disseminates knowledge about Communication as a core process and prepares students for careers in teaching, research, and service.

Transcription

1 UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY STRATEGIC PLANNING AND REPORTING SYSTEM Annual Review Report Area: Provost Department: Communication (Non-Dept) College/Unit: College of Comm & Info Studies Degree: M.A. Unit Mission: The Graduate Program in Communication is an academic program that generates and disseminates knowledge about Communication as a core process and prepares students for careers in teaching, research, and service. Objective #: 01 Students will graduate from the program in a timely manner. The overall average for all graduates of the M.A. Program from time of enrollment to completion of the degree for will be three years or less. Nine (9) students completed the M.A. degree during this period, two of whom were University Scholars. The range was from two semesters to three years, with both USP students graduating within two semesters of enrolling in the program. The overall average was 1.8 years, well within the goal. We have initiated a database to track graduate student time to degree. We continue to recruit University Scholar students (one of our goals in the long term), so the average time to degree can be expected to decline. We would also like to see a decline in the time period for traditional (non-usp) students, but it is not likely to be significant because many of our M.A. students attend part-time

2 Objective #: 02 Graduates will find placement in the discipline or a related discipline in a timely manner. At least 95% of the graduates seeking employment will be employed in the discipline or a related discipline within six months of completion of the degree or continue to pursue an advanced degree in a timely manner. All nine of the M.A. graduates were employed in the discipline or a related discipline within six months of completion. Our M.A. Program continues to have a strong placement record, which reflects the excellent links we have with potential employers and other doctoral programs. With the research and theory focus of the program, we can expect more of our students to pursue further graduate work or advanced professional degrees. We may wish to establish a goal of placing a significant number of graduates in top graduate and professional programs if students are not choosing to stay and complete their doctorate at UK

3 UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY STRATEGIC PLANNING AND REPORTING SYSTEM Annual Review Report Area: Provost Department: Communication (Non-Dept) College/Unit: College of Comm & Info Studies Degree: Ph.D. Unit Mission: The Graduate Program in Communication is an academic program that generates and disseminates knowledge about Communication as a core process and prepares students for careers in teaching, research, and service. Objective #: 01 Students will graduate from the program in a timely manner. The overall average for all graduates of the Ph.D. program for for completion of the Qualifying Exam to successful defense of the dissertation will be three years or less. Seven students graduated from the doctoral program. The range was from one year to five years with an average of 3.0 years. Although the goal was met, it may be a somewhat difficult goal to maintain and improve. Many of our students are tempted to leave ABD, thanks to the strong academic job market. This often results in a delay of one to two years. We also have more part-time students in the doctoral program, which increases the average amount of time for completion of the degree. As noted under Goal 3, the graduates who completed the degree within one to two years of the Qualifying Exam were, by far, the most productive in publishing journal articles and presenting conference papers. Over the long-term, the new Graduate School residency policy under which students have to register for only two credit hours each semester after the Qualifying Exam should have a positive impact by encouraging students to graduate more quickly. 2. Outstanding Students

4 Objective #: 02 Graduates will find placement in the discipline or a related area in a timely manner At least 95% of graduates seeking employment will be employed in the discipline or a related discipline within six months of graduation. All seven (7) of the graduates were employed in the discipline within six months of graduation. Five were in full-time faculty positions and two were employed as researchers. Of the researchers, one joined the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE) in Nashville TN, and the other is employed with the Kentucky Tobacco Policy Research Center at the University of Kentucky. The academic institutions included: Marshall University (Huntington, WV), Saint Francis University (Loretto, PA), Berea College (Berea, KY), Eastern Kentucky University (Richmond, KY), and McDaniel College (Westminster, MD). We have a strong placement record and we can expect this trend to continue. We may wish to establish a goal of placing more graduates in top tier research institutions

5 Objective #: 03 Graduates will have developed a strong commitment to and an active involvement in research. At least 50% of graduates will have been an author or co-author of (1) at least one paper presented or accepted for presentation at an international, national or regional conference; or (2) at least one article in a national or regional professional journal, or a book chapter or monograph published or accepted for publication by the time of graduation. All (100%) seven graduates had presented at least one paper and/or published at least one article, monograph or chapter by the time of graduation. One of the students was honored with the International Communication Association s Outstanding Dissertation Award in Health Communication. Clearly, it is important that we strongly encourage students not to leave the program ABD. Our policy of supporting students for a 4th year (if they have defended their dissertation prospectus) goes a long way in providing an incentive for students to continue to work on their dissertation. Research

6 Objective #: 04 Graduates will have developed a strong commitment to and an active involvement in professional associations. At least 90% of graduates will have become a member of an international, national or regional professional association by the time of graduation. Of the 7 graduates, 7 (100%) had become a member of an international, national or regional professional association by the time of graduation. The most common memberships were the National Communication Association and the International Communication Association, two of the most prestigious organizations in the discipline. We support graduate student travel by providing funds for transportation. All students who present a paper or serve on a panel receive funding of up to $200 to attend a national conference or $100 to attend a regional conference, which is in addition to any funding they receive from the Graduate School. Graduate students are strongly encouraged by the Associate Dean and other Graduate Faculty members to not only join but also to be active in the various regional and national professional associations. As a result, more graduate students from our program appear to be joining before they graduate. The Program will continue to provide funding, which we will undoubtedly need to increase in the future, for travel to national and regional conferences. These efforts have had a positive impact on the national visibility of the Graduate Program, as witnessed by the fact that our doctoral program in health communication was ranked 6th in the country by the National Communication Association, ahead of programs at Texas A&M, Purdue, Rutgers, Ohio and Southern California (Annenberg) and just behind programs at the University of PA, Penn State, Michigan State, Illinois and Georgia. We now need to work on improving our national rankings in mass communication and interpersonal communication. Service