Please join your peers and alums at a special PhD event on Thursday May 3 5:30pm: Success on PhD Exams: an Alumni Panel Discussion (room TBD). This important new annual workshop is open to any admitted current doctoral student in the PhD in Public Administration at TSU. During this discussion, a panel of our doctoral graduates will share the strategies they used to succeed on benchmark exams in the program (comprehensive exams (old pattern) or prelim exam/qualifying exam (new pattern)). While exams are the focus, current students who are past their exams are also welcome to attend to meet the alumni and discuss proposals and other stages. Pizza will be provided and RSVP is requested. Faculty will be on hand at the beginning to greet attendees and introduce the panel, but the remainder of the session will be an informal, open discussion between alumni and students. NOTE: Our alumni are volunteering their time to help current students. Given this generous time commitment, we do not anticipate offering this particular workshop more than once a year. THIS IS THE ONLY TIME THIS WORKSHOP WILL BE AVAILABLE UNTIL NEXT YEAR — please don’t miss your chance to meet and learn from those who have gone before!

Please keep in mind, our alums are here to talk about their experiences and strategies for  preparing for benchmark exams that assess your mastery of the core PA literature; on the other hand,  if you have specific questions about exam logistics, format, or policies of the exam pattern that applies to you, those questions should be directed to the PhD Program Advisor Dr. Rizzo or Dr. Stanley. Policies on exams are in the Graduate Catalog, with additional details in this FAQ which is linked from the PhD student handbook online. Upcoming exam dates for prelims and comps are also available online, link in Section VII of the handbook; individual qualifying exam dates are determined by the student and their committee.

Dr. Anthony Campbell will be teaching PADM 6930 Special Topics: Qualitative Methods this summer.  This course counts as an elective for PhD students, and is an excellent companion to your required 7000-level statistics course (7140). Many of our students seek to use qualitative methods in their dissertation — if you plan to do so, this course is essential. It can substitute for PADM 6130 Research Methods at the masters level, if you are also completing a graduate certificate which requires that course (Healthcare, Public Policy).

Dr. Campbell has shared some insight about course scheduling and objectives - please feel free to ask him any additional questions at mcampb13@tnstate.edu: “Interested in learning more about how to design and conduct qualitative research? If so, please sign up for PADM 6930 – Qualitative Research Methods (CRN: 50996). The class will be held on Mondays and Thursdays, from 5:30-8:15pm every other week, for the full duration of the 10-week Summer session (June 4 – August 9). This schedule will allow students the space to not only learn about qualitative research methods and techniques, but to actually use them! Working together, we’ll explore the nature and value of qualitative research in public administration. This course will enable students to appreciate the complexities and opportunities that arrive with doing credible and rigorous qualitative research. By succeeding in this course, students will: (a) recognize the ways in which qualitative research in public administration is unique and distinct; (b) distinguish qualitative methodological approaches, and appreciate their distinct advantages and limitations; (c) competently discuss what constitutes proper qualitative research design, implementation, reporting, and publication efforts; and (d) demonstrate skills and strategies necessary for generating effective qualitative research.”

The Southeastern Conference on Public Administration will be held nearby this year from Thursday Sept. 20 through Sunday September 23, just down the road in Birmingham. If you have not attended this conference before, please consider doing so — if you have work to present, please consider doing that as well. Practitioner as well as academic presentations are welcomed, so you could propose something related to your "day job" if desired <smile>. This year's conference theme is "Reimagining public service in the age of innovation." SECoPA is our regional conference, it is a collegial and interestingl place for students, alums, faculty and practitioners to share and learn about a wide variety of research in public administration. You can register or view the call for proposals at www.alaspa.org. If you have questions about SECoPA, Dr. Streams is currently the SECoPA board member representing TN and would be happy to discuss; she can also put you in touch with students or alums who have presented there before, to learn about their experience. Deadline for proposals is May 15, 2018; there is an early-bird student registration rate too so check out the conference website!