Qualifying Portfolio

Guidelines for Qualifying Oral Exams

Student will submit a packet of materials in advance of the meeting. The packet of materials will include copies of:

(1)   published conference paper including evidence that it was published in the conference – either copy from official proceedings with appropriate copyright information or copy of relevant table of contents and proceedings title page,

(2)   journal article in current state of revision including copies of reviews and editor’s letter,

(3)   teaching portfolio including a copy of the PFF evaluation letter,

(4)   list of paper reviews completed including acknowledgement of receipt from the conference program or equivalent chairs , and

(5)   copy of grant proposal OR title and date of grant proposal plus statement of work activity performed for that grant proposal with evidence that this was approved within this item category by the faculty member that was the PI or Co-PI on the proposal.

Members of the oral exam committee will be at least three School of IS faculty members including the student’s advisor.  The Chair of the oral exam committee will be designated on a random basis, but the chair may not be the student’s advisor. At least one oral exam committee member should be the student’s dissertation advisor. All IS faculty members may participate in the oral exam, but the exam will only take place if the designated three are present.

The examination itself will be conducted using the following process: The student will provide a brief opening statement about his/her portfolio with the goal of demonstrating how it has contributed to their learning process, research directions, and future plans, and including a brief statement about his/her proposal (whether it has been accepted or not). Then the committee will conduct a free-flowing discussion with the student to further explore these aspects, and to help to provide directions for completion of the PhD program. The total length of the discussion will not exceed 40 minutes. The Chair of the committee will act as timekeeper. The committee will then meet to determine the outcome of the oral examination. The Chair will lead this process. Possible outcomes are “pass” or “reexamination”. A majority wins model will be used to determine the outcome. In the case of a split committee (when there are an even number of members, the Chair’s vote will be decisive.) In the latter case, a date range for the reexamination will be specified, and it can be outside of the prescribed oral examination periods. In addition, specific feedback to guide the reexamination will be provided in writing by the Chair.