VCU School of Business PhD Program Committee

Annual Report 2002-2003

 

The Committee met seven times during the academic year (the December 2002 meeting was canceled because it lacked a quorum).  David Dubofsky (FIRE) was elected chair during the October meeting.

 

Other committee members were Kweku-Muata Osei-Bryson (Information Systems), Ed Coffman (Accounting), George Gray (Management), Pam Kiecker (who resigned effective January 2003, as she went on leave during the Spring semester; Marketing and Business Law), Carol Lehr (Economics), and Carol Rasnic (beginning January 2003; Marketing and Business Law). Allen Lee (Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies) and Tracy Green (Director, Graduate Studies Program) served on the committee as ex-officio members.

 

The committee approved the dissertation committees of Flavia Cavazotte, W.L. (Lee) Grubb, Alexander Korzyk (committee change), Arinola Adebayo, Joyce van der Laan Smith, and Boontaree Kositanurit.   The committee approved an extension, beyond the 7-year limit, for Carol Leary.

 

The committee approved the following applications to teach 700-level courses and chair dissertations: Doug Davis (2006), George Hoffer (2007), Ron Hymphrey (2005), Don Miller (2004), David Urban (2006), Rob Wood (2006), Randy Barker (2007), Gurpreet Dhillon (2006), Bob Reilly (2006), Carolyn Strand (2006), and Amita Chin (2004).

 

The committee approved the following clause concerning the computation of the Author Affiliation Index (AAI), which is used to determine whether a journal is considered to be of sufficient quality to be acceptable for 700-level status:

 

“In the case that the number of authors affiliated with US universities is fewer than 50, the article may count under Option 1b if the affiliations of a sufficient number of the foreign or non-university based authors are, in the judgment of the committee, comparable in research quality to the university set upon which the numerator of the AAI is based.   For example, non-university U.S. institutions may include, depending upon the discipline, but are not limited to, the Bureau of Labor Statistics and some Federal Reserve Research Departments.”

The committee voted 3-3 on two proposals submitted by the Management Department. The first proposal (February 10th meeting) was to change the Organizational Behavior major to a Management major, with a change of curriculum. The second proposal (May 5 meeting) was to discontinue the Organizational Behavior major program. 

Changes to the PhD Handbook were approved, as follows:

·         Regarding admission:  “Departmental admission committees may accept GRE scores as they deem appropriate.”

·         Regarding Full-Time/Part-Time status:  “Departments offering major areas in the Ph.D. in Business determine whether students must complete the program as part-time or full-time students…”

·         Regarding formation of dissertation committee:  “After the student has successfully completed major and minor area requirements, including comprehensive examinations where applicable, the student may begin the formal process of selecting a dissertation committee.

·         Regarding approved program forms:  The current two-page Approved Program Form will be separated into three forms:  foundation/prerequisite requirements; research core and major area requirements; and minor area requirements. 

 

The committee approved by a 3-2 vote, the Management Department’s procedure for faculty to teach 700-level courses and chair doctoral dissertations. The understanding was that both teaching and research effectiveness are needed to receive 700-level designation. (Subsequently, a controversy arose concerning whether a department’s procedure takes precedence over the PhD committee’s procedure, or whether a department’s procedure only represents a method for recommending how faculty who have not fulfilled the research requirement could apply for 700-level designation.. For example, suppose a department’s procedure fails to specify that newly minted PhD’s are automatically given 700-level status for two years, while the School’s procedure does. Clarification of this potential problem will be deferred, and may prove not to be an issue, should the ad hoc PPQ committee (see below) changes the method by which faculty are approved to chair dissertations and teach 700-level courses.)

 

Late in the academic year, an ad hoc committee (the “PPQ Committee”) was formed by Associate Dean Allen Lee to study the procedure by which faculty are approved to teach 700-level courses and chair PhD dissertations. The committee decided to wait until the Fall to submit its recommended change to all relevant parties. Committee members were Peter Aiken, Ed Coffman, David Dubofsky, Carol Lehr, Rich Redmond, and David Urban. Associate Dean Allen Lee attended most of the meetings.

 

Some discussion took place concerning the adoption of a uniform policy concerning minor requirements, and concerning foundation (500-level) courses. These issues remain to be considered by Doctoral Committee of the next academic year.

 

Submitted by David Dubofsky, May 22, 2003.