May Graduation Timeline and Faculty Down Time
MayGraduation Timeline and Faculty Down Time
On behalf of theDoctoral faculty, I extend well wishes for all students activelyengaged in developing their dissertation proposals or writing theirdissertations. Wegreatly appreciate your time and effort in these matters.
The faculty are in agreement that a dissertation needs to besigned off prior to "Walking" at the May graduation. Because the dissertation isa developmental process, the time required for completion tends tobe longer than what many students anticipate when first beginning.Therefore, we are outlining deadline dates for completing variousphases of the dissertation process.
The timeline below begins with the signing off of thedissertation, and pertains to students who are planning oncompleting the dissertation during Spring Semester, in time for Maygraduation. Note thatmany students complete their dissertations during Summer or FallSemesters and, therefore, are already on the list to "walk" in theMay graduation ceremony.
SIGNING OFF ON THE DISSERTATION APRIL15
The light is shining brightly at the end of the tunnel!
April 15 is set as a sign-off deadline in order to give the Deanof the School an opportunity to give an initial perusal of thedissertations prior to graduation.
FIRST FULL DRAFT OF THE DISSERTATION TO THE COMMITTEE CHAIRFEBRUARY 1
Typically a dissertation requires 2 to 3 revisions before it isready for full committee review. Following the committeereview, there tend to be more changes required in preparation forthe final draft (the draft to be published). If this first fulldraft requires more than 3 revisions before it goes to committee,then there may not be sufficient time to complete the dissertationbefore April 15.
DISSERTATION PROPOSAL IS DEFENDED DECEMBER1
This December 1 deadline may only work for students who are ableto work on their dissertations full time. Time is needed to do anadequate job of collecting and analyzing data. If this process is rushedthen the dissertation quality will suffer. This process tends to takelonger than students anticipate. For some students defendingSummer Semester is a more reasonable timeframe.
COMPLETE PROPOSAL SEMINAR SPRING ORSUMMER
BEFORE MAY GRADUATION
The proposal seminar is designed to help students develop theirdissertation proposals. A goal of the course is tohave students complete the first full draft of their dissertationproposals (Chapters I, II, and III), which can then be furtherrefined with the assistance of their dissertation chairs. However, some students maybe ready to defend by the end of the semester they are enrolled inProposal Seminar. This happens only when students enter the coursewith their literature review nearly completed and have a good graspof what the literature says about their topics. Many students defend duringthe semester after completing Proposal Seminar.
Please note that to be enrolled in Proposal Seminar studentsneed to submit a petition (see doctoral homepage conceptualframework) and they must have gained candidacy status.
The petition must be submitted at least 60 days in advance ofwhen the semester begins, Copies of the petition must be given tothe dissertation chair and to the faculty member who will beteaching Proposal Seminar that particular semester.
FACULTY DOWN TIME
The faculty has what we call "down time," time when we can focuson our own research and get prepared for the next semester. During this time, facultymembers are not available to read candidacy papers, dissertationproposals, or dissertations. These times are asfollows:
Mid May to the beginning of Summer Semester (third week in June)End of Summer Semester and the beginning of Fall Semester AllHoliday breaks.
