I. Doctoral Program in Logistics The PhD programs of the Max M. Fisher College of Business, at The Ohio State University, like their undergraduate and masters counterparts, are among the most highly ranked programs in the nation. The high quality of the nationally and internationally recognized faculty and research programs establishes an environment for training PhD students to develop new knowledge and disseminate it to the academic community and into business practice. The Fisher College is endowed with a faculty whose scholarly performance enables its programs to be consistently ranked among the leading national research institutions. Equally important is its commitment to teaching as exemplified by a specially designed learning to teach course for Fisher College PhD students. Opportunities to practice and enhance teaching are provided through teaching assistantships that offer students a chance to work as assistants to faculty members, and as skills are gained, greater course responsibility. The strong emphasis on teaching has resulted in numerous university and national teaching awards to both our faculty and our doctoral students. Excellent PhD programs require a large cluster of top research faculty from multiple disciplines to provide a breadth of knowledge. Faculty should be nationally recognized for teaching and scholarship. Faculty must be committed to teaching and effectiveness. Supporting disciplines on campus also must be strong; the overall reputation of the degree granting institution is important. A large infrastructure in terms of facilities is needed. Teaching and research resources must be substantial. Students need access to research opportunities grounded in the real world. Finally it is essential that students find jobs in their fields upon graduation and continue their contributions to the field. The general rules and regulations governing the Ph.D. Program in Business Administration with Logistics as a specialization (hereinafter referred to as the Logistics Ph.D. Program) are stated in The Ohio State University Graduate School Handbook and the College of Business' Ph.D. Program in Business Administration Handbook. The "Policies and Procedures" for the Doctoral Program in Logistics describes specific policies and procedures applicable to doctoral students and the doctoral The program s objectives include: II. PROGRAM OBJECTIVES 1. To develop a comprehensive understanding of the basic elements of Business Logistics and the ability to integrate these elements into a systems perspective. 2. The ability to design and conduct research of significant scope and content so that it constitutes a contribution to the discipline. 3. Maintenance of a tradition of scholarship and a professional commitment to excellence in teaching and research.
III. PROGRAM SUMMARY Application Deadline Any student starting in the Fall should have a completed application submitted by December 31. Otherwise, consideration cannot be guaranteed. (Note, however, that applications received after December 31 for Autumn quarter consideration will be reviewed and considered on a space available basis.) Otherwise, consideration cannot be guaranteed. If the GMAT or GRE is taken in January, those results need to be communicated as soon as available. Other applications will be evaluated when complete but applicants are urged to apply early as there are a limited number of positions available. Critical Events in the Program The PhD in Logistics requires course work in a major field of study, research tools and a second field of study (minor). Critical events include: End of Second Quarter Third Quarter Annually PhD Program Approval secured Set up Advisory Committee PhD student reviews Minor Field Examination or certification as required by appropriate department. Second Year During the second year of the program, it is expected that the student work on and complete a research paper. A research paper proposal must be approved by the Advisory Committee during the First Year Annual Evaluation. Assemble General Examination Committee General Examination After course work is completed and research paper is submitted to a refereed jour nal. File Notification of General Examination form. File Request for Graduate School Rep Results of Oral Exam Must be signed by advisor and Academic Director of the PhD Program in Business Administration Returned to Graduate School by Advisor after exam Assemble Dissertation Committee
Proposal Defense Within 90 days after General Examination, internal to department Application to Graduate Filed Form due to the Graduate School by second Friday of the quarter in which graduation is expected. Dissertation Defense Draft Approval & Notification of Final Oral Examination form is due two weeks before the date of the Final Oral Exam Results of Dissertation Defense Returned to Graduate School by advisor upon completion of the Defense. Final Approval (Of the dissertation itself) Form due to the Graduate School no later than one week before Commencement. Graduation Procedures Various Forms and Fees required by the Graduate School. IV. COURSE WORK A. Major Field of Study A minimum of five courses is required of all Business Logistics majors: -Logistics Management (M&L 880) -Analysis and Design of Logistics Systems (M&L 881) -Supply Chain Management (M&L 885) -Doctoral Seminar in Business Logistics * (M&L 950) * - repeatable to a maximum of 10 credit hours. The course will have two versions. One covers static and dynamic optimization methods and the second covers current research issues in logistics and supply chain management, as well as research methods in logistics. A minimum of 3.0 overall grade point average is required in the major field. A minimum of fifteen (15) hours of graduate level course work in the major field is required. B. Research Tools The purpose of the sequence of research tool courses is to provide the student with technical skills to write a dissertation and to conduct other high-quality publishable research in the area of primary interest. This sequence is in addition to the optimization tools acquired in M&L 950. A minimum of fifteen (15) hours of course work is required, with a minimum grade point average of 3.0. In practice, however, substantially more than fifteen hours are needed to have the program approved by the department, as proficiency with three different research tools is required: multivariate statistics, optimization and computer simulation.
TOOLS 1: STATISTICS OR PSYCHOLOGY SEQUENCE STATISTICS STAT 610 - Probability for Statistical Inference STAT 645 - Applied Regressio n Analysis STAT 651 - Survey Sampling Methods STAT 656 - Applied Multivariate Analysis or PSYCHOLOGY PSY 826 - Statistics In Psychology PSY 828 - Correlation Analysis PSY 820 - Factor Analysis PSY 830 - Covariance Structure Models TOOLS 2: SIMULATION ISE 704 Introduction to Discrete Systems Simulation C. Minor Field of Study In general, minor fields require a minimum of nine (9) hours of graduate level course work including at least one 900- level or equivalent doctoral- level course. Students work with their major field advisor and their minor adviser to develop a sequence of courses constituting the minor. Typical options for minor are Marketing, Operations Management, Management Science or Management Information Systems. The course work of the minor as well as the entire program is subject to approval by the Marketing and Logistics Faculty Committee for Graduate Education in Business Administration of the College of Business. The minor may also consist of a combination of courses offered by other faculties within the College of Business or those offered elsewhere on campus. Successful completion of the second field my be certified by either written examination or by letter of certification from the student s minor field Faculty Advisor. V. REQUIREMENTS FOR MINOR OR SECOND FIELD IN LOGISTICS The second field in Logistics requires a minimum of three courses (13 credits). M&L 880 and one M&L 950 are required, while students should select a third course from the major in Business Logistics list. Initial Advisor Assignment VI. ADVISOR The Logistics PhD coordinator serves as the initial advisor unless the student states a different preference. Procedures for Changing Advisors The student is able to change major and minor advisors at any time by notifying the Logistics PhD Coordinator and the Chair of the Committee for Graduate Education in Business Administration in writing. There is a form which can be obtained from the Graduate Programs Office that needs to be signed off on when advisors change. Students seeking to change advisors when the Candidacy Exam is in progress are referred to the guidelines in the Ohio State University s Graduate School Handbook.
Advisory Committee The Advisory Committee is composed of a minimum of four authorized graduate faculty members, including the student s advisor. The responsibility for the written portion of the Candidacy Examination rests with the Advisory Committee. (Please see the Graduate School Handbook for additional information.) VII. PROGRAM APPROVAL All PhD students in the College of Business must submit a Program Approval form by the end of their second quarter of enrollment. This form will list any outstanding prerequisites you need to take and will spell out the courses for your major field, second (minor) field, and research tools courses. The Program must be approved via the signatures of your major and minor advisors, the Logistics Faculty and the PhD Academic Director. Upon final signature, make copies of the form for your advisors, a copy for your own files and turn the original in to the Graduate Programs Office Prior to submitting the Program Approval form, the student is required to choose a major advisor who must be a Category P graduate level faculty member in logistics and a minor advisor who must have at least graduate level M status. The minor advisor should represent the student's second field. The student works with these advisors to develop the program of study. The major advisor will ultimately chair the student's General Examination committee and usually, but not necessarily, the Dissertation Committee. VIII. COMMITTEES Advisory Committee The student s advisory committee is to be selected during the student s third quarter in residence. The advisory committee is made up of the student's major and minor advisors plus two additional Category M and P faculty members in Logistics and/or Marketing. The student s major advisor chairs the Advisory Committee. The two members in addition to the major and minor advisors will be approved by the Logistics coordinating committee based on the recommendation of the Director. That recommendation will be made after consultation with the student, his or her major advisor and the faculty members involved. It is the responsibility of the advisory committee to monitor the student's progress through the PhD program. It is expected that the Advisory Committee will meet with the student at least once a year, at the time of the student s required annual review, to discuss with the student his or her progress in the program. Candidacy Examination Committee The Candidacy Examination Committee is also referred to as General Examination Committee and is composed of the Advisory Committee plus the Graduate School Representative. This Committee has responsibility for conducting the oral portion of the General Examination and for evaluating the entire General Exam. (See Graduate School Handbook section 9-9-6).This Committee should be assembled as the student nears completion of all course work and results in the filing of the Doctoral Notification of Candidacy Examination form. This form is turned in by the student to the Graduate Programs Office. That office will obtain the signature of the PhD Academic Director and turn the form in to the Graduate School. This must be done before taking the written portion of the General Exam.
Dissertation Committee A Dissertation Committee consists of at least 3 faculty members. The student may select any Category P Graduate Faculty member to serve as Dissertation Advisor. This need not be the same person who served as the Curriculum Advisor. The Dissertation Advisor or then appoints the rest of the Dissertation Committee, in consultation with the student. The additional members must be Graduate Faculty, with at least two being either Category M or P. IX. EXAMINATIONS Research Paper Starting at the end of the Summer of the first year, the student will select a faculty member and work on a research paper to be submitted to a refereed journal prior to taking the written part of the General Examination. A research proposal must be approved by the Advisory Committee during the Annual Evaluation at the end of the first year. Candidacy Examination The purpose of the General Examination is to provide the faculty with an opportunity to evaluate the integrative and interpretive qualities of thought possessed by doctoral students. Given after all course work has been completed, the General (Candidacy) Examination might be termed a near-peer review in the sense that it is in many respects the culmination of years of course work and other forms of intellectual exploration. The examination is taken by students who should have reached a stage in their scholarship in which they have relatively mature judgments about the field of Logistics and have at least an emerging self-definition of the role they hope to play as contributors to that field. 1. Process. The General Examination consists of two parts. There is a written component consisting of a series of questions to be explored for seven hours over a two-day period. Questions may be drawn from the following subject areas: Public Policy, Logistics Concepts and Theory, Contemporary Issues, Logistics Management, Quantitative Applications/Techniques and Professional Issues. The student will work with the Advisory Committee to develop a comprehensive list of articles to be covered by the exam. In keeping with the purpose of the General Examination, the examination in total will constitute more than just a "super final" over course work. Satisfactory answers will require more than demonstration of rote memorization and "core dumping" techniques. Reliance solely on unsupported opinion is clearly inappropriate. Citing of relevant literature is important. The oral component of the exam normally occurs within three weeks after passing the written portion of the candidacy examination. This two-hour session is an examination of ideas and quality of thought. The written examination logically provides a point of departure for the oral. It provides an opportunity for clarification and expansion of responses to the written exam questions. However, the discussion is by no means restricted to that base. Any topic properly within the bounds of the general field of Logistics may be explored.
2. Timing General Examinations will be held only once in any given quarter. Therefore, it is necessary for any and all students interested in taking the General Examination in a quarter to notify their advisor in writing by the end of the second week in the quarter or 30 days in advance of the date on which they propose to take the examination, whichever is longer. If all students scheduled to take the exam during a given quarter do not agree on a date, a date will be specified by the Logistics Faculty. The Notification of General Examination form must be submitted to the Graduate School at least two weeks before the oral portion. 3. Preparation of the Written Examination a. The General Examination is administered under the auspices of the Graduate Studies Committee in Business Administration of the College of Business in conjunction with the Student s Advisory Committee and the Graduate School. Procedures established in Logistics are therefore wholly consistent with those set down in the Graduate School Handbook and the PhD Program in Business Administration Handbook. The student is encouraged to refer to those documents for further information. b. Prior to the scheduled written examination, the advisor will send a memo to all Category M and P Logistics faculty requesting appropriate questions for the written examination. c. The advisor compiles a list of submitted questions and meets, at least one week prior to the scheduled written exam, with the Student s Advisory Committee for purposes of constructing the written examination. Where appropriate, the Advisory Committee Chairperson may request review and approval for proposed examination in writing (without a formal committee meeting). The responsibility for constructing and evaluating the student s performance on the written examination rests solely with the Student s Advisory Committee. However, all written examinations are to share a common format as established in d below. d. The format of the written examination is: 1. Four questions to be answered in four hours on the first day of the examination. Normally, two of these questions will be required, and two will be selected from alternative questions. 2. Three questions to be answered in three hours on the second day. Normally, one question will be required, and two will be selected from alternative questions. e. All Category M and P members of the Logistics Faculty and the Student s Advisory Committee will be asked to grade the major and second field examination in the Business Logistics area. These scores will be returned to the Student s Advisory Committee and serve as input in their own evaluation of the written exam. 4. Grading the Written Examination