Advising Information

• Basic Advising Agreement for ALL Independent Study Courses and MS/PhD Advisees

• MS/PhD Advising Rules

• Independent Study Rules/Proposal

• Basic Writing Guidelines - a guide for all students

Notices:

A) I read  and respond to EMail Messages 1-2 times per day during the work week,

and occasionally (at my discretion) on weekends and holidays.

B) I will no longer respond to unsolicited inquiries for possible graduate assistantships.

 All such inquiries should be directed to the graduate advisor.

This is due to the annoyingly high volume of such inquiries in the recent past and the fact that

I only work with 1-2 such assistants each term/year and those are arranged well in advance.

I will accept no more than 5 major MS/PhD Committee Chairmanships (of which no more than 2 will be PhD advisees) and a grand total of no more than 12 total graduate committee assignments at one time.   This is due to the great amount of time required to supervise a PhD or MS advisee, and the fact that I do not feel it is fair to student to attempt to spread my time as an advisor too thin.

As of Monday 10 October 2005, I WILL NOT consider being either the major advisor or a committee member for a student who is not working on a topic in one of the following areas:

• Applied Urban Geography

• Population/Migration Studies

• Sport/Music/Popular Culture Studies

• Regional Transportation Studies

• Regional Studies of the US South and/or The Great Plains

I will only work with students on projects with a heavy emphasis on GIS when these applications of GIS are in one of the areas above (NOT as a stand alone study area).  The Department of Geography at OSU DOES NOT offer graduate degrees (MS or PhD) in GIS, and students should not expect to conduct their research project (Thesis or Creative Component) on a GIS topic that is not of an applied nature.  Because OSU does not offer a degree in GIS, I have simply come to the belief that it is inappropriate that students be encouraged to pursue projects in GIS without a well grounded application area.

As of Monday 10 October 2005, I have agreed to the following 5 chairmanships (full) and 11 total committee assignments:

Current Graduate Committee Chairmanships: 5

• Jinjue Dong, B.Eng., Harbin Institute of Technology (M.S.)

• Diana Hinson, B.S., Oklahoma State University (M.S.)

• Daniel Petty, B.S., The University of Tennessee at Martin (M.S.)

• Justin Plymell, M.S., Oklahoma State University (Ph.D.)

• Brad Watkins, M.S., University of Oklahoma (Ph.D.)

Current Graduate Committee Memberships: 6

• David Brockway, M.S. Naval Postgraduate School (Ph.D)

• Pragya Jaiswal, B.S., (India) (M.S. Computer Science)

• David James, B.S., United States Air Force Academy (M.S.)

• Weiping Li-Jan, M.S., Oklahoma State University (Ph.D.)

• Jess Porter, M.S., Oklahoma State University (Ph.D.)

• Michal Ward, B.S., Oklahoma State University (M.S.)

All students/advisees must provide at least two weeks for review of all items prepared for review by Dr Finchum.  While some items may be returned in a shorter period, this action/schedule will be considered at the discretion of Dr Finchum, and no guarantee is made that a "turnaround" of less than two weeks will be made under most circumstances.

The following is a listing of all of the studentswho have completed their graduate program for whom I have served as Graduate Committee Chair since 1996 (24 Total):

Robert Biffle, M.S., Fall 2005

               Thesis: "TBA”

April Gillilan, M.S., Fall 2004

               Thesis: "A Spatial Analysis of membership and Success in the Kingdom of Ansteorra”

Jingming Qian, M.S., Fall 2004

Creative Component: "Analysis and Simulation of State-Based Public Higher Education Service Areas in the U.S." 

Ryan Sigworth, M.S., Summer 2004

               Creative Component: “Migration Study of Major League and Negro League Baseball Players:

               1930-1950”

Brian Demers, M.S., Summer 2003

Thesis: "The Dispersed City: A Reevaluation of the Tri-Cities Region of East Tennessee, 1980-2000" 

Michael P. Larson, M.S., Summer 2003

Creative Component: "Interactive Web-Based Map of Handicapped Accessibility on the OSU Campus" 

Dongjin Xing, M.S., Summer 2003

Creative Component: "Using SVG Image in Vector-Based Distributed Geographic Information System Built on Server/Client Architecture"

Halil Ibrahim Tas, Ed.D., Spring 2003, M.S., Fall 1997

Dissertation: "Status of GIS Education at 4-Year Colleges and Universities in the United States"

Creative Component: "A Comparative Study on Geographic Education Between United States and Turkish High Schools" 

Justin Plymell, M.S., Spring 2003

Creative Component: "Arboretum Management Utilizing GPS and GIS" 

Charles Sloan, M.S., Spring 2003

Creative Component: "Measuring Urban Development in Oklahoma City Since 1960" 

Chris Chalmers, M.S., Fall 2002

Creative Component: "Analyzing  NCAA Division 1A College Football Attendance Patterns and Market Areas for 2000-2001"