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Academics

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Advancing to Candidacy

Steps in Preparation for Presenting a Dissertation Proposal:

1. With the assistance of your supervising professor, select a committee. The committee must be composed of a minimum of 5 members, of which 1 must be someone whose teaching and research are principally outside of the department, and at least three members, including the supervisor, must be members of the department's Graduate Studies Committee (GSC). A committee can be composed of six members, provided at least 4 are members of GSC's.
2. The Graduate Adviser must approve your committee prior to making final committee plans (an email message will do).
3. Select a date and time when all committee members can be present for the proposal. (A minimum of 4 must be present at the proposal.) A final draft of your proposal should be submitted to committee members four weeks prior to the date of the proposal.
4. Schedule a room for your proposal through the online calendar. When the administrator has approved your request, you will receive email confirming the approval.
5. The Graduate Coordinator will publicize your proposal. Approximately 3 weeks* prior to the date, you must give her all the necessary information (i.e. date, time, place, title of dissertation, and an on-line abstract of your proposal). Email is the easiest way to do that. She will then send out the public announcement two weeks prior to the date of the proposal. A copy of a draft of your proposal should also be turned in to her. (*This is not a firm deadline, but the Coordinator does need to receive all the information at least several days in advance of the two-week deadline to send the public information.)
6. Pass the proposal exam. At least four members of the committee must be present at the exam, which may include questions over the entire depth area; it is not necessarily limited to the specific dissertation research topic. Questions from any GSC member are encouraged. The following criteria will be used to determine whether or not a student passes the exam:
   • Does the candidate demonstrate knowledge of his/her depth area?
   • If substantially completed, would the work described in the proposal constitute an acceptable dissertation?
   • Does the student display the potential for substantially completing the work?
   Passing of the exam requires the unanimous approval of the committee on these three points. If this does not happen, a student may reform a committee or alter the topic. He/she is then required to retake the examination until unanimous approval is obtained.
7. After passing your proposal exam, you will need to complete an on-line Application for Candidacy. This form is now available through the Graduate School's web site. You may begin the on-line application process before the proposal, but do not "submit" it until you pass the proposal.If you have any questions regarding completing the form, the Graduate Coordinator can help you. NOTE: It is not necessary to fill out the Program of Work form. This has been noted by the submission of your Depth Proposal or Research Qualification (RQ) Document. A curriculum vita for any member of your committee who is not a GSC member should be submitted to the Graduate Coordinator as soon as possible, either before or after completing the on-line candidacy form. It is not necessary to ask your off-campus committee member towrite a letter stating their willingness to serve at no expense to the University.Ourdepartment will submit a waiver of this requirement to the Graduate School along with their curriculum vita. IMPORTANT: Students must meet our departmental deadline to submit the on-line candidacyform "with" their supervising professor's approval. The deadline for Fall 2008 is Friday, August 18th, one week prior to our GSC Student Assessment meeting.
8. Continue registering for conference courses.You will receive official notification when the Dean formally admits you to candidacy, (this will be done before the 12th class day). At that time, you will be able to change your registration to the first part of the dissertation course (_99R).

What if Your Research Direction Changes After Your Proposal?

In the event of a significant change in research direction, a student will be required to re-certify that each member of the committee continues to answer positively the three questions that determine whether or not the student passes the proposal exam. The committee may choose to require a public re-examination. A student's status in the Ph.D. program is in jeopardy prior to the passage of such a re-examination.