In this first‑person testimonial, a Ph.D. candidate recounts a severe disagreement between their dissertation chair and subject‑matter expert (SME) that threatened the approval of Chapter 1. The candidate describes how Dr. Steve Tippins, Ph.D., intervened by explaining committee expectations, advising the student to request a new SME, and guiding them through the procedural steps needed to secure additional time under ADA accommodations for ADHD. Dr. Tippins broke down each committee request, helped the student set incremental goals for Chapters 2‑5, managed data analysis with SPSS, and provided consistent weekly check‑ins via text and video calls. He also streamlined billing and offered technology tips (e.g., Zoom troubleshooting). The candidate emphasizes the emotional relief and confidence gained from Dr. Tippins’ clear communication, time‑management strategies, and encouragement, ultimately enabling them to progress from a stalled Chapter 1 to completing Chapter 5 and preparing for a June defense.
Chapters
Mine was more of not just time. I wanted to see that if I was crazy with my SME. My SME was in no agreement with my chair and it was a big struggle because I didn't know what to do, know how to deal with it. And all I got from my advisor was just give them a call or just give them an email, blah, blah, blah. And it just never worked out. So finally it took the last chance, last shot for the last week of my chapter 1. It's either pass or fail. At this point, and he still didn't like it. My chair approved, my SME didn't. So finally my chair was like, all right, I'm gonna approve it, I don't forget him. Well, that caused more problems. So Steve Tippins Ph.D. was like, you can request a new one. And I was like, really? And so that's when I was like, hold on. So I requested one. It kind of has started me on the path of taking more time, using more resources, especially with gaining more time without having to spend more money. He helped me break things down when I had issues on like, what is my chair telling me? That's what he did. He was very good about, oh, this is what they're asking, this is what they're talking about. He would ask me in a different way and then I would have the correct answer. So he still asked me the questions, but at the same time he was like, oh, this is what they're asking you. Can you do, or are you going to do blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I'd be like, oh yeah, well then write that down. So it's, I would say he was my other world language of committee members, chairs, and SMEs. He spoke the language, so he knew what I needed to do. So it was 10 times easier. I was at the end of my rope with all of it. Cause I was like, I don't understand, something's not going on right. And Dr. Tippins was like, take some time. Let's figure this out. Let's take it step by step. What are you trying to portray? What are you trying to tell the audience in your dissertation? And so that's kind of where it went. He talked me through it and that kind of made a huge difference. If I can remember, it was an hour long that we would go through this stuff and say, hey, let's see this. And he'd be like, well, how'd you follow up on this? How'd you do this? So he, he always made sure he followed up to ask me, how are we on this? So that was always good for me because then I could actually go, oh yeah, this is what I found out. This is what I did. I definitely have ADHD. It's not always the easiest to deal with. When you grow, you have to try to control it. It's a lot to deal with. So think of that in the sense of Dr. Tippins reining me in. He wrangled me in a good way, actually. He was like, you know that you can request more time. And so that was something that I really appreciated because he's like, I'd rather you request more time than just waste money, and you could be doing something else with that money. Instead, you can request more time to help you, and you can get there quicker. So he would look at it in ways of like, okay, so I have ADHD, and of course ADHD is an ADA, Americans with Disabilities Act, and Employers and schools and colleges have to abide by the ADA, of course, because it's the law. Now, what they consider to be an ADA is a whole open field. But since I divulged that to Dr. Tippins, he was like, use that, use that to take care of you. Take care of the time that you're going to need to finish this dissertation. Not everybody finishes it in 8 weeks and is like ready to rock and roll. Let's go to the next chapter. Sometimes it's so much thinking and so much heavy pushing that comes from your chair, from your seme, you may need some more time and that's One thing I really, really appreciated, cause he helped me get there to request an extra 4 weeks or whatever it is now. Right now I'm just kind of wrapping things up and starting on chapter 5. And then I should be doing my dissertation defense in June is the timeframe. Some point this year, June this year. I'm where I'm at because Dr. Tippins Ph.D. was helping me step by step along the whole entire way to get from chapter 1 approved now to chapter 5. Those goals were very small at the time. At least I thought they were. Coming to find out that was not small goals because you had to do chapter 1. Then once you got chapter 1 done, you had to do chapter 2 and 3 and then get those approved. When you start Chapter 4, you have to collect your data and all the information and put it into whatever you're using. I used SPSS and then did all that stuff and then put that on paper and make it make sense, explain it. And then after that, at the same time, you have to do Chapter 5 too, and then do your defense. So you got Chapter 4, Chapter 5, defense. So he's helped me all the way through to now to where I can gladly say that there were times where there were dark days when I was like, oh God, I'm not going to make it. They just trying to kill me. He would always check up on me. That was his good thing. That he would text me and be like, hey, how's that going? And it'd be like in the middle of the week and I'm like, I haven't touched it yet. Leave me alone. He would be like, okay, don't forget you need to work on that. And then it'd be like 2 days before, hey, we're meeting in 2 days. You got that done yet? He was always good about staying on top of it, which then also helped me with time management going, well, you may have 7 days before submission, but we need to talk about it before you submit it. So you technically have 5 days. Cause he'd always say, you want to be prepared a day before so that whenever we meet, we need to make any changes, we can, you know, we could talk about it and go, ah, let's try it this way. So he always helped me by staying on top of me every single week saying, hey, you done? Hey, how's this part going? And so kind of helped me a lot with time management, especially with this, because you got kids, you got family, you got school, and then trying to do homework, which is essentially what it is, is even 10 times worse. Because you're like, I got a family, got kids, I got a job, I got school. It's a lot. He had the experience of coming from NCU. He knew the processes. He knew some of the committee members and he knew some of the SMEs and knew some of the chairs. And I won't say he knew how they thought or think, but he had a better advantage because he knew the process a lot easier and a lot better. Better and what the DPD was. It helped because he knew those things. He understood it because he had been a chair before there. He had been a SME and he had been a committee member. It was an easier process. So when I asked a stupid question, I was like, hey, would this committee member do this to me? And he'd be like, no, they won't. No, they'll just send it back to you. I was like, oh, okay. Like, it was easier to guide me through it since he knew most of the steps on the way. He felt like a dad who was like, son, I need you to do this. Son, you're supposed to be doing this. He knew that whenever I had scheduled time with him, he'd be like, hey, don't forget, we got to meet today. It was always like somebody who had a helping hand to be able to push me along and say, we're going to get there, take our time, let's do what we need to do. The whole overall thing that I loved the most was he was always there when I had a stupid question, when I texted him and asked him stupid questions. And then when I texted him my victories, it was even cooler. He'd be like, see, you deserve that, you did a great job. And like, those are the things that I appreciated the most out of it was because he always communicated. If I had a dumb question, if it was 8 o'clock at night, he would respond to me and be like, yeah, Chad, you should know that. Or yes, Chad, you're fine, keep going, you're doing a great job. You know, it was always that encouragement. I wouldn't say there's anything that he could do better. I would definitely say keep doing what he's doing. Do the encouragement, keep doing that, because that's— a lot of the times we don't know, we know we have a path, but we don't know which way to go. And a lot of what Dr. Tippins has done is help us, guide us down that path and get the encouragement that we needed. Because sometimes you do have a support system, but they truly do not know how hard it is to be a Ph.D. Be a doctor. It's a lot harder than they think. They see, oh, you're just writing this. Yes, I've rewritten this thing 500 times. I mean, yes. And they're all just like, oh, well, you're just adding words. No, no. And then I would go and show my wife the references table on my dissertation, and it was like 7 or 8 pages long. She's like, okay, never mind. I won't ask anymore. And it's just crazy. But like, he was there to be like, not everybody's going to understand why we're doing it, why you're doing it, how you're doing it. But they will see the accomplishment at the end. Paying you guys has been super simple. And if I was like, hey, we have this agreement and it was like, oh yeah, okay, great, cool. And y'all would fix it immediately. And it was, you know, never, never a problem. So even from doing the actual coaching to the billing was super, super easy. And if you can use technology more to your advantage, fantastic. I don't know what you could do, but there's always some type of technology out there that can help do something. But yeah, that's what I've always encouraged is use— if you can use technology to the best advantage, go for it. Dr. Tippins Ph.D. was always spot on. He helped me, especially when I did something stupid in my Zoom, be like, oh, push this button. Oh, okay, cool. Thanks. Like, Dad's telling me how to do it.
