Graduation Requirements/Checklist

Doctoral Graduation Checklist

Division of Graduate Studies

On the page:

Fall term | Winter term | Spring term | The Dissertation Committee | Essential Online Resources:

Fall term:

  • Select Institutional Representative for dissertation committee and submit for Graduate School approval. You must do this at least six months before your defense date.
  • Check in with your committee to confirm availability to attend your defense in the spring. Adjust committee membership if needed. This also needs to be done at least six months before your defense date.
  • Take MATH 603 Dissertation (you need at least 18 credits of MATH 603 to graduate.)

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Winter term:

  • Take at least three credits MATH 603 Dissertation even if you already have the 18 credits of MATH 603 that are required to graduate.
  • If using coauthored material or your own previously published material, submit the Content and Style Request form to the Graduate School.

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Spring term:

  • Take at least three credits MATH 603 Dissertation even if you already have the 18 credits of MATH 603 that are required to graduate.
  • Apply to graduate in GradWeb.
  • Schedule final oral defense and submit for Graduate School approval in GradWeb.
  • Complete dissertation and distribute to committee via Graduate Coordinator.
  • Final Defense of Dissertation.
  • Submit approval forms to Graduate School and upload approved dissertation.

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The Dissertation Committee

The dissertation committee is your PhD Committee, established when you submitted your orals syllabus, plus an Institutional Representative. Your final committee will include the committee chair, three core members from math, and one faculty member from outside math.

The full committee must be approved and on file with the Graduate School at least six months before the date of your defense.

If the chair of your approved committee changes, you will have to wait six months before you can defend. If the institutional representative changes, you will have to wait three months.

Defense Attendance Policy

Ideally, all five committee members will attend your defense. However, sometimes not everyone is available. Here is the Graduate School’s attendance policy:

You, your committee chair, and at least one core member must be physically present at the defense. If the Institutional Representative cannot be physically present, they may attend via video conference. One core member may also attend via video conference if physical attendance is not possible. If the remaining core member cannot attend physically, that member may either attend via video conference or waive their attendance.

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Essential Online Resources:

GradWeb

GradWeb is where you go to apply to graduate (“Apply for Advanced Degree”) and to schedule your final defense (“file application for final oral defense”).  When you apply to graduate, you will have to complete a survey, so set aside about 10 minutes for that process.

Graduate School Deadlines

These are listed based on the term you wish to graduate, so you may need to scroll down to find the correct term and year.

Graduate School Forms

Here you will find the Content and Style Request form and the Dissertation Submission Form and Document Approval form.  The Content form has trouble on Macs, so the Graduate Coordinator has a copy to email or print for you.

Department of Math Dissertation Instructions

Includes a general outline of deadlines and a link to previous graduate student’s advice on LaTex formatting. Feel free to send updates to the Graduate Coordinator if you have any.

Overview Page for Dissertations

Includes overview of the process and links to other resources like sample prefatory pages; FAQs; etc.

Resources for LaTex Users

Includes links to a repository of template files and sample text; formatting advice from a 2015 graduate; and sample LaTex files.

Submitting the Dissertation

This page is essential and you should review it well in advance of submitting your dissertation.  It includes a link to the step-by-step ETD Submission using ProQuest, which you should print out and go through in advance.

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