Spring 2017

Accomplishments of doc students throughout Dr. Stead’s tenure

Page 2

Upcoming research conferences

Page 3

Introductions to new students from Cohort XXX

Page 4-5

UEDSO ‘Navigating the Disserta-tion Process’ event Page 6

FAQs about the dissertation process

Page 7-8

Patterson Scholarship recipients an-nounced

Page 9

Thank you to Dr. Stead

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Words from Our Director by Dr. Graham Stead

As you know, I have resigned as Director of Doctoral Studies and

assumed the position of Director of Student Learning and

Assessment in Academic Planning. My tenure in Doctoral Studies

was from Fall 2010 to Fall 2016. It has been a very enjoyable

experience and the numerous challenges I have encountered have

taught me a great deal. I wish to thank Dean Zachariah and also Dr.

Brian Yusko (Associate Dean) for their support. I also wish to

thank Ms Rita Grabowski who has greatly assisted me, without

whom the work could not have been completed. I am most

appreciative of all the members of the Doctoral Studies Committee

and the considered advice and decisions that they made. In

addition, I thank the previous director, Dr. Joshua Bagaka’s, for his

support and guidance, which helped me transition into the role.

Doctoral Studies is a vibrant department and I wish to recognize

what all faculty, staff and students associated with Doctoral Studies

from 2010-2016 achieved:

Completed Doctoral Studies’ first program review in 2016, with

internal and external reviewers. The final report praised the

department and the work of its faculty and students. For example,

students in the program reported a “high quality experience,” there

was an above-average graduation rate compared to social science

graduation rates nationwide, and doctoral students received many

research awards both within and outside the university.

Doctoral Studies Update

ENGAGED LEARNING Spring 2017 IN THIS ISSUE:

Spring 2017

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Words from Our Director (continued)

Addition of the Nursing specialization.

Accreditation of the Counseling Psychology specialization from the American Psychological

Association on two occasions.

Doctoral students have recently received awards at the (organized by CSU doctoral faculty, Kent State University, The of Akron,

and Youngstown State Outstanding Educational Research Paper and Presentation Award in 2015 and 2 Meritorious Educational Research Paper and Presentation Award in

Doctoral students have recently received (DRA) through CSUs’ Office of Research in 2016 and 2015 (two students), 2014, 2012, and 2011 when three

doctoral received

A doctoral student was presented the Award from Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Ohio Fund both in

Two Doctoral students were awarded the APA Division 17 Society of Counseling

Donald E. for research related to Career and also

received CSU College of Graduate Studies Dissertation R e s e a r c h

the 2016 National Career Development Association Graduate Student Research Award.

A Doctoral student was awarded the Air Force Professions Scholarship Program (HPSP) in

Other Doctoral students received the following awards during

Psychology National Asian Pacific

Alliance

In 2012, Doctoral students received Now Then Action and

In 2016 and 2011, Doctoral Students were awarded the Daniel Drake through

CSU’s CASAL department; the Office of Disability of the

Year the and the

The Counseling Psychology program was selected and served as the Host Institution (2013-2016) for

the American Psychological Association’s Division 17 Student Professional Association.

Counseling Psychology program hosted the Great Lakes Counseling Psychology Conference.

Restructuring of the Counseling Psychology courses.

Numerous speakers were invited by the Doctoral Student’s Organization to address students, and

included Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, among others.

Distinguished faculty from other universities addressed doctoral students, namely, Dr. David Blustein

(Boston College), Dr. Richard Haase (State University of New York at Albany), Dr. Bruce Thompson

(Texas A&M), and Dr. Matthew Hesson-McInnis (Illinois State University at Normal).

An additional compulsory statistics or qualitative research course was added to the curriculum.

The removal of a foreign language or computer course as an alternative to the statistics software course

requirement.

Reduction of the minimum credit requirements for EDU 895 and EDU 899 dissertation courses.

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Significantly improved the Doctoral Studies website.

Significantly improved the Doctoral Studies Handbook.

Hosted two Educational Research Exchange conferences.

Substantial revisions of student travel funding guidelines.

Introduction of new statistics software to the doctoral studies lab, namely STATA, MPLUS, and

Comprehensive Meta-Analysis, and the introduction of qualitative research equipment to facilitate

the transcription of data.

…and many other achievements.

Finally, I applaud students who have published articles and book chapters, presented papers at

conferences, and completed their dissertations. This takes a tremendous amount of work from students

and faculty. Research is the primary focus of the Ph. D. program with students expected to develop their

research skills and conduct research. Our students have excelled in this endeavor. Doctoral students

often go well beyond the requirements of the program and in the process make the Ph.D. in Urban

Education program robust and vibrant. I wish all doctoral students the best in their academic endeavors

and in their lives.

Doctoral Students’ Organization

This organization, under the presidency of Lela Pickett is planning a series of meetings that are very pertinent to doctoral students. Should you have any suggestions, please feel free to contact Lela.

Doctoral Studies Committee

Congratulations to the elected student representatives on the doctoral studies committee from January to December 2017. They are Carol Olszewski and Steven Sanders. Please contact them should you wish them to raise any issues at the committee’s monthly meetings.

Upcoming Conferences

There are various conferences where students may wish to consider presenting and these include AERA from Thursday, April 27 – Monday, May 1, 2017. The call for submissions for the April, 2018 conference in New York probably will commence in June 2017. The American Psychological Association Convention is to be held in Washington DC from August 3-6, 2017. The call for submissions for the 2018 (August 9-12) APA Convention in San Francisco CA, will probably end in the first week of December, 2017. For the annual MWERA conference, check their website for submission deadlines (www.mwera.org). Useful sites to search for conferences are www.conferencealerts.com, www.allconferences.com, and cetl.kennesaw.edu/teaching-conferences-directory. The Educational Research Exchange (ERE) is an annual mini-conference, sponsored this year by the College of Education, Health, and Human Services at Kent State University. Students from CSU, Akron and Youngstown also attend. The ERE provides an excellent opportunity for educational students and faculty at all universities and colleges to share their research in a collegial atmosphere. The exchange is a great opportunity for students to become comfortable presenting their research, which is an important component of graduate study. The conference is to be held on April 14, 2017 and submissions are due on March 6, 2017. See www.kent.edu/ehhs/ere-conference for further information.

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Welcome to our New Students

Jeffrey Ahrendt is currently the Manager, Technology Operations at

the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law at CSU where he oversees both information and educational technology programs. He has previous experience in both K-12 and higher education, serving in both instructional and administrative roles. In addition to classroom teacher, his previous positions have included Coordinator of Instructional Technology and Educational Resources with the Cleveland Heights-University Heights City School district; Director, Educational Technology at the University of Texas Medical School in Houston, and Senior Educational Specialist at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Mr. Ahrendt holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Stonehill College (1988), a Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education from Kent State University (1999) and a Master’s Degree in Educational Technology from the University of Missouri-Columbia (2002). His research interests include market influences on education policymaking, information

and technology literacy, open source educational resources, and instructional design in distance education. Lathem Bonem is a Doctoral student in the Urban Education Policy

Studies Program. He works as a Graduate Assistant in the Department of Student Life at Cleveland State University, providing resources and support services to CSU’s LGBTQ community. Lathem also works as a trainer for the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), providing anti-bias workshops at schools throughout Northeast Ohio. Lathem's research focuses on programming and policies related to anti-discrimination measures and affirmation of LGBTQ individuals, with a concentration on transgender identity. His previous research at San Francisco State University’s Center for Research on Gender and Sexuality focused on assessing the health care needs of transgender individuals. Lathem holds a B.A. in Social Psychology from Antioch College and a M.A. in Human Sexuality Studies from San Francisco State University.

Keli Pontikos is an Urban Education doctoral student in the Adult,

Continuing and Higher Education specialization. She has seven years of experience teaching adults in multiple environments. She holds a Bachelor’s in Communication from Bowling Green State University and an M.Ed in Teaching from University of Tampa. Keli works for Parma City Schools Adult Basic Education, is an Adjunct Instructor at Vatterott College, and a Graduate Assistant at Cleveland State University. Notable assignments include: designing an adult basic education contextualized curriculum for YouthBuild (Construction) and Lorain County Community College (Manufacturing), completing an online Science course module for Ohio ABLE (through Kent State University), and training teachers on contextualizing through the Literacy Cooperative (“Finding Common Ground: Contextualization for a Brighter Future”).

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Welcome to our New Students

Auburn Sandstrom is pursuing the Policy Studies specialization in

Doctoral Studies after decades of an award-winning career as an urban high-school and college educator. Recipient of a Citation of Teaching Excellence from the University of Michigan and an Ohio Arts Council award for Individual Artistic Excellence, Sandstrom has recently emerged as a nationally known storyteller for NPR’s “The Moth” and as a practitioner of radical reconciliation in the international TED community. She’s an Ohio licensed principal and Language Arts teacher studying the design of effective program pathways from urban schools to medical schools. She is interested in influencing policy at the local, state and federal level on behalf of the children of the most vulnerable migrants and refugees, particularly those millions who arrived in northern

city centers like Cleveland in full flight from the Jim Crow terrorism of the early 20th century South.

Mathew Selker is an Urban Education doctoral student in the Adult,

Continuing and Higher Education specialization. He currently serves as the Director of the Division of Organizational Effectiveness for Moore Counseling and Mediation Services, Inc. (MCMS) and as such serves as a member of the organization’s senior leadership team. MCMS provides EAP, training, mediation and organizational consulting service to for-profit, non-profit, and government entities, serving a multitude of business sectors. His corporate and nonprofit leadership experience includes serving as the executive director of a community development corporation and as the CEO of a wireless retail franchise. He earned his Bachelor’s in Business Administration degree from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, Master’s in Public Administration degree from the Levin College of Urban Affairs at

Cleveland State University, and his education in Positive Organizational Development and Change from the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University.

Beth Whelan is pursuing a Ph.D. in Urban Education specializing in

Policy Studies. Her goal is to effect change at the state and federal level in the field of early childhood/early childhood special education. This aim is specific to the inclusion of a stronger emphasis on building social-emotional capacities in children as part of the general curriculum. Whelan has a B.S. in Speech Pathology/Audiology from Kent State University and an M.Ed in Early Childhood Special Education from Cleveland State University. She is also a recent graduate of the CSU Inspired Leadership Principal Licensure Program. Her licenses, endorsements and certifications include Multi-Handicapped, Preschool Special Education, Administration and Early Intervention. She’s been an employee of The Cuyahoga County Board of Developmental Disabilities (CCBDD) working mostly in the areas of Inclusive Preschool and Early Intervention (birth-3 years). Other accomplishments include serving as former executive director and founder of The STEP Foundation and creator and director of the inclusive Lighthouse Extended School Year Program for children ages 2- 18.

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URBAN EDUCATION DOCTORAL STUDENT

ORGANIZATION EVENT

by Rita M. Grabowski

The UEDSO sponsored a panel presentation on February 2. The topic was “Navigating the Dissertation

Process.” Faculty members Dr. Frederick Hampton and Dr. Adam Voight, Dr. Lindsey Glass,

Doctoral Program alumna and Assistant Principal of the Campus International School, and Doctoral

Studies’ Administrative Coordinator, Rita M. Grabowski comprised the panel.

Dr. Hampton shared that his experience in working with students on their dissertations is often a process

of narrowing the focus of the topic and the approach. He helps his students to see the benefit of delving

deeply into a very specific topic rather than trying to cover something with a broader scope.

Dr. Voight talked about his own experience as a doctoral student. He advised students to be aware of

research possibilities that present themselves, and to be open-minded about letting one’s interests develop.

Dr. Glass discussed the trials and the triumphs of the process, in a talk that was enthusiastic and

inspirational. She discussed the importance of selecting a Dissertation Chair that you get along with. In her

experience, her chair knew when to help and also when to encourage her to “just do it.”

Doc Studies function on Feb. 2, 2017 titled Navigating the Dissertation,

organized by the Doctoral Students' Organization and Doctoral Studies. Panel

speakers. L to R: Dr. Adam Voight, Ms. Rita M. Grabowski, Dr. Lindsey

Glass, and Dr. Fred Hampton

Spring 2017

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Ms. Grabowski’s presentation was “designed to eliminate some of the ‘surprises’” that can confront

doctoral candidates as they work to complete their dissertation and receive their diploma. Her presentation

opened with a “Pop Quiz,” and had many of the attendees taking notes.

Because this is important information for all doctoral students, and especially for candidates to know, the

information is summarized here for the benefit of those doctoral students and candidates who were not in

attendance.

When does a doctoral student become a doctoral candidate?

The “Pop Quiz” asked the question: “When does a doctoral student become a doctoral candidate?” Several

attendees shared the answer: “When the prospectus hearing is successfully completed.” Although that is a

good guess, that is not the correct answer. A student becomes a candidate after they have successfully

completed all of their comp exams (Core, Research and Specialization). A student cannot schedule their

prospectus hearing until they have completed their coursework and passed all of their comp exams. Be

sure to review the doctoral studies handbook about candidacy requirements.

Who can serve on a doctoral committee?

Ms. Grabowski talked about formation of a dissertation committee, reminding attendees that this cannot

be accomplished without the help and input of their dissertation chair. At the chair’s discretion, the

committee can be comprised of five (or more) members, four members, or as few as three. In addition to

the chair, there must be a methodologist (selected with the approval of the chair), and a member from

outside the College of Education. If a student elects to include a faculty member from another college, that

outside faculty member must apply for Graduate Faculty status by sending a CV to the Director of

Doctoral Studies. The chair must also send an email indicating that they approve of adding this person to

the committee.

A faculty member must have Graduate Faculty Status Level I to be the chair of a committee, and must

have Level II status to serve on a committee. Faculty or outside members without the necessary Faculty

Status may serve on the committee as non-voting members, with the approval of the chair. Students are

encouraged to go to a link on the Graduate College website to check to ensure that the CSU faculty

members they would like to have on their committee have the necessary level to serve. All members should

also be approved by the chair. Here is the link to the Graduate Faculty Roster: http://

graduatestudies.csuohio.edu/graduate/rosters/facultyroster.html. You can also search for “Graduate

Faculty Roster.”

What forms should I complete to begin the prospectus and dissertation process?

Students need to complete a Faculty Dissertation Committee Agreement Form that needs to be sent

to each prospective dissertation committee member for them to sign and return. A brief (150 – 200 word)

abstract must accompany the form. The student and the committee member should retain a copy of the

form, the originals are turned in to the Doc Studies Office. The Doc Studies Office also must receive a

copy of the prospectus.

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Each dissertation topic and committee must be approved by the College of Graduate Studies, and when all

of the signed forms are received from the prospective members, a Thesis and Dissertation Proposal

Approval Form is completed by the administrative coordinator, signed by the Program Director, an

Associate Dean of the College, and if approved, by the Dean of the Graduate College.

When should I apply for graduation?

Attendees were also reminded that they need to apply for graduation as early as possible in the semester

BEFORE they intend to defend and graduate. There is a $25 application fee that must be paid to the

Cashiers’ Office. The form is NOT available on line. Graduation Application Forms are available on the

“Forms Table” near the entrance, and are also available from Campus411, room 116 in Main Classroom.

Students MUST be enrolled in EDU 899 for the semester in which they have their successful dissertation

defense, even if their defense is scheduled during the summer. Students were reminded that they should

NOT enroll in EDU 899 until the semester after their successful Prospectus Hearing. It was also noted

that continuous enrollment each fall and spring semester in EDU 899 is a Graduate College as well as a

Doctoral Studies requirement.

Do I need to submit an dissertation abstract?

Another point in the process when students are surprised, according to Ms. Grabowski, is roughly two

months before graduation when abbreviated dissertation abstracts are due to Graduate College for the

Commencement Program. With a strict 160 word limit, the abstract MUST include specific information

such as the problem addressed or the question the research seeks to answer, sample size, type of

methodology used and a brief description of the research RESULTS.

What happens if I don’t finish the ‘final steps’ of the doctoral program?

What Ms. Grabowski described as “possibly the worst surprise of all” is when candidates successfully

defend their dissertation, do not follow instructions (provided both in writing and reviewed) for the “final

steps,” and decide to take a bit of a break. If the final steps are not completed, receiving your diploma can

be delayed until the following semester. Even worse, if the break taken is too long, a candidate’s status is

changed by the Registrar’s Office to “Leave of Absence.” This can cause complications when the

candidate may finally decide to complete the work to earn their degree.

When have I officially completed the requirements for the doctoral program?

The reminder: “The successful defense of your dissertation is not what completes your doctoral program.

The formatting of your dissertation must be approved by Graduate College to upload to OhioLink, the

candidate must successfully complete that upload, and also must complete an on-line survey as required by

the College of Graduate Studies before they are considered to have completed their requirements and are

eligible to receive their diploma.”

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A Special Note about Dr. Stead

Thank you to Dr. Graham Stead for his many contributions to the Doctoral Studies program during his tenure as director from 2010-2017. Dr. Stead is an exceptionally tall and popular figure in the College of Education. He is well-known for his love of crunchy, salty snacks, photography, and art and music, specifically Bob Dylan, Dolly Parton, Rod Stewart and Steve Earle. He is a card-carrying member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He is also an avid collec-tor of graphic T-shirts, ornamental belt-buckles and Doc Marten’s shoes. Dr. Stead always made himself available to speak with doctoral students about their research, statistics and careers. He has been an extremely hard-working and skillful administrator, and his understanding, insight and sense of humor will be greatly missed. We wish Dr. Stead continuing success in his new job “across the Street,” and we hope that he will stop by to visit us frequently in the College of Education and regale us with tales about new photographs taken or musical per-formances attended. The over-all quality of the Doctoral Studies program im-proved significantly due to Dr. Stead’s efforts and we all thank him for his ser-vice. Best of luck to you, Dr. Stead, in your new position. Rock on.

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Doctoral Studies Update

Cleveland State University

College of Education and Human Services

Julka Hall 210

2121 Euclid Avenue

Cleveland, OH 44115

https://www.csuohio.edu/cehs/doc/doc

The Graduate Student Resource Center (GSRC), along with its partners, sponsors career and profession-

al development workshops, community-building activities that enhance graduate student life, and a

monthly newsletter with news and information specific to the interests of graduate students.

2016 Patterson Scholarship Recipients

Three doctoral students from Cohort XXX were awarded the 2017 Lewis and

Janice Patterson Scholarship. The recipients are: Lathem Bonem and Auburn Sand-

strom in the Policy Studies specialization and Steven Sanders in the Counseling Psy-

chology specialization. This scholarship was established by Dr. Lewis Patterson, one of

the founders of the Urban Education Doctoral program and his wife Janice Patterson, a

long time educator. It was their desire to financially support doctoral students in the

Ph.D. in Urban Education Program. Congratulations, Lathem, Auburn and Steven!

Have you recently presented at a conference? Send us a picture and a description of the

event and we will print your story in the next newsletter.

Submission Guidelines

Word document

150-350 words

Submit photos in jpeg format

Email your submissions to: r.grabowski@csuohio.edu