Nova Southeastern University

Ike,

Also, I know of two other faculty members who have books scheduled to be published early next.

**
I never said the school was bad! My harsh earlier statements came from not knowing that the people participating in this thread's discussion have or had attended the school. Now I know the truth. I was afraid people were blindly and ignorantly extolling the virtues of NSU. As you realize, no institution is perfect.

When I attended NSU I took it VERY seriously. Unfortunately I cannot say the same for others in my class. I know this attitude sprang from the relative ease with which they were accepted. I also think that they thought with the kind of money they were dishing out, they were entitled to the degree. Fortunately very few of these people graduated, but alas some indeed did. I can't help to wonder if a qualifying exam or an oral defense might have further filtered those few unworthy souls (I'm ready to get pounded on this statement.).
**

Good luck Ike! If you have just completed your coursework and just beginning the dissertation process I hope your idea paper has already been approved! If not, this may add another semester or two. For those of you curious about average completion time at NSU, it is around 5 years.

Later,

Owl

 

Interestingly enough, several years I was called up and asked by a college to teach a C Programming class starting the next day because they had to let the current instructor go. I agreed to fill in and showed up at the directors office that day and she handed me Deitel's book, "C How to Program." Anyway, I enjoyed teaching from his text and he has in the dedication of the book the following:

"TO

Dr. Stephen Feldman, President of Nova University and to Dr. Edward Leiblein, Dean of the Nova University Center for Computer and Information Sciiences.

For their vision of an institution for advanced scientific and computer science education and research in South Florida, and for their indefatigable efforts in realizing that vision in this young university."

Anyway, something of interest for the SCIS folks.

John

 

Dissertation defences never really do much selection (I attended one 'failure' and know of another, but in both cases some remedial research was all that was required to pass). After years invested in close collabaration with an advisor and a committee who should have said something earlier, people rarely fail the defense.

A qual is a different story. When I did my PhD we took a 4 day written exam graded anonymously: 1 day software (compilers, OS, database etc), 1 day hardware (architeture etc), 1 day math (discrete math, combinatorics etc), 1 day theory (formal languages, computability, complexity etc). The quals where given once a year and you had 2 shots. A significant percentage of the class failed the quals and was forced to leave with an MS.

I'm somewhat supprised to hear that Nova does not have quals. Some top CS schools (most notably CMU) can get away without them since the admissions standards are so high, but considering the very variable [and often marginal] preparation that students entering most schools have, I think quals are a wise precaution (and a good motivator to get students to hit the books).

-me

ps. One nice side effect of having such difficult quals is that my PhD was essentially a research PhD--I had no required courses.

 

Gerstl,

Other benefits to a qualifying exam, other than filtering, include the confidence in knowing a student has mastered the core competencies of the field. I very much like the model developed by NSU's business school. They require a Comprehensive Exam (CSA 6090 - 0 credit), and a publication requirement (CSA 6096 - 0 credit). I would add that a publication, especially a peer reviewed publication, further validates the doctoral candidates knowledge through externally recognized experts.

Owl

 

Just on a side point, while Nova has a residential program, they seem to downplay it.

Go to www.nova.edu and look at the header: it doesn't say "Nova SE Uni, a large Florida University", it says "NSU - distance education at its finest"

-me

 

Here are some comparisons:

School of Oceanography:
Faculty:
18 full-time faculty
0 NSU Ph.D.s
Doctoral Requirements
GRE Scores,
Qualifying Exam,
*Publication Requirement,
Dissertation,
Oral Defense
* Not explicitly required but enforced by faculty.

School of Business and Entrepreneurship
Faculty:
25 Full-Time faculty
4 NSU Graduates + (1 faculty member with 2 Doctorates: Miami/NSU)
Doctoral Requirements
GRE or GMAT Scroes,
Qualifying Exam,
Publication Requirement,
Dissertation

School of Computer and Information Sciences
Faculty:
18 Full-Time
10 NSU Ph.D.s
2 Ed.D.s in Education
Doctoral Requirements
GRE or Interview
Dissertation

Owl

 

Does anyone know why this thread apparently lost about twenty posts?

 

Bill, the explanation would seem to be that the number of posts displayed per page has been changed from 50 to 75, so that any posts that appear to be missing are now on page 1. There was no discussion of this change, so perhaps it happened accidentally. I've only scanned this thread periodically, so please advise if you feel I'm incorrect.

------------------
Bill Gossett

 

I agree totally! NSU markets itself as a distance ed school to the disadvantage of its campus based programs. They should, in fact, be doing the reverse. Let the fact that they have a largecampus with modern facilities be known. Why try to compete with Argosy and Jones Intl? Could it be that the distance versions of their programs are far more profitable than the "brick and Mortar" ones?