Obtaining a Local Advisor for your Distance Doctorate

Note: Forgive the execrable prematurity of this question as I won't graduate from my Associate's program until mid-June.

I've noticed a common thread of Unisa's distance Doctorate programs in the Education and Science colleges is the requirement for distance students to enlist an adivsor ('promoter') locally. Now, I agree entirely with this requirement as apprenticeship works here. (Here, also, the distance learner must finally venture out and learn to work in collaboration as well as independently.)

My question is, how do you possibly approach a busy professor and beg his mentorship for a program not associated with his university? All I can guess is that one should by this point have been teaching or research assisting upon the strength of one's Master degree. Is this were all the hobnobbing and networking pays off?

Several contributors are in this very position; what did you all do for advisors?

Thanks,

Mark A. Sykes

 

We for give you, our son. (I'm in an ex cathedra mood tonight. We shall now assume the lotus position . . .

Seriously, your question is not premature at all. I always recommend looking ahead to the next degree, since you can use your current program to plan for the future program.

This is not unique, by any means, to UNISA. Several graduate programs here in the U.S. have the same requirement, although the "jargon" tends to change between programs. At UNISA, it's a promoter. The M.A. program at Vermont College of Norwich University requires a local field faculty advisor; ditto Antioch's I.M.A. program, in which you can have one or two field advisors or outside committee members. The Ph.D. program at The Union Institute requires two adjuncts; they do not have to be local to the learner (that's Union's jargon for student), but they do come from outside the university.

Who says that you have to use a busy professor? I usually recommend someone who is not a professor, but who might be a practitioner with academic experience. In other words, someone who is currently a professor, especially at a traditional college or university, may be locked into a traditional model (or into their own school's model) and may not have the flexibility to deal with another, more nontraditional model.

Believe it or not, I looked at my bookcase. Seriously. I did both my M.A. (in Theology and Law, at Vermont College) and Ph.D. (in Religion and Law, at Union) in an esoteric field, church-state issues, where there is not a surplus of competent advisors. So the first thing I did was consider prominent authors whose books and other writings I had studied and from which I had received benefit. I tracked down and called the guy who would become my M.A. advisor out of the blue, and it turned out that he was a teacher-in-residence at a fairly local Quaker study center that year. I knew that he held a J.D. (law degree) from Georgetown and an M.A. in Religion from Notre Dame, but was pleased to find out that he also had a Ph.D. - from Union, which I was already considering for the future. He agreed to become my field faculty advisor at V.C., and ultimately joined my doctoral committee at Union as one of my adjuncts. (He also ended up moving, of all places, to Vermont midway through my program, but that worked out well - we changed our meetings to once a month, and I was able to get to the campus more often.)

When I started at Union, I wanted someone with a different perspective to balance out my radical Quaker peace activist-war tax resisting advisor, so I went to the far opposite direction and called, again out of the blue, a Fundamentalist lawyer-theologian and prominent author that was so conservative he made Falwell look liberal. Again, the guy had great credentials - M.Div. from Lutheran Brethren Seminary, M.A. from Dallas Theological Seminary, J.D. from the University of Iowa Law School, and D.Min. from Oral Roberts University. I concluded that anyone who could graduate from the very Fundie Dallas, the very Pentecostal O.R.U., and the very liberal U. Iowa Law School had to have a sense of humor and, again, I had fortunately found the right guy.

(Incidentally, I ended up with one of the most diverse committees at Union. Two liberal Jewish core advisors, the radical Quaker and conservative Fundie as adjuncts, a Pentecostal minister as one peer, and an ex-nun/clinical counselor as the other peer. You might thing that they didn't get along with each other, but they got along famously - in part, because they all realized that I, as the learner, was the focal of the doctroal committee.)

In short, I approached people whose scholarship I respected and, based on initial conversations, people that I thought would be supportive of my program and would allow me the "space" to do my own thing with an appropriate level of guidance along with a "go ahead, take the ball and run with it - just keep us informed" approach.

Therefore, your choices are actually unlimited although, once again, I would be careful about nominating someone who is an advisor in a traditional program unless that person is comfortable with the notion of giving you the flexibility to do your own thing (providing you are able to do it competently). Different people need differing levels of oversight or guidance, just as some students prefer taking traditional courses while others function best by doing independent study. I have met some advisors and adjuncts that I thought were strict, but that is what their particular "advisees" were looking for. The one piece of advice I would give you overall is, make your choices carefully - the selection of an advisor (or advisors) will be the single most important decision you will make, and you don't want to get stuck with a schmuck whose ego is more important than your progress and your academic/professional growth.

You're welcome. I shall now get out of this (damn uncomfortable) lotus position . . .

 

Funny you should ask that, just tonight I contacted one of my old professors from my Master's program and asked if he would be interested in being on my doctoral committee should I decide to go with The Union Institute. He was flattered that I asked, and was really enthused about the idea. Although he has a Ph.D. (SUNY-Albany), he teaches at a small liberal arts college that awards undergraduate degrees only (he was an adjunct at my Master's program), so the idea of serving on a doctoral committee really appealed to him.

Once you get into your Master's program (and to some extent your Bachelor's program), you'll start to have more professors with doctorates, so just get feel for who you like and who you don't. Keep a list of what professors you think you could work with, and then just ask them. The most they can do is say no.

I think it was Steve Levicoff that also recommends contacting scholars whose writings you really like. In my case, I plan on contacting a professor at Northeastern University in Boston, he's one of the leading criminologists in the country. I really like his written work, and having him on my doctoral committee would be an honor. He probably doesn't have time, but like I said, the most he can do is say no. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Bruce

 

I would like to echo Bruce's comment about getting to know your professors who have doctorates. When I went through my MBA program online, I developed a great relationship with one professor (in three different courses). When I finished the program he encouraged me to continue on to a doctorate, and he volunteered to be on my doctoral committee. Cultivate those contacts and relationships!!

Bill Hurd

 

Also worth mentioning:

Many non-U.S. universities have a fairly broad definition of "local"; when I spoke to a professor at one Australian school last year about the local mentor requirement, kvetching at great length about the dearth of Sanskritologists in Mississippi, he told me that it would not necessarily need to be someone in Mississippi -- just near enough that the two of us could meet a few times during the program, and communicate regularly by telephone.


Peace,

------------------
Tom Head
www.tomhead.net

 

Gentlemen,

Thank you for your answers. I think part of this whole process in enculturation, and it certainly helps to have those that have been through it to answer questions as candidly and completely as you all have.

All that remains now is ten or so years of study.

Mark A. Sykes, humble novice who promises to go forth and skim no more.

 

Dear Mark,

I had some good advice when I was just deciding what to study for my doctorate, it was, "it is more important who you study with then where". It was true. If you can find a mentor like the other excellent post responses to your question, that you respect and is in your area of study or field, you will do well. A few considerations would be how accessible are they? How well do they communicate and guide? Are they good at editing? (This may seem unimportant but when you're writing a thesis its a pretty big document). Can they recommend needed resources like scholarship opportunites, letters of support, journal references, etc.

Hope this helps, best wishes with your pursuits,

mattie


My question is, how do you possibly approach a busy professor and beg his mentorship for a program not associated with his university? All I can guess is that one should by this point have been teaching or research assisting upon the strength of one's Master degree. Is this were all the hobnobbing and networking pays off?