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Approved by the Information Studies Faculty, 8 November 2002. As amended 5/8/06, 4/15/11, 4/13/2012, 3/24/17, 1/19/18, 7/31/20, 910/17/222022

Welcome

Welcome to the School of Information Studies (iSchool) at Syracuse University.

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3.1 It is the intent of the iSchool to award all students in satisfactory standing financial aid (stipend, benefits and tuition) during the first four years, and if possible the first five, five years of their study, including summer funding for 3 first three years. However, because of the limited availability of funds and the need to support both new and continuing students, support is not and cannot be guaranteed for any student.

• Awards generally require that the student work as a graduate research or teaching assistant.
• Students are encouraged throughout the program to develop alternative sources of funding, through faculty, School or personally sponsored programs of research.
• Funding may be available past the fourth fifth year, but decisions regarding such funding may be based on the needs of the iSchool rather than individual merit.

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• Other qualified individuals may serve as a student’s advisor with the agreement of the student and the individual and approval of the PhD Program Director and the Graduate School.

• A faculty member may continue to serve as an advisor for one year after he or she has left the School, with the agreement of the student and the individual and approval of the Director. Such an arrangement should be approved only for a student who expects to defend his or her dissertation within the year.

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• Prepare and make available to all members of the committee a portfolio consisting of a copy of any important papers or projects competed since the previous evaluation meeting.
• Prepare and distribute to all meeting attendees a written statement including at a minimum:
  • Brief biographical background including previous education, degrees,  institutions, and dates.
  • A listing of all graduate-level courses relevant to the Ph.D. program including course title, instructor, date and grade. If the course title is not informative, a short description should be given.
  • A list of all presentations made and publications submitted.
  • A description of all practicum experiences.
  • Plans for the future, including for instance courses, research ideas and timetables.
  • A self-assessment of what skills and knowledge have been learned or acquired and what still needs to be pursued.
• Confirm that all participants have been informed of the meeting and will either attend or submit letters.

8.6 The following people will take part in a student’s evaluation:

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• No attempt is made to spell out the exact standards that the student must meet. Each faculty member must apply standards he/she believes to be appropriate to ensure that only high-quality researchers and teachers will be awarded Ph.D.s in this program.
• The following criteria should be considered minimal:

  • The student must be doing well in doctoral-level coursework. He or she must  maintain a 3.0 grade point average

  • The student should have no more than three credits (one course) incomplete  over six months old. (Incomplete in this context refers to work not completed in the time originally specified for the course or project and includes both courses and other non-course activities).

  • The student must be able to work productively with faculty and other students in coursework, research and teaching.

• In his/her first year a student must demonstrate:
  • The ability to understand the methods and substance of the field of information studies.
  • The ability to communicate his/her understanding to other people.
  • The ability to do research under supervision.
• After the first year, the student must proceed at a reasonable pace in demonstrating:
  • An accomplished mastery of the basic methods and substance of the field of information studies (culminating in an official ending of his/her program of study);
  • The ability to synthesize productively diverse data, theories, and methods (culminating in his/her own dissertation proposal);
  • The conceptual ability to develop and defend an original research proposal (also culminating in his/her own dissertation proposal);
  • The ability to carry out all stages of the research process independently (culminating in his/her own dissertation).

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• Schedule a proposal meeting with his/her committee and announce the meeting. 
• File Doctoral Form #7.
• Distribute an abstract of the proposal to all IST faculty members, all resident Ph.D. students, and interested Master’s students.
• Provide each member of the committee and the Director with a reading copy of the proposal and have one additional copy available for loanupload a digital copy to Blackboard.

15.5  Conduct of the meeting

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• The Examination Committee consists of seven five or six members:
  • A chairperson (appointed by the Graduate School)
  • The student’s committee (consisting of four people, at least three from the  iSchool, as noted in 15.3)
  • A reader from the IST faculty, appointed by the Director
  • A reader from An external examiner from outside of IST, chosen by the student’s advisor and the Director
  The
  • An oral examination
  cannot be scheduled until the
  • chair, who should be a faculty member from another department or School at Syracuse University (see also the academic rules from the Graduate School)
  • The external examiner and the oral examination chair may be served by one person
• The oral examination cannot be scheduled until the student’s advisor and at least one other member of the student’s committee, or the Director, have certified the “dissertation is acceptable for the purpose of examination”. (Academic Rules, Section 32).
• The dissertation defense cannot be scheduled during a time when the faculty are not on academic year appointments. This means that no defenses can be held during holiday breaks or summer.

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• Should the candidate miss this date, the defense must be rescheduled.
• Schedule the exam with his/her their examination committee and announce the meeting.
• File Doctoral Form #9.
• Distribute an abstract of the dissertation to all IST Faculty members, all resident Ph.D. students, and interested Master’s students.Provide each member of the examination committee with a reading copy of the dissertation (the “defensible draft”) and have one additional copyAt least 22 days before the final oral examination the student must provide each member of the examination committee with a reading copy of the dissertation.
• The reading copies of the dissertation should be in the format required by the Graduate School.
• The dissertation must be complete in all substantive ways, including chapters, appendices, bibliography, title, footnotes and table of contents and should adhere to the formatting standards of the University.
• Acknowledgements should be omitted

16.5  Conduct of the meeting

• The chairperson appointed by the Graduate School chairs the meeting (Academic Rules, Section 32).
• The final oral exam is open to all interested faculty members and students. They may participate in the examination.

16.6  The student’s advisor will take the minutes of the meeting.

• The minutes will contain the date of the meeting, the names of those present and the committee’s decision regarding the acceptance of the dissertation. If the committee does not accept the dissertation, the minutes must include the reasons for the decision. If the dissertation is accepted with modification, the minutes must record details of the required revisions.
• A copy of the minutes will be given to the student.
• A copy of the minutes will be included in the student’s permanent file.
• The student’s advisor must file Doctoral Form #10 to record the committee’s decision.

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• .
• Should the candidate miss this date, the defense must be rescheduled.
• Schedule the exam with their examination committee and announce the meeting.
• Distribute an abstract of the dissertation to all IST Faculty members, all resident Ph.D. students, and interested master’s students.

16.3.1 A go/no-go decision has no bearing on the outcome of the defense; it is only an indication that a defense is appropriate
16.3.2 A defense will be held only if all members agree to do so: missing votes are treated as a no-go decision.
16.3.3 At least 14 days before the final exam, the student must schedule the exam with their examination committee and announce the meeting.
               16.3.3.1 File Doctoral Form #9

              16.3.3.2 Distribute an abstract of the dissertation to all IST Faculty members, all resident Ph.D. students, and interested Masters and undergraduate students
              16.3.3.3 Make one additional copy available for viewing.

16.4  Conduct of the meeting

• The chairperson appointed by the Graduate School chairs the meeting (Academic Rules, Section 32).
• The final oral exam is open to all interested faculty members and students. They may participate in the examination.
• The external and internal examiner will lead the questioning.
• All members of the committee, other than the advisor, are expected to be involved in the questioning of the student.

16.5  The student’s advisor will take the minutes of the meeting.

• The minutes will contain the date of the meeting, the names of those present and the committee’s decision regarding the acceptance of the dissertation. If the committee does not accept the dissertation, the minutes must include the reasons for the decision. If the dissertation is accepted with modification, the minutes must record details of the required revisions.
• A copy of the minutes will be given to the student.
• A copy of the minutes will be included in the student’s permanent file.
• The student’s advisor must file Doctoral Form #10 to record the committee’s decision.
• The external and internal examiner are to rate the defense and dissertation
  document as:
  (a) excellent (of similar levels of quality as the top 20% of such efforts)
  (b) satisfactory (of similar levels of quality as 60% of such efforts)
  (c) weak (of similar levels of quality with lower 20% of such efforts)
  And report this, with summary comments as to why, to the director of the doctoral program within seven (7) days following the date of the defense
  • Within 21 days of the defense, the director of the doctoral program will provide a summary letter to the student and their advisor, reflecting the examiner’s rating and comments.
  • The examination committee must decide by majority vote (per Academic Rules

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• • Section 32) whether:
    • The dissertation is accepted as written (pass)
    • The dissertation with minor revisions (editorial) is accepted
.
• • • (pass)
    • The dissertation with
modifications
• • • major revisions (substantive) is accepted
. 
• • • (pass)
    • The dissertation is not accepted (not pass).
• A student can attempt a second defense if the dissertation is not accepted.

16.8  6  All members of the examination committee, including the student’s advisor, vote on acceptance of the dissertation.

16.9  7  If the dissertation is accepted, the student must provide the School of Information Studies and the University Library with bound copies of the complete thesis after all of the changes and corrections have been made.

• The School’s copy will become the property of the School and will be made available to all interested students and members of the faculty.

16.10 8 If the committee finds that, as a result of the defense, revisions are required, a deadline must be set by the committee for the student to complete.

• The deadline for these revisions must be less than 1 year from the defense date o .
• Failure to submit the revisions by the deadline means the dissertation is not accepted (and the student cannot continue after a second non-acceptance, per 16.6).

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• Withdrawal terminates a student’s relationship with the School, and results in the cessation of any benefits being received from the School.

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• A student who has withdrawn may reapply for admission to the program.

Section 19: Participation on Committees; Ph.D. Cohort Mentor

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19.2  Ph.D. students who would like to serve on committees or as Ph.D. student representative to the Faculty Meetings should express their interest early in the Fall semester.o

• If more than one student expresses interest in a position, the representative will

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• be chosen by a vote of the Ph.D. students.

19.3  At the end of the first year, one student from Cohort 1 will volunteer to serve as the  Ph.D. mentor for the next year’s incoming Cohort. The Ph.D. cohort mentor will serve as a resource for the new cohort and serve as an informal point of contact to support their transition to doctoral studies.

Section 20: Records

20.1 The PhD Program uses Blackboard to maintain electronic records for doctoral students.

20.2 A student’s records are available for examination by the student at any time, with the exception that the student does not have access to letters of recommendation written for him/her if confidentiality was guaranteed to the writer.

• Such recommendations will be filed separately from the student’s other records so as not to interfere with the student’s ready access to other records.

20.2 3 It is the student’s responsibility to see that his or her records are up to date and Accurate.

• Errors in the records should be brought to the attention of the Director or Program Manager the Graduate Academic Advisor for correction.

Section 21: Full Time Status

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• You are registered full-time by taking 9 credits in the fall or spring
• You hold an appointment as a graduate assistant or fellow and are registered o
• You are engaged, at a level equivalent to full time study, in actively working on your dissertation

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• Provided by a U.S. based insurer
• Covers emergency and non-emergency services in the Syracuse area
• Compliant with all aspects of the Affordable Care Act (ACA)

22.3 Please visit healthinsurance.syr.edu for more information

Section 23: Auditing a Course

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24.3  Students are eligible for stipends both years for meeting participation requirements

24.4  Please visit Future Professoriate Program for more information

Section 25: Application of these Policies

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