UW-Milwaukee School of Information Studies

The School of Information Studies (SOIS) at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) is accepting applications for fall of 2010 for its PhD program in Information Studies.

Building on one of the largest and most varied MLIS programs in the United States, the PhD program prepares researchers, educators, and administrators with specializations in three major areas (with other areas also supported):

• Information Organization
• Information Policy
• Information Retrieval

The School’s international faculty are recognized for their research productivity, ranking in the top five nationally in per capita publications in a recent study among American schools of library and information science (Adkins & Budd, 2007). The School also has established agreements and collaborations with a number of institutions around the world that offer students international learning and research experiences. SOIS is home to the Center for Information Policy Research (CIPR), which facilitates information policy research through its lecture series and research paper series, outreach activities, and Information Ethics Fellows program. The School also supports an Information Organization Research Group (IOrg), Research Group for Information Retrieval (RGIR), as well as an Information Intelligence & Architecture Research Lab, which serves as a hub for research on information analysis, system design & evaluation, digital libraries, data mining, and usability.

Located in a residential neighborhood near Lake Michigan, UWM serves a diverse community of over 30,000 students, faculty and staff. The very livable city of Milwaukee offers the cultural amenities of a large metropolitan area with the conveniences of a smaller city.

Financial aid is available in the form of competitive graduate assistantships (full-time students), tuition scholarships, and adjunct teaching opportunities. Priority consideration for admission will be given to applications received by January 15, 2010.

Detailed information about the program is available on the SOIS website (http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/SOIS/academics/doctoral.htm). For additional information, please contact Dietmar Wolfram (dwolfram@uwm.edu).

Thanks for the write-up Michael Zimmer

Discussing higher education

A recurring theme that my fellow students and I return in our doctoral seminar class is whether or not online, distance education, is suitable for doctoral level education. Though I am a product of one completely online masters program and another hybrid program, I must say that working towards a doctorate online would not be for me.

First, the synchronous interaction that I have with my fellow classmates is extraordinary. Sadly for our professor/moderator, we usually end up taking up the entire time discussing the topic of the day. Of course at this level of study the time for lectures should be at an end. It should be up to the students to drive the learning experience.

Second, being on a campus presents wonderful opportunities not afforded to distance students. Most doctoral programs provide some source of income for their students. Usually it is some sort of assistantship for teaching, research, or both. The key is that this experience exposes and familiarizes the student with academe. How well this can be accomplished online is still open to future technological developments, however at this point in time, I cannot see the online programs holding up against on-site programs. At least for me anyway.