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Defending your Dissertation

PLEASE NOTE: Consult the Handbook for Theses and Dissertations and follow all guidelines provided by the Graduate School's Thesis Office.  The steps below are meant only to supplement the processes outlined in that handbook.

Proposal Defense

  1. Decide with your committee chair during which semester you will be ready to defend. You should schedule your defense about a month in advance, but no later than two weeks in advance.  
  2. Coordinate with all committee members to find three dates that the majority of them can attend. Attendance via Zoom, Teams or similar is acceptable. Determine if your defense will be held in-person, virtually, or if it will be hybrid. Once the date and time of the defense is determined, ensure a Zoom/Teams/etc. meeting is scheduled for a virtual or hybrid defense. 
  3. Submit the Dissertation Defense Request form at least two weeks prior to your defense.
  4. For an In-Person or Hybrid Defense, the Graduate Student Coordinator will reserve a room in Gardner Commons and send you the reservation confirmation.
  5. We recommend you visit the space at least a day before your defense to become familiar with the space and its resources. If you need cords to connect to a projector or TV, the main department office has some available for check-out.
  6. Defenses are scheduled for 90 minutes. 
  7. When your committee determines that you have passed your defense, please have your committee chair email the Graduate Student Coordinator who will record the outcome of your defense.
  8. Following your proposal defense, you should submit at least one completed chapter of your dissertation for preliminary review by the Thesis Office. 

Final Defense

Remember to apply for graduation before the deadline. This must be completed before setting up your final defense so we can ensure all academic requirements have been met.

  1. Decide with your committee chair during which semester you will be ready to defend. If you would like to graduate in the same semester, your defense date must precede the deadline for format approval listed on the Graduate School's website. You should schedule your defense about a month in advance, but no later than two weeks in advance.  
  2. Coordinate with all committee members to find three times that the majority of them can attend. Attendance via Zoom, Teams or similar is acceptable. Determine if your defense will be held in-person, virtually, or if it will be hybrid. Once the date and time of the defense is determined, ensure a Zoom/Teams/etc. meeting is scheduled for a virtual or hybrid defense. 
  3. Submit the Dissertation Defense Request form at least two weeks prior to your defense.
  4. For an In-Person or Hybrid Defense, the Graduate Student Coordinator will reserve a room in Gardner Commons and send you the reservation confirmation.
  5. We recommend you visit the space at least a day before your defense to become familiar with the space and its resources. If you need cords to connect to a projector or TV, the main department office has some available for check-out.
  6. Defenses are scheduled for 90 minutes. 
  7. When your committee determines that you have passed your defense, please have your committee chair email the Graduate Student Coordinator who will record the outcome of your defense and begin the process of clearing you for graduation.
  8. When your dissertation has received final approval from your committee chair, you must submit it to the Thesis Office for formatting approval and release.  
    • To submit, you will need uNIDs for your supervisory committee members (email address for members outside of the U) and the department chair. 
  9. The Department Chair and each member of your committee must digitally sign off on your submitted dissertation before the Thesis Office will begin their approval. You will receive confirmation emails as signatures are submitted. Follow up on any missing signatures directly with your committee. 
  10. A Thesis Office editor will contact you within 3 business days either approving your dissertation format, or with needed revisions. You will correspond with your Thesis Office editor regarding any necessary changes to the manuscript and resubmit when you make the changes. This process could take 4-6 resubmissions. 
  11. When the Thesis Office approves your dissertation you will follow their instructions to upload your dissertation to ProQuest no later than 2 days before the end of finals week. 
  12. The Thesis Release will be issued and you will be cleared to graduate. You can track your graduation approval status through CIS under “Graduation,” “Graduate Student Summary,” then “Grad Student Prog Plan Audit."

Last Updated: 7/18/24