History departments are not generally known as hotbeds of assessment activity. Doctoral programs in history rarely touch the issue of how to assess student learning, while program review as an idea appears to many historians as an invasion of their turf by outsiders. At Eastern Michigan University, members of the faculty in the Department of…

The authors describe the process used to revise a traditional doctoral student evaluation system from one that consisted of written comprehensive and final oral examinations to one that features portfolio development. Student competence, expected student outcomes in each competency area, procedures for portfolio development, and documents and…

The authors present the findings of a qualitative study (N = 33) of doctoral student persistence in counselor education programs accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (2001). Using in-depth interviews with students representing 17 different doctoral programs, the findings revealed factors that…

The College of Education at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa has two doctoral degrees: the PhD in educational psychology and the PhD in education. Both degrees have been in existence for over 30 years. The PhD in education, however, began its life as the EdD and was renamed the PhD in 1999. As two of the articles in this issue make clear…

Why do some Ph.D.'s languish in positions with little authority, and what does educational background have to do with it? Hypotheses predicted that life scientists with Ph.D.'s from elite programs would be the most likely, those from middle-ranked programs the next most likely, and those from lower ranked programs the least likely to achieve…

In recent years there has been growing concern to improve standards in postgraduate research. Much of this has focused on generic research skills training. However, there are other, equally important, supervisory aspects such as welfare, mentoring and support arrangements. This article focuses on the initial expectations, of both students and…

Current and emerging issues concerning the written comprehensive exam process are addressed. Both the purpose and structure of this exam are considered. Survey results are presented that describe the purposes of the exam from the perspective of doctoral coordinators. Also included is a description of how marketing departments are currently…

In this article, the author shares his own reflections on his forty-odd years of teaching history at the college level. He shares one of the most important things he learned during his career as a history teacher: Instructors should make clear to their students at the beginning of any survey course what it is that they expect their students to…

Over the years, thousands of students have left Africa to pursue theological doctorates in Christian institutions of higher learning around the world. The study reported in this paper endeavored to understand their experiences and articulate their needs and aspirations. Data were collected through semistructured interviews with 23 African students…

Wenger's theory of communities of practice (CoPs) helps explain how a group of Ph.D. students in the Department of Management Communication at the University of Waikato in New Zealand met a need for emotional and academic support and reduced isolation as they developed regular opportunities for face-to-face and virtual discussions on theory and…

Attrition of doctoral students at the rate of 50-60% of those who enter the program, suggests the need to examine alternative strategies within educational institutions in working with doctoral students. The purpose of this paper is to suggest how incorporating Internet technology might be one alternative in reducing attrition in doctoral…

This paper presents findings of a study that evaluated the effectiveness of a field-based doctoral program in educational administration. The Ed.D. program at the University of Utah attempted to link theory and research to the practice of improvement. Specifically, the study examined the degree and ways in which student field-based projects and…

All nine state universities in the State University System of Florida (SUS) have communication programs, two of which are designed to teach journalism exclusively, and the others combining mass communication, journalism and communication studies. Because of the student demand for education in one or more of the fields of communication, combined…

Doctoral education in nursing is relatively new, with 14 of the 22 programs identified by the National League of Nursing being established after 1970. To identify trends, patterns of consistency, recurrent gerontological foci, and the frequency of occurrence of identified factors in graduate programs in Gerontological Nursing, the curricula,…

Takes a critical look at Ph.D. programs in foreign language departments, and suggests reduction of the number of programs, fortified criteria for entrance, and reduction of the number of TA's. It also comments on teaching standards for training TA's and a plan for TA training is outlined. (CLK)