ASHA Focused Initiatives

PhD Shortage in Higher Education

First Quarter Progress Report
January-March 2007

For each of the 2007 Focused Initiatives, a work plan that includes the strategies to be completed in 2007 was developed. During the 1^st quarter of the year, the strategy implementation teams initiated activities necessary to complete the strategies by the dates indicated. View the 2007work plan for each Focused Initiative. The following report highlights some of the actions that were initiated during the 1^st quarter and includes information on the status of all strategies included in the work plan at the end of the 1^st quarter. For additional information related to ASHA's Focused Initiatives please contact Stan Dublinske, Senior Advisor for Planning at sdublinske@asha.org.

1st Quarter Highlights

• "Getting Your PhD: Resources to get you started today" packet and "Reward Yourself with a Career as a College Professor Brochure" was distributed to practicing professionals at the ASHA Healthcare Conference.
• The call for applications for the PhD student track as part of ASHA's Minority Student Leadership Program has been disseminated. Up to ten PhD students who are members of a racial/ethnic minority will be selected to participate in activities and an educational forum to enhance their leadership skills within the discipline.
• The call for applications for the Students Preparing for Academic and Research Careers (SPARC) award, to promote PhD career development for CSD undergraduate/graduate students; and the Advancing Academic and Research Careers (AARC) award, for new faculty who are in the beginning stages of their academic/research careers for the purpose of promoting retention in higher education have been disseminated.
• Work continues on EdFind, a Web-based search engine that is part of the Higher Education Data System (HES) to support students' searches for PhD education programs. ASHA has completed user acceptance testing and taken delivery of the following work packages: Guide to Graduate Education in CSD, EdFind: Doctoral Programs, and EdFind: Masters Programs.
• The HES Starter's Kit has been mailed to all academic programs, and a brochure marketing EdFind to students has also been developed for dissemination at the CAPCSD Spring Meeting.
• Staff met with representatives of the Division on Issues in Higher Education (10) and the Division on Administration and Supervision (11) Special Interest Divisions 10 and 11 to begin planning for "A Quality Indicators for Integration of Clinical Practice" Pilot program to identify the philosophy, attributes and methods of successful integration of clinical and research interests as applied to all levels of education.
• Design specifications for the Joint ASHA-CAPCSD Research Doctoral Survey and related data output files have been finalized and approved.

There are 15 strategies in the PhD Shortage in Higher Education work plan. Following is the status for the 1^st quarter.