Department Meeting - 7 September 2007

Progress Report, and Direction - PhD Program

• This is a living document. Please edit, revise, change as you see fit.
• Hopefully, this will reflect a departmental perspective, rather than an individual's.
• If you are going to criticize, please also try and offer a solution.
• Please follow the links to get more information on the subject.
• As you will see, I have more questions than answers :-)

Goals of this Meeting

Before we leave, I would like nearly all issues resolved. Not in the sense that we have come to a detailed agreement on each issue, but that we have agreed on a common framework and direction for the program. From that perspective, data gathering is important as we proceed. Sharing and documenting your experiences is a vital part of improving this program. I believe that open information is effective in reaching conclusions. This document can be edited anonymously via the e-mail link I sent you. Please do so.

Before you come to the Meeting

I will presume that you will have followed the links on the map given below so that you are aware of the current status of our program. All links can also be followed from our main page for graduate programs at mismain. Please do glance at the information already there.

Overview

See the Overview Map for a graphical representation of the information presented below. On this map, you can click on each heading to either enlarge or reduce the map. For example, click on Program Proposal. The red arrows are clickable links, and please do click on them, and the icon that looks like a notepad, gives brief descriptions/comments on the topic. The numbers on the graph show the priority with which they need to be addressed.

Objectives (Doctoral Program)

• Provide better depth and focus
• Increase probability of timely completion
• Increase productivity

Questions

• How should a better program look like?
• How much effort are you willing to put into it?

Program Proposal

We need to agree on the following:

1. The course sequences for each area
2. The content and scheduling of courses jointly offered with Marketing
3. The content in our other doctoral courses

Faculty

• What is the primary purpose of advising/mentoring?  Should the emphasis be different depending on where the student is in the program?
• How should doctoral courses be structured? Should we focus more on delivering content? Does the timing of the course matter?
• How can we improve our productivity? The attached graph shows the relationship between student involvement and faculty productivity. What lessons can we derive from this?

Students

• Comprehensive Examinations. Do we agree on the format for this?
• Teaching. Shouldn't we provide guidance?
• Research
  • Papers. What is the balance between paper writing and foundation development?
  • Presentations. More students need to do this.

Department

• Culture. Your thoughts?
• Productivity
• Reputation

Input

How should we recruit students? What about for Fall 2008?