​The CGS Future of the PhD Dissertation workshop convened top leaders in graduate education, publishing, library science, professional associations, and other experts to discuss the forces changing doctoral dissertations and how they might affect the future. Our goal was to identify key areas in need of further study and places where universities are in need of further guidance. Follow #DissFwd on Twitter to engage in CGS-led discussions about the future of the doctoral dissertation, now through February 2016. 

CGS Future of the Dissertation Workshop Agenda

January 28-January 29, 2016

Glover Park Room | The Dupont Circle Hotel | Washington, DC

Thursday, January 28

8:30 – 9:00 a.m.              Continental Breakfast                                             

9:00 – 9:15 a.m.              Welcome: Three Forces of Change

Suzanne Ortega, President, Council of Graduate Schools (CGS)

9:15 – 11:00 a.m.             Trends in Scholarly Communication

A Brief History of Doctoral Discourse

Christopher Loss, Associate Professor of Public Policy and Higher Education, Associate Professor of History, Vanderbilt University

Current Usage of Dissertations

Cassidy Sugimoto, Associate Professor of Informatics, Indiana University

​Austin McLean, Director, Scholarly Communication and Dissertations Publishing, ProQuest USA

Moderator: M. J. T. (Mark) Smith, Dean of the Graduate School; Birck Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Purdue University

11:00 – 11:15 a.m.            Morning Break

11:15 a.m. – 12:45 p.m.    The View from Scholarly Presses and Journals

John Sherer, Spangler Family Director, University of North Carolina Press

Gita Manaktala, Editorial Director, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press

Greg Britton, Editorial Director, Johns Hopkins University Press

Moderator: Nancy Marcus, Dean, The Graduate School, Florida State University

12:45 – 2:00 p.m.              Lunch -- Capitol Room

2:00 – 3:00 p.m.               Open Access and Institutional Repositories

Mary Molinaro, Chief Operating Officer and Service Manager, Digital Preservation Network

Lisa Schiff, Technical Lead, Access & Publishing Group, California Digital Library, University of California Office of the President

Moderator: Brenda Brouwer, Vice-Provost and Dean, School of Graduate Studies, Queens University; President, Canadian Association for Graduate Studies (CAGS)

3:00 – 3:15 p.m.               Afternoon Break

3:15 – 4:45 p.m.               Opportunities created by Emerging Technologies

Katina Rogers, Deputy Director, Futures Initiative and HASTAC@CUNY at the Graduate Center, City University of New York

Carol Tenopir, Chancellor’s Professor, School of Information Sciences, University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Tara McPherson, Associate Professor, Gender Studies and Critical Studies, School of Cinematic Arts, University of Southern California

Moderator: Steve Matson, Dean, The Graduate School, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

4:40 – 6:30 p.m.                Evening Break

6:30 – 8:00 p.m.                Dinner -- Capitol Room

Friday, January 29

8:00 – 8:30 a.m.                Continental Breakfast

8:30 – 9:50 a.m.                The Future of the Dissertation in the Humanities

Sidonie Smith, Mary Fair Croushore Professor of the Humanities, University of Michigan

Paul Yachnin, Dept of English and Institute for the Public Life of Arts and Ideas, McGill and Director of Future Humanities 2—the TRaCE project

Moderator: John Stevenson, Dean, the Graduate School; Professor of English, University of Colorado, Boulder

9:50 – 11:10 a.m.             The Future of the Dissertation in the Social Sciences

Virginia R. Dominguez, Edward William and Jane Marr Gutgsell Professor of Anthropology (and member of the Jewish Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, and Carribean Studies faculty), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Jennifer L. Hochschild, Henry LaBarre Jayne Professor of Government and Professor of African and African American Studies, Harvard University

Moderator: Edelma Huntley, Dean-in-Residence, Council of Graduate Schools

11:10-11:20                        Morning Break

11:20 – 12:40 p.m.             The Future of the Dissertation in the Natural Sciences

Tom Rudin, Director, Board on Higher Education and Workforce (BHEW), National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Alan Leshner, CEO Emeritus, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Moderator: Mohan Kankanhalli, Vice Provost (Graduate Education) and Professor of Computer Science, National University of Singapore

12:40 – 1:00 p.m.            Facilitating the Future of the Dissertation

Suzanne Ortega, President, CGS

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