Austin, the University of Texas Bass Concert Hall ticket office, and the Texas Box Office Ticket Line at (512) 477 - 6060. You may also buy Adult tickets online at Texas Box Office. Please keep in mind that there is a $6.00 processing fee for buying tickets online, and you may not pick the exact seats that you want. You will receive 'best available' tickets.   A map of the seating arrangements may be viewed here. If you would like a vegetarian meal, you must request this at time of your ticket purchase. Ticket prices are as follows: Non-UT Students are $30, $28, $26. UT student ticket prices are $17, $15, $13. A UT Student ID must be presented at show for student tickets. If a student does not have their UT ID, they must pay the difference before entering the show. There are no children's tickets available for purchase For more information, please visit the event Website or the Frequently Asked Questions page.

Friday, Nov 18, 8-9:30 PM, University Presbyterian Church, UT Choral Arts Society, Music for English Cathedrals. Vaughan Williams Mass in G Minor, Britten, Rejoice in the Lamb, works by Tallis, Farrant, Gibbons, Walton, Finzi, and Walton, $17 general admission/$15 UT faculty & staff/$10 students. For more information please contact James Morrow, Director of Coral Activities via email or phone, 471-0806.

Thursday-Sunday, Nov 24-27, Thanksgiving break

Friday, Dec 9, Last day of Fall Classes.

Saturday, Dec 10, 8-9:30 PM Bates Recital Hall, Chamber Singers, Concert Chorale, Women's and Men's Choruses, and the Chamber Winds, Holicay Concert. General Admission, $10. For more information please contact James Morrow, Director of Coral Activities via email or phone, 471-0806.

Monday-Thursday, Jan 16-19, Omni, San Antonio, 2006 ALISE Conference, From Research to Practice: The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in LIS Education. The annual conference of Library and Information Science Educators is near by this year--we should all be participating in this event. See related items on Oct 1 and Oct 31.

April 25-28, TLA 2006 Annual Conference Libraries: Igniting the Passion, Houston, April 25-28. For more information, go to the conference Website. While we are on the topic, there is still room in the inn!  The 2006 TLA Conference in will be here before you know it, so make sure you reserve your hotel room if you have not already done so.  Online housing is available at the TLA website. For more information, please contact TLA or Kathy Pustejovsky, conference manager, via email or phone 328-1518, ext. 14.

Who We Are Webpage

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.

Professional Associations, Email Lists, and other Forums

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.

Information School 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

Orientations

New students (and even old) might appreciate the following two Orientation Websites:

UT Graduate School: http://www.utexas.edu/ogs/orientation/
iSchool: http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/orientation/

Ph.D. Requirement Overview

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.

Doctoral Program of Study. The content of the Program of Study is provided in the Guidelines for Development of the Doctoral Program of Study (ca. 1993). Lisa Kleinman and Don Drumtra have posted examples of their approved programs on their Websites.

Annual Review. Required content of the Annual Reviews is provided in the Annual Review of GSLIS Doctoral Students (2002) and the Annual Review of Ph.D. Students (draft, 2003). Lisa Kleinman and Don Drumtra have posted examples of their approved Annual Reviews on their Websites.

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.

Program of Work. The Program of Work is a document submitted to the Graduate School upon application for candidacy. It is discussed under "Certification of Academic Credentials" on the Application for Doctoral Candidacy Webpage. It is the "list of courses taken toward the doctoral degree." Additional details about courses included in the Program of work are provided in the Graduate Catalog.

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 University of Texas at Austin, Handbook or Operating Procedures. The HOP provides basic policy and procedures on how the University of Texas at Austin operates. Probably of most interest would be "Chapter 1, Faculty Governance, Section II, The Graduate School" dealing with what the Graduate School and the Graduate Studies Committees do.
• The Graduate Catalog. This publication provides more update information than the HOP but not as much as the Policy Manual below. "Chapter 3. Degree Requirements" is probably the most interesting, but there are items of interest in other sections as well.
• Graduate School Policy Manual. This manual supplements the HOP and Graduate providing details on OGS administrative procedures not adequately covered in the two publications.
  
• In addition The University of Texas at Austin, Revised Handbook of Operating Procedures and the Original Policy Memoranda may provide curious details that could impact Ph.D. programs. Also, for anyone really interested, Texas Law and UT System Regent's Rules and Regulations provide the underlying basis for the UT Austin HOP and other rules impacting Ph.D. students. "Part one, Chapter5, Graduate Education in the University of Texas System" is the section that is probably of most interest to Ph.D. students, but other sections are not without interest.

Research Methods and Other Graduate Courses

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 Alina Chircu. 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, ersonal 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:

Academic and Professional Writing, GRS 390W, normally offered in the fall semester. This course meets the Ph.D. program writing requirement.

Advanced College Teaching Methods, GRS 390T, normally offered in the spring semester. This course, with your advisor's and teaching supervisor's permissions, can be used to meet the academic requirement for Supervised Teaching in Library and Information Science, LIS 398T. UT requires students to take department Supervised Teaching in order to become Assistant Instructors (AIs).

Dissertation Courses and Other Information. In January or February of each year the Graduate School has a workshop on dissertations. The Graduate School Website also provide formats for dissertations, information on how to prepare digital dissertations, and various forms you will need for graduation.

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.

Content Manager: Don Drumtra 2005 November 4