Note: NAU uses "thesis" for MS research and "dissertation" for PhD research, but this distinction is not standard across academia, especially internationally. We often use "thesis" interchangeably to mean both. 

Preparing for and scheduling your defense and thesis submission

• Carefully read through all deadlines and procedures in the OGPS website above and review the guidelines and timelines for thesis submission in your program Handbook.

• Once your thesis advisor agrees you are ready to schedule your defense, work with your committee to find a time.

• Complete the format check course in Canvas a week or two before your defense.

• Contact the SES Graduate Program Coordinator to verify that your desired defense time does not conflict with another SES defense, and to book a room. The Coordinator will add your defense to the SES Calendar.

• Create an email to advertise your defense that includes the following information: Title, Date and time of defense, Location and zoom link if hybrid. Send this announcement to: SES.Admin@nau.edu 7-10 days before your event so it can be emailed out. Include the title of your defense in the subject and body of the email as well as the pdf attachment. This will ensure that interested faculty and students hear about your project. Please cc your advisor and all committee members on the email.

• At your defense, your committee will fill out the Oral Defense Form Part 1 and your advisor will turn it in.

• When your required thesis edits are completed, your advisor (and possibly committee members) will fill out and submit the Oral Defense Form Part 2. You should discuss the OpenAccess and embargo options listed on that form with your advisor so that you know what options to select during your final thesis upload step. 

• You can then submit your thesis via NAU's ProQuest site.

Deadlines for defending and graduating

DAtabase of past theses

You can search for the abstract and full text of any thesis at the Dissertations & Theses @ Northern Arizona University ProQuest Database. Note that "dep(SESES) OR dep(earth) OR dep(Geology) OR dep(Environmental)" will find all SES theses and dissertations from the current year back to 2011.  If you do not have ProQuest access you can also find many of these (from 2017 up until 2 YBP) at OpenKnowledge@NAU.