Graduation Check
Upon admission to doctoral candidacy, the Graduate School will conduct a preliminary graduation check. Any discrepancies between the transcript and the plan of study must be corrected with either a new plan of study or a correction memo initiated by the advisor. Upon receipt of the preliminary graduation check, the student must thereafter notify the Graduate School by completing an Application for Graduation at www.unco.edu/grad/forms/pdfs/DocApplicationForGraduation.pdf.
All graduating students are encouraged to attend graduation. Those students participating in the graduation ceremony are required to wear appropriate academic regalia. Diplomas are not issued at the graduation ceremony. All Graduate students must complete a Diploma Request Card at www.unco.edu/grad/forms/gradCard.asp. The diploma will be mailed to the address provided by the student on the Diploma Request Card . Failure to provide a current mailing address could result in a delay in receipt of the diploma. No diploma will be issued until all requirements for graduation have been met.
Hooding. The candidate's research advisor(s) shall hood the candidate at the graduation ceremony.
Dissertation Defense. The student will complete the research and write the dissertation in close collaboration with the research advisor(s). All students must follow the program and graduate school guidelines for writing the doctoral dissertation or Capstone Project. The Graduate School Dissertation Manual can be found at http://www.unco.edu/grad/forms/pdfs/DoctoralDissertationFormatManual.pdf and the Capstone Project Manual can be found at http://www.unco.edu/grad/forms/pdfs/CapstoneResearchProjectFormatManual.pdf. The student should discuss discipline specific formatting rules with their doctoral committee advisor.
Upon completion of the dissertation or capstone project, the program advisor should direct the student to arrange the date, time and place of the defense of the dissertation with all committee members . After all arrangements are made, the student or program advisor will notify the Graduate School by forwarding a signed and completed Request to Schedule a Doctoral Examination form found at www.unco.edu/grad/forms/pdfs/ScheduleDocExam.pdf.
In order for the Graduate School to approve a request for the student to defend the dissertation, the following conditions must be met:
- The committee members and faculty representative must be the same as those approved by the Graduate School.
- The written and oral comprehensive examination results must have been received and recorded by the Graduate School.
- The student must have been admitted into candidacy at least one semester prior to requesting to defend the dissertation.
- The Request to Schedule a Doctoral examination must be turned in to the Graduate School at least two weeks (14 calendar days) before the requested date of the defense to allow for any problems to be addressed.
- The Defense of the Dissertation must be scheduled at least five weeks (35 calendar days) prior to the anticipated graduation date. If it is not, the student may not graduate until the following semester.
The student is responsible for confirming the date and time of the examination with all of the committee members. The Graduate School will approve and publicize the examination date, time and place in the UNC Today or in any other appropriate university publication two weeks prior to the scheduled date. The Graduate School forwards a Results of the Doctoral Dissertation form to the student’s Program Advisor as approval of the defense.
Any examination which is not scheduled in advance through the Graduate School will not be recognized as valid and must be retaken.
All committee members and the faculty representative must be present at the examination or a substitute assigned according to the guidelines for Doctoral Committee. All members of the graduate faculty may attend the defense and may ask questions of the student after the committee members finish their questioning. Other graduate students may attend with permission from the research advisor. The research advisor should discuss the nature and purpose of the dissertation defense with the student. Generally, the student is instructed to prepare a brief description of the entire study from the purpose to the results and discussion. The committee is free to ask any questions pertaining to the dissertation. The student is expected to understand all aspects of the study including the data analyses and theoretical implications and should avoid being unaware of the procedure or logic followed in the data analyses. The committee will expect the student to demonstrate himself/herself as an expert on the topic and thesis of the dissertation. It should be recommended that the student bring copies of the signature pages for the dissertation to the defense in the event that the committee evaluates the performance as pass. They can then sign the evaluation form and the signature pages. The dissertation committee will evaluate the student’s performance at the defense as well as the written dissertation as a "pass", "will pass with conditions", or "failed" on the Results of the Defense of Dissertation form.
- Pass: If the student passes the defense, the research advisor shall obtain the signatures of the research committee members on the Results of Defense of Dissertation form, obtain the signatures of the committee members on the form, and submit the form to the Graduate School. The student shall proceed to make any corrections required by the research committee and submit the corrected dissertation to the committee members for their signatures. The student must provide all necessary copies of the signature page. Original signatures are required on every signature page.
- Will Pass: If the research committee requires the student to meet stated conditions, the research advisor shall list the conditions on the Results of Defense of Dissertation form, obtain the signatures of the committee members on the form, and submit the form to the Graduate School. The list of conditions must include a statement regarding the number of additional defense meetings and the amount of additional time allowed by the research committee. The Results of Defense of Dissertation form shall be returned to the Graduate School until the conditions are met, or the committee deems student has not met the conditions. If the student subsequently satisfies the stated conditions the research advisor shall obtain the original Results of Defense of Dissertation form from the Graduate School. The student shall proceed to make any corrections required by the research committee and submit the corrected dissertation to the committee members for their signatures. If the student does not meet the stated conditions, the research advisor shall obtain the original Report of Defense of Dissertation form from the Graduate School, shall obtain signatures of the research committee members on the lower section of the form indicating that they do not approve, and resubmit the form to the Graduate School. The Graduate School shall then notify the student that the degree program is terminated.
- Failed: If a student fails the defense, the research advisor shall obtain the signatures of the research committee members on the Results of Defense of Dissertation form and submit the form to the Graduate School. The Graduate School shall then notify the student that the degree program is terminated.
The results of comprehensive examinations, proposal and defenses must be reported to the Graduate School no later than the semester following the examination or defense or the Graduate School may require the examination to repeat the examination.
Dissertation and Capstone Filing. After completing any necessary revisions and successful approval of the dissertation by the student’s committee, an electronic copy of the final dissertation or capstone is to be submitted to the Graduate School with at least four (4) original signed signatures pages for an editorial review and final approval from the Dean of the Graduate School.
The student will then be asked to make revisions and/or submit the required copies of the final dissertation for the Dean of the Graduate School to sign. The dissertation is not approved until signed by the Dean of the Graduate School.
If the dissertation is not filed with the Graduate School at least four weeks (28 calendar days) before the student’s anticipated graduation date, the student may not graduate until the following semester.
Upon filing the dissertation, the Graduate School will require each doctoral student to complete specific forms relating to the dissertation and will bill the students’ UNC account for binding, mailing, microfilming, and publishing the dissertation. Final submission procedures and necessary forms can be found on the Graduate School website (http://www.unco.edu/grad/). The dissertation and capstone will be electronically stored and the abstract will be published in Dissertation Abstracts.
The four (4) required paper copies shall be dispensed as follows:
- one copy of the dissertation shall be filed in the university archive,
- one at the library circulation,
- one copy for the student’s research advisor,
- one copy will be sent to the student.
If a student has co-advisors, a fifth copy must be submitted to the Graduate School.
Dissertation Objection . If a dissertation is filed with all but one of the signatures of the research committee members, the Dean of the Graduate School or his/her designee will ask the non-signing member if he/she wishes to enter a formal objection(s). Should the committee member file an objection, the Dean of the Graduate School will appoint a review committee to assess the specific objection(s). If the review committee rules that the objection(s) does not justify the rejection of the study, the chairperson of the review committee will sign the dissertation in place of the dissenting faculty member. If the review committee rules that the objection(s) is valid, the student must take appropriate steps to modify the dissertation in order to gain the approval of the original dissertation committee.