Ph.D. Student News

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.

Tuesday, March 7, 5-6 PM, SZB 468, Tom Eisenmann and Hilary Davis, Information Session on the NCSU Libraries Fellow Program. Tom Eisenmann is an Academic Personnel Librarian for NCSU Libraries, and Hilary Davis is one of NCSU's current Libraries Fellow. They will be at the iSchool to talk about the NCSU Libraries Fellows Program and to discuss academic librarianship with students and faculty. Tom and Hilary will have both an information session and individual discussion sessions. The NCSU Libraries Fellows Program is one of the premier opportunities for graduates to gain experience in a first-class academic library, be paid well, have the opportunity to work on a project of their choice, and receive assistance for professional development. Individual discussions from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., with appointments every half hour with 12:30 to 1:30 reserved for lunch. To schedule an individual discussion, send me an e-mail with the times you will be able to meet with Tom and Hilary. I'll plug you into the schedule and confirm you time with them. The information session and the individual sessions are appropriate for beginning students as well as those who will soon graduate. Your discussion could help you decide on the career you want, structure your future class work, influence what kinds of part-time jobs to find, or what additional skills you may need to become really competitive once you graduate. Additionally, you can discuss the current trends and needs in academic libraries. Faculty are also encouraged to schedule sessions if they would like to learn more about what is happening at NCSU Libraries and the knowledge currently expected of new graduates. To schedule individual sessions or contact Ron Polock, Director of Career Services via email or phone, 471-2623. For more information on the program please visit the fellows Website

Wednesday, March 8, 5-7 PM, Crown and Anchor, GSA Happy Hour. e Graduate Student Assembly invites all graduate and professional students to attend a happy hour Wednesday March 8 from 5-7pm at the Crown & Anchor (2911 San Jacinto). Don't forget to bring your UT ID, along with valid state ID. Tell your friends! For further informatio. please contact Amy Forestell, GSA President elect. .

Wednesday, March 8, 4:30-5:30 PM, Spider House, Student Association Meeting. SASI will be meeting at Spider House Cafe, it was a hit last time, so we will try it again. We will be talking about preparations for Tea with the Dean, possible events for iSchool week, and anything else that warrants discussion. Cara will wear her School of Information shirt, and maybe we can find each other easier. Spider House is located at 2908 Furth Street, north of campus. For more information please contact Cara Johnson.

Thursday, March 9, 5:15-6:15 PM, Bryce Spencer,Small Gauge Film Digitization Project & Practicum. Bryce is a 2nd Year Preservation Administration student. This is a Kilgaren Center Forum event. For more infirmation, please visit the events Website or contact, Ellen Cunningham-Kruppa, center Director, by email or phone, 471-8287.

ADDED EVENT. Thrusday, Narch 8, 6-8 PM, Cedar Door, ASIST meeting. e one, come all to UTASIS&T's Annual pre-SXSW get together. This is THE big event of the semester. If you only come to one event this semester, make it this one. We already have confirmation from some of the SXSW Interactive panel members, many of the usual suspects from various local companies, and there may even be a surprise celebrity guest. The Cedar Door is at 201 Brazos Street (2nd & Brazos). For more information, please contact Brian Lewis.

Friday, March 10, 5 PM, input die for OGS/GSA/SCC/UC, Interdisciplinary Perspectives, Research Showcase. We welcome graduate students in all departments and schools to participate in UT's first Graduate Student Research Showcase: "Interdisciplinary Perspectives." We invite presentations in a variety of formats-- from round tables, to individual paper presentations, to poster sessions. If you would like to participate in this event, please email a one-paragraph proposal describing your research and stating the format in which you would like to present it to utgradresearch@yahoo.com by 5 pm, Friday, March10. Please also include your name, department, and contact information. The GSA will then put together a schedule and notify presenters of their time slot by Tuesday, March 21. This showcase is part of National Graduate and Professional Student Appreciation Week. The goals of this event are to share graduate student research with the entire University community, provide graduate students with an informal forum in which to present their work, and build graduate student community across departmental boundaries. This half-day event is cosponsored by the Graduate Student Assembly (GSA), the University Co-op, the Office of Graduate Studies, and the Senate of College Councils. It will be held in the Texas Union (UNB). Lunch will be provided to all participants and attendees. For more information please visit the GSA Website or contact UT Grad Research.

Thursday, March 23, 12-1 PM, SZB 556, ALA+TLA Brownbag. Just wanted to give a heads up that ALA+TLA is planning another brown bag get together on Thursday after spring break. It'll be a chance to regroup and discuss what fabulous adventures we had during our much needed time off. As always, drinks will be provided. Hope to see everyone there. Lunch will possibly be shared by a faculty candidate. For more information please contact Melissa Keenan .

Thursday, March 23, 7-8 PM, HRHRC, Dr. Henry Petroski, Bookshelves, Pencils, and Paper Clips. Dr. Petroski is a Professor at Duke University and author of The Pencil: A History of Design and Circumstance. This lecture is co-sponsored by the College of Engineering at UT. For more information please visit the HRHRC Programs Website .

Friday, March 24, 7-9 PM, CAL 100, Jim Reid-Cunningham, Book Artist Lecture. This is the first annual; Mim Watson-- book artist lecture. Jim is the head Conservator at the Boston Athenaeum , as well as an internationally shown book artist. He will discuss how book conservation and book art intertwine in his work. This series is generously funded by Mr. Kim Watson in honor of his now deceased wife Mim, who was a book artist in the Dallas area. There will be an informal
reception following the presentation. For more information, please contact Chela.

Tuesday, April 4, 10 AM - 4 PM, UNB, OGS/GSA/SCC/UC, Interdisciplinary Perspectives, Research Showcase. As part of National Graduate and Professional Student Appreciation Week, we welcome graduate students in all departments and schools to participate in UT's first Graduate Student Research Showcase: "Interdisciplinary Perspectives." The goals of this event are to share graduate student research with the entire University community, provide graduate students with an informal forum in which to present their work, and build graduate student community across departmental boundaries. This half-day event is cosponsored by the Graduate Student Assembly (GSA), the University Co-op, the Office of Graduate Studies, and the Senate of College Councils. It will be held in the Texas Union (UNB). Lunch will be provided to all participants and attendees. We invite presentations in a variety of formats-- from round tables, to individual paper presentations, to poster sessions. If you would like to participate in this event, please email a one-paragraph proposal describing your research and stating the format in which you would like to present it to utgradresearch@yahoo.com by 5 pm, Friday, March10. Please also include your name, department, and contact information. The GSA will then put together a schedule and notify presenters of their time slot by Tuesday, March 21. For more information please visit the GSA Website or contact UT Grad Research.

Tuesday, April 4, 2:30-3:30 PM, CDL 001C, iSchool forum on recommended changes to UT undergraduate curriculum. Each school, college, and major department on campus has been asked by the Faculty Council to convene a forum to discuss the major recommendations of the Report of the Task Force on Curricular Reform, based on the recommendations of the Commission of 125. These efforts are focused on the undergraduate curriculum at UT, especially an undergraduate core. Even though we are mostly a graduate school, it appears, as Andrew made clear, politic and useful to convene our own forum. All faculty members, all PhD students, and all staff members, especially those who teach undergrads, are invited and encouraged to participate. it appears that we might be joined by representatives of the Faculty Council and/or Task Force -- I'm still waiting to hear from the chair of the Educational Policy Committee. The meeting, however, will still be driven by our interests, reactions, and concerns. This may be a rare opportunity for us and our discipline to take a more central role in undergraduate education, the real engine of things 'round here.

Dean Dillon has stressed that this is an important initiative that deserves our attention. He asks that we read the task force report if we haven't already, use the template provided by the Faculty Council to help structure our reaction to it, and to prepare to participate in the discussion. For more information, please contact Dr. Doty via email or phone, 471-3746.

Thursday, April 6, 7-8 PM, HRHRC, Dr. Janine Barchas, Technologies of Innovation: The Visual Exuberance of Eighteenth-Century Print Culture. Dr. Barchas is a professor of English at UT. For more information please visit the HRHRC Programs Website .

Thursday, April 13, 5-6 PM, HRHRC, Dr. Denise Schmandt-Besserat, The Earliest Writing. Dr. Schmandt-Besserat is a Professor Emerita at UT.For more information please visit the HRHRC Programs Website .

Tuesday-Friday, 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.

Friday-Sunday, May 19-21, Syracuse, NY, Bringing Together Emerging Information Studies Researchers: A Doctoral Conference in Information Studies. Connections 2006, aka the 11th Annual Great Lakes Information Science Conference, is a forum for doctoral students in information studies to meet one another, exchange ideas, present research and attend workshops and panels in a collegial and receptive atmosphere. In keeping with a tradition of convening Connections in a city near the Great Lakes, Connections 2006 will be hosted by Syracuse University's School of Information Studies in Syracuse, New York, from May 19-21. Our goal is to attract doctoral students working in one of three broad areas:
* Library and information science (LIS)
* Information systems (IS) and management information systems (MIS)
* Information and telecommunications policy
Doctoral students working in these areas are invited to submit abstracts for presentations, workshops and panels. Students at all stages of their program, from first year through ABD, are encouraged to participate. For more information on how to join the conference listserv, for the conference schedule, for and more detail on submissions please visit the Connections 2006 Website or contact the Conference Chair, Joe Rubleske.

IMPORTANT DEADLINES & CONTACTS

* February 24: Deadline for submitting a proposal to participate as a presenter, as a workshop leader and/or as a panelist
* March 17: Notification of acceptance
* March 20: Registration period begins
* April 21: Deadline for shortened and revised abstracts
* April 28: Registration period ends
* May 19-21: Connections 2006 is convened

Saturday, May 20, 9-11 AM, Bass, Graduate School Convocation.

Thursday, June 1, 7-8 PM, HRHRC, Ed Nowotka, The Origins of Writing. Ed Nowotka, is a book critic and writer. He will host a panel discussion, An Ode to Typewriters, of writers who compose on typewriters. For more information please visit the HRHRC Programs Website .

Thursday, June 29, 7-8 PM, HRHRC, Dr. Barry Powell, Alphabetology. Dr. Powell is a Professor of Classics at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. He will focus on the nature and origin of the Greek alphabet. For more information please visit the HRHRC Programs Website .

Thursday, July 27, 7-8 PM, HRHRC, Dr. Mark Van Stone, The Interaction of Pen, Paper, and Scribe: The Technical and Aesthetic Forces that Shape our Letterforms. For more information please visit the HRHRC Programs Website .

Friday-Thursday, Nov 3-9, Hilton Austin, ASIST Conference. The 2006 ASIST conference "Information Realities: Shaping the Digital Future for All" will be in Austin this year November 3-9 at the Hilton Austin. This is a unique opportunity you will not want to miss. ASIS&T 2006 challenges us to explore this moment in the history of information science as people seamlessly move between their physical and digital worlds to create information realities for themselves and others. Submissions by researchers and practitioners are solicited on a wide range of topics.

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 or "mini proposal" to be accepted by the student's committee. This committee (perhaps, it should 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. Ron Houston and Don Drumtra have volunteered to post their comps as two different examples of what was required. Their exams were open book and emailed to them on Monday at 8 AM with a response was due by Friday at 5 PM. But since the exams are student and committee dependent, another student's may be completely different. Ron and Don have volunteered to answer any questions you might have about their experiences.

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:

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.