Getting Started Information

All written information about the program is at the PhD course site. At the Graduate School site you can apply on line and get other useful information.

To begin with, the first thing you should do is read all the information found below as it will answer several of your basic questions and focus your remaining ones. Next, you should familiarize yourself with the web sites above and all the information therein. The PhD site contains all written information about the program. After you have digested what you can from the web site it is most likely that you will want to communicate with a person directly involved in the program. Please contact a Campus Coordinator to clarify ambiguities. Coordinators will do her or his best to help you. Program coordinators are as follows:

• Bowling Green State University (BGSU), Dr. Donna Trautman
  dktraut@bgnet.bgsu.edu
• University of Central Missouri (UCM), Dr. John Sutton
  jsutton@cmsu1.cmsu.edu
• East Carolina University (ECU), Dr. Paul Kauffmann
  kauffmannp@mail.ecu.edu or Dr. Tijjani Mohammed, mohammedt@mail.ecu.edu
• Indiana State University (ISU), Dr. Gerald W. Cockrell
  gcockrell@isugw.indstate.edu
• North Carolina A&T (NCA&T),  Dr. Musibau Shofoluwe
  msuibaus@ncat.edu

The interim program director is Dr. George Maughan and is located on the ISU campus. His Email is gmaughan@isugw.indstate.edu. We can best help you if you have specific questions.

This page attempts to answer some of the more commonly asked questions regarding initial advisement. Some FAQs are listed at the FAQ page of the PhD site.

The PhD in Technology Management is offered by a consortium of universities. The degree is awarded by Indiana State University (ISU). Every Consortium University has a Coordinator who is the initial advisor for students at that campus. The initial advisor will probably not be your program planning chair or dissertation chair. Before the end of your first semester of study you should select a Program Chair with whom you will develop a program of study. In the meantime, this document has been prepared to answer your questions and get you started.

You can apply to the program online at the ISU Graduate School web site. Once you have been admitted you may enroll in PhD courses. Contact persons are listed at the PhD web site for course registration.

Likely, you want information about course load and sequence. While every person's path to the PhD will be somewhat different, the following is the best general advice available.

• Unless you have successful recent experience in taking web courses, take only one course your first semester.

• The first course you must take is ITEC 6050 (offered every semester by East Carolina University).

• If you are working full-time, think carefully about taking more than two courses in any semester (one in the summer). "Web" doesn't mean "easy" or all "browsing." In any PhD program, you will have to do extensive non-web reading, research, and writing. Each course will occupy at least 10 hours a week of your time.

• A typical student will average taking two courses each Fall and Spring, and one course each Summer or Summer term. Some institutions have two summer terms. Please think carefully about taking more than one course at a time in the Summer if you are working full time. At this pace, students should complete coursework in 3 – 4 years. It is also prudent to assume that prelims, dissertation proposal, dissertation, dissertation defense, and corrections will take 1 to 2 years.

• At some point you will also have to complete 6 semester hours of Internship and meet Residency requirements.

  • The Internship carries credit. You must pay tuition and the internship experience counts as a regular course for purposes of residency. The internship must be approved by your Program Chair.

  • Residency requires completing 18 semester hours over one calendar year with a minimum of one semester having 9 hours minimum. Summer may be used as one of the semesters. Please consult the PhD web site for additional Residency details.

  • As you plan your Program of Study, please pay attention to both internship and residency requirements.

• Course scheduling is such that courses in your technical specialization are typically offered once every 2 years.

• Some specializations have recommended sequencing of courses. Also, some of the specialization coursework may have pre-requisites. Course pre-requisites are found in course descriptions on the PhD web site.

• Students may have identified deficiencies to complete before they can start work in their technical specialization. This is decided by the Program Planning Committee.

• It is very important to form a Program Planning Committee and develop a program of study as soon as possible after admission.

• Give the highest priority to taking Technical Specialization courses. These courses are typically offered once every 2 years.

• Give second priority to the Research Core courses. These courses are offered once per year, and must be taken in sequence.

• Give third priority to Technology Core courses. These 5 courses are offered once or more a year and need not be taken in sequence.

Remember that the above is general advice to get you started. Consult with your Program Chair to work out the course sequencing/scheduling details.

Click here to go to the FAQ page.