Dissertation Information
Dissertation Proposal Preparation
The students are expected to take one one-credit course for directed proposal development (total of six credits) each term from Term 2 to Term 7 with their assigned faculty mentor. Each cohort of mentees will be capped at 10 mentees per faculty mentor.
Acceptance of Dissertation Proposal
The dissertation proposal includes the first three chapters of the dissertation (introduction, review of relevant literature, and methodology). When the student completes these chapters and is ready to begin the process of data collection, the dissertation proposal will be submitted to the members of the student's dissertation committee. Each member of the committee will review the proposal and recommend any changes. When the proposal has been completed to the satisfaction of the dissertation committee, the Dissertation Chair will submit the Dissertation Proposal Approval Form.
Doctoral Candidacy
A student reaches doctoral candidacy status when he or she completes all academic requirements, including all coursework, dissertation proposal, and comprehensive examination for the Ph.D. in Management program.
Dissertation
Six (6) credit hours are awarded for dissertation research. Credits are awarded after a student successfully defends a doctoral dissertation and the dissertation is accepted by the Dean of the School of Business, Economics, and Technology as successful completion of requirements for the Ph.D. program. While students may complete the dissertation by the end of the third year, many students use a fourth year to concentrate on the dissertation. For students who need additional time, a one-year extension may be granted upon written request to the Dean of School of Business, Economics, and Technology. For students requiring the additional year and who need to stay active in the program, two options are available for each additional term: Option 1.) Enrollment in the 1-credit MGT 999 Dissertation Continuation. Option 2.) Enrollment in the 1-credit MGT 999 Dissertation Continuation and enrollment in a the BA/MGT 700 Practicum. All international students will be required to take Option 2. All ongoing candidates must pay the annual Doctoral Student Fee until the dissertation is completed and approved by the student's committee.
Dissertation Defense
Once the dissertation has been written and all modifications have been made to the satisfaction of the dissertation committee members, the Dissertation Chair will notify the Dean of the School of Business, Economics, and Technology that the candidate is ready to defend the dissertation and will schedule the candidate's oral defense of the dissertation. Campbellsville University faculty, students, and staff will be invited to attend the dissertation defense.
The Dissertation Chair will conduct the defense. There are two steps involved in this procedure: First, the candidate will do a formal presentation on his/her dissertation research, analysis, findings and recommendation, and then there will be a forum for questions for the candidate by a panel of scholars. Once the forum session is completed, the candidate will be dismissed while the members of the committee discuss the candidate's performance to determine if it is to the satisfaction of the dissertation committee. If the candidate is unsuccessful in defending the dissertation, the committee may schedule a subsequent defense, but is not obligated to do so and may rule that the candidate cannot be awarded the Ph.D.
There are three possible decisions that may be made for the dissertation defense: (1) accept - no revisions required; (2) accept- minor revisions required; or (3) not accepted - major revisions required. Following the dissertation defense, the Dissertation Chair and all committee members must sign the Dissertation Evaluation - Dissertation Decision and Revision Form and the Dissertation Chair will submit the completed form to the Dean of the School of Business, Economics, and Technology.
Acceptance of the Dissertation
Once the dissertation is in final form and all changes required by the committee have been made, the members of the committee will sign the dissertation approval form and the signed approval form will be submitted to the Dean of the School of Business, Economics, and Technology. The candidate will be qualified to receive the Ph.D. degree upon the final approval of the Dean of the School of Business, Economics, and Technology.
Assessments
All the courses offered in the Ph.D. program will have formative and summative assessments to assess students' mastery of each of the expected course learning outcomes.
The Ph.D. program uses two direct assessments: (a) a Comprehensive Examination, and (b) a Dissertation. For the Comprehensive Examination, the students should exhibit overall knowledge of the courses taken; show the ability to apply the knowledge to a case study; demonstrate good writing skills; and demonstrate the ability to format in correct APA style. For the Dissertation, the students should demonstrate research skills and expertise in the chosen field.
Faculty Mentor
Each of the enrolled students will be assigned with a faculty mentor upon enrollment. The faculty mentor will provide consultation and guidance on proposal and doctoral dissertation development. There will be a ten to one ratio between the Faculty Mentor and the doctoral students.
Faculty Committee
Faculty members with expertise in Ph.D. programs will be appointed to serve on the Ph.D. Faculty Committee. The School of Business, Economics, and Technology has several faculty members from the current Business Faculty Committee who meet these qualifications. The newly proposed Ph.D. Faculty Committee will provide curricular and programmatic guidance to the proposed new program.
Dissertation Committee
Prior to Term 6, students will select their dissertation committee. The dissertation committee consists of three faculty members: Dissertation Chair, the methodologist, and one other faculty member. Although the students are encouraged to retain their assigned faculty mentor as the Chair for their dissertation committee, they are not required to do so. The Dissertation Chair must be a Campbellsville University faculty member with a role of Faculty mentor and one of the other two committee members must be Campbellsville University faculty members. An external committee member must be approved by the Dean of the School of Business, Economics, and Technology. All committee members must have an earned doctorate degree from a regionally-accredited university.