Directions for the preparation and submission of dissertations can be found in the Thesis and Dissertation Style Guide. 

As per departmental regulation, the dissertation committee must include all three members of the student’s Research Proposal Examination Committee. (Department rules for this committee can be found in the Research Proposal Examination page.) Dissertation committees may have co-chairs upon recommendation of the department’s graduate director and with the approval of the dean of the graduate school. In addition, membership on dissertation examining committees must adhere to Graduate School policy. 

From the Graduate Catalog on the Dissertation Examining Committee: 

• Dissertation Examining Committee Membership. The Committee must include a minimum of five members of the Graduate Faculty, at least three of whom must be Full Members. The Chair of the Committee normally will be the student's advisor, who will be a Full Member of the Graduate Faculty, or who has been granted an exception to the policy by the Dean of the Graduate School. Each Committee will have appointed to it a representative of the Dean of the Graduate School. The Dean's Representative may be one of the five voting members. Alternatively, the Dean's Representative may not be a voting member of the Committee. Whether the Dean's Representative votes or not is a decision made by the student, primary advisor, and the Dean's Representative before the Dean's Representative is nominated for approval by the Dean of The Graduate School. In addition, the Dean will ensure that there are five voting members on the Committee. Therefore, Committees that have a non-voting Dean's Representative must have at least six members (five voting members and the non-voting Dean's Representative.)

• Nomination of the Dissertation Examining Committee. Membership on a Dissertation Examining Committee requires nomination by the student's advisor and the Graduate Director of the student's graduate program, and approval by the Dean of the Graduate School. The nomination of a Dissertation Examining Committee should be provided to the Office of the Registrar at least six weeks before the date of the expected dissertation examination. The dissertation examination cannot be held until the Graduate School approves the composition of the Dissertation Examining Committee. Furthermore, if the Graduate Faculty status of any member of an approved Dissertation Examining Committee changes, the approval of the Dissertation Examining Committee may be void, and a new Dissertation Examining Committee nomination form may be required to be approved by the Graduate School.

• Chair. Each Dissertation Examining Committee will have a chair, who must be a Full Member of the Graduate Faculty or, by special permission, has been otherwise appointed by the Dean of the Graduate School . Dissertation Examining Committees may be co-chaired by two or more faculty members.  At least one of the co-chairs must be a Full Member and the other co-chair can be an Associate or Full Member.  Special Members may not co-chair a doctoral dissertation committee unless granted a special exception.  Any changes to the chair or co-chair(s) of an approved committee must be submitted at least six weeks before the examination. Following the Emergency Substitution Procedure, last-minute emergency substitutions are permitted under certain conditions.

• Representative of the Dean of the Graduate School. Each Dissertation Examining Committee will have appointed to it a representative of the Dean of the Graduate School. The Dean's Representative should have some background or interest related to the student's research. The Dean's Representative must be a tenured member of the Graduate Faculty at the University of Maryland, College Park. The Dean's Representative must be from a tenure home different from that of the student’s program, the primary advisor or co-advisors, and the dissertation examining committee chair or co-chairs (if the chairs or co-chairs are not the primary advisor or co-advisors). In the case of multi-disciplinary programs, the Dean's Representative can be a member of the program, as long as they have a different tenure home from that of the primary advisor or co-advisors and the dissertation examining committee chair or co-chairs.

The person nominated to become the Dean's Representative may serve as a regular member of the student's Doctoral Graduate Committee from the time it is first convened. Alternatively, the person nominated to be the Dean's representative may be added to the Doctoral Graduate Committee at a later date and either take part in some Committee meetings including the qualifying examination, or only join as a Doctoral Dissertation Committee member for the final dissertation defense. In all cases, the Dean's Representative must be present for the full dissertation defense and serve to adjudicate the defense.

• Associate Members. Non-tenure track faculty within the University of Maryland who have been approved for Associate Membership in the Graduate Faculty may serve on Dissertation Examining Committees. Associate Members also can co-chair dissertations as long as the chair is a Full Member of the Graduate Faculty. These Associate Members must be in addition to the required three Full Members of the University of Maryland Graduate Faculty. For procedures to nominate an individual for Associate Membership, please refer to the section below on Graduate Faculty.

• Special Members. Individuals from outside the University of Maryland who have been approved for Special Membership in the Graduate Faculty may serve on Dissertation Examining Committees. These Special Members must be in addition to the required three Full Members of the University of Maryland Graduate Faculty. Special members cannot direct or co-direct dissertations. For procedures to nominate an individual for Special Membership, please refer to the section on Graduate Faculty.

• Service of former University of Maryland faculty members. Graduate Faculty who terminate employment at University of Maryland (and who do not have emeritus status) retain their status as members of the Graduate Faculty for a twelve-month period following their termination. Thus, they may serve as members and chairs (but not as Dean's Representatives) of Dissertation Examining Committees during this twelve-month period if they are otherwise eligible. After that time, they may no longer serve as chairs or co-chairs of Dissertation Examining Committees.

• Professors Emeriti and Associate Professors Emeriti may serve on Dissertation Examining Committees provided they are members of the Graduate Faculty.

The student is responsible for scheduling the defense with the committee and reserving a conference room for the dissertation defense. The student must also provide a PDF copy of his/her dissertation to all committee members at least 10 working days before the defense. 

The student must provide the Graduate Studies Office with the date, time, and location, and abstract at least two weeks before the defense so that it may be announced to the department. Information about the proper announcement format can be obtained from the Graduate Studies Office. 

For more details, and for the rules governing the dissertation oral examination, see the Graduate Catalog.