The Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Program under review is housed in the School of Nursing (SON) and offered through the Graduate School of the University of Maryland Baltimore (UMB). The AACN Quality Indicators (2001) serve as an important resource for the program and are used as a reference for program planning and the consideration of progress in ongoing development of the PhD Program. Thus, these indicators are also used as an organizing framework for this self-study. When the term, AACN Quality Indicators, is used in this selfstudy, it refers to the Indicators of Quality in Research-Focused Doctoral Programs in Nursing (2001). At various points in the narrative, comparisons are made with the AACN Quality Indicators. This self-study is organized in two volumes. The Volume I contains the narrative material and Volume II contains reference supporting material.