Navigating the Dissertation

Subtitle: Strategies for New Doctoral Advising Faculty and Their Advisees

This book examines the intricacies of the doctoral educational process and delineates a process for continuous improvement that will shape and enhance better professional relationships between dissertation advisors and their advisees and cultivate opportunities for increased retention and graduation.  The book includes critical principles, interwoven with students’ real life experiences which serve as illustrative vehicles.  Moreover, its innovative approach – a book written for new advisors and their advisees or for seasoned advisors seeking new ways to communicate with their advisees  –  departs from other books that provide generally only a one-dimensional view, usually from the student’s perspective. The titles of many of these are couched in metaphors of survival and overcoming a threat, rather than centered in strong initiatives that will lead to timely graduation in a supportive and encouraging environment. This book offers innovative and pioneering leadership approaches to transport advisors and advisees to a successful outcome.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
PREFACE
CHAPTER
01    Dissertation Advising: The Need for Collaborative Training Models
02    The Rules of Engagement
03    Defining Editing Expectations: More Rules of Engagement
04    The Toxic Committee
05    Considerations When Forming a Committee: For Advisees
06    Selection of the Advisee: For Faculty
07    Other Considerations for the Advisor as Leader
08    Vetting the Committee
09    Discovering the Dissertation Topic
10    The Concept Paper and the Quality Circle Review
11    Implementation of Editorial Commentary and Technology
12    Naming Conventions for Maintaining Draft Files
13    Working Against the Grain: For Advisors
14    Working Against the Grain: For Advisees
15    Dissertation Proposal and the Human Subject Institutional Review Board (HSIRB)
0000Protocol: Symmetry in Design
16    Preparing for the Oral Defense of the Dissertation: 17 Easy Steps
17    Bill of Rights for the Advisee/Advisor 18…. Combating the  Dissertation Blues:
0000Comprehensive Examinations—The Prelude
19    The Dissertation Writing Blues
20    The Dissertation Aftermath Blues
21    Debriefing: An Essential Final Step in Doctoral Education
22    New Forms and New Paradigms
23    Personalizing Academic Misconduct: An Approach for the Graduate Classroom
24    The Future of Doctoral Education: A Visionary Perspective
25    Quick Takes
About the Author
Index of Book

Marianne Di Pierro holds the Ph.D. in English from the University of South Florida and has directed the Graduate Center for Research and Retention at Western Michigan University (WMU) for thirteen years. As a graduate education specialist, she has coached over 90 doctoral students across a broad spectrum of fields to complete their dissertations and graduate. Di Pierro conducts research on doctoral education, serves as a conflict resolution strategist for graduate advising faculty and graduate students, participates in national research projects in doctoral education, and serves on dissertation committees. She is an active member of the academic community and currently serves on the Human Subjects Institutional Review Board (HSIRB), as well as the advisory board to the Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Ph.D. program. She is a member of the American Society for Quality (ASQ) leadership team for the Education Division and is the associate editor for the ASQ Journal for Quality and Participation. She has published articles on graduate education in peer-reviewed journals and presented her research at professional conferences.