Assessment of Good Progress for Doctoral Students

The Graduate Faculty of each doctoral program is required to define good progress toward completion of the doctoral degree. This information should be included in the program’s Graduate Student Handbook (it is recommended that the consequences of lack of good progress are also included in the handbook). Each doctoral student’s progress toward the degree will be reviewed (at least) annually by either the Graduate Faculty in the program, the doctoral advisory committee, or the graduate education committee. Students will be informed in writing of the results of that meeting by the Director of Graduate Studies or the chair of the advisory committee, or their designee. These reports do not need to be forwarded to the Graduate School.

Post-Qualifying Time Limit

All degree requirements for the doctorate must be completed within five years following the semester or summer session in which the candidate successfully completes the qualifying examination, but extensions up to an additional 5 years may be requested for a total of 10 years.

All requests should be initiated by the Director of Graduate Studies and accompanied by a letter of support from the student’s advisor. Extensions up to one year may be approved by the Senior Associate Dean of the Graduate School. Requests for extensions longer than one year must be considered by the Graduate Council. All requests should be initiated by the Director of Graduate Studies and must include a recommendation on whether or not a retake of the qualifying examination should be a requirement of the extension. If requested, failure to pass the reexamination will result in the termination of degree candidacy; a second re-examination is not permitted. Failure to complete all degree requirements within 10 years of initially taking the qualifying examination will also result in the termination of degree candidacy.

A program may submit an appeal to the Graduate Council to allow a time-to-degree terminated student to be readmitted and pursue the degree without re-taking all required coursework. The appeal should:

• Provide an explanation for the failure to initially complete the degree on-time.

• Provide a detailed description of the requirements that must be fulfilled in order to receive the degree.

• Provide confirmation that the appeal was approved by the majority of the program graduate faculty.