Dissertation Submission and Graduation

Dissertation Reading Committee

A student's Dissertation Reading Committee is nominated at the same time that they apply to Advanced to Candidacy via the Dissertation Reading Committee Nomination Form. The Dissertation Reading Committee must have a minimum of three readers, and at least half of the committee must be members of the Santa Cruz Division of the Academic Senate.

The committee can be changed at any point leading up to graduation and is done by submitting the same form to the Graduate Advisor. Committee changes need to be approved by the Graduate Dean, so it is suggested to do this at least one quarter before applying to graduate to ensure the change is approved.

Dissertation Review

The dissertation review will happen in two portions - internal review with the faculty advisor and reading committee, and external review by the Division of Graduate Studies. The internal review checks for academic merit and coherence, while the Graduate Division review checks technical and logistical guidelines.

Reading Committee Review

This process is done mostly on your own accord - communicate with your faculty advisor about this process and inquire when it should begin, and how long it might take. Time should be budgeted in the case that the reading committee has comments that will need to be addressed before they accept the dissertation and sign off on it.

Division of Graduate Studies Review

This process is done to confirm validity, format, and standard. They will confirm that they dissertation follows the guides according to the resources found on the Division of Graduate Studies' website under the heading Thesis & Dissertation Submission.

What you will receive from the Graduate Divison after applying to graduate.

Dear Doctoral Candidates,

You have applied for a <Quarter Applied> degree. Congrats on reaching this this milestone! Please carefully read the following information and instructions about submitting your dissertation and also visit our Applications and Forms page (under Thesis and Dissertation Submission) to view more information about the requirements you need to complete.

STEPS NEEDED TO COMPLETE YOUR DEGREE:

Once you have reviewed our guidelines and you have made sure that your paper meets the rules on the attached document, you can submit your dissertation online through the ProQuest website. If you are using a template you still (especially) need to consult this sheet to make sure it is formatted correctly before you submit.

Your paper will not be accepted (and your degree will not be conferred) until it is correctly formatted. It should be correctly formatted when you submit.

The library has prepared a helpful guide to best practices for supplementary files in your submission at: https://guides.library.ucsc.edu/etds/supplementaryfiles

Email <who sent the notice> a signed copy of your title page (do not email it to Dean of Graduate Studies).
Title page requirements:
- Must be signed by your committee members only. We will accept electronic or scanned signatures, but they must be on one page. You can use DocuSign with your UCSC login and password. If you do not use DocuSign, I will also need an email from your dissertation chair stating that you are finished.
- The date on the title page must be <Month Year> no matter when during the quarter you submit the dissertation.
- The name of the graduate dean on the title page must reflect the name of our current dean, <Name of Current Dean>. Their title is Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies.
Exit forms: Please complete the Survey of Earned Doctorates and the UCSC Doctoral Placement Survey (linked toward the bottom of the page here).

The deadline for all three of these items is the last day of the quarter: <Deadline for Quarter Applied>

Keep an eye on your email for either an approval of your submission to ProQuest or a request for revisions. You are not finished when you submit, your submission also needs me to review it for formatting and to accept it. It takes time for me to review every submission and the earlier in the quarter you submit the quicker my response time will be. Please feel free to contact me with any questions you may have.

Filing Deadlines

Please see the Academic and Administrative Calendar for the current academic year. There, you will find a few key dates under the Announcing Candidacy for Degree/Apply to Graduate heading:

"Deadline to announce for Masters or Ph.D." This is the deadline that the Application to Graduate must be submitted to the Division of Graduate Studies.
"Deadline to complete all requirements for degree" is the date that all requirements must be completed or submitted. The dissertation must have been reviewed by the reading committee and have their signatures, submitted to the Graduate Division via ProQuest. All course requirements that will count towards the degree must have additionally have a passing grade.

Upon submission of the Application to Graduate, the Division of Graduate Studies will send an informational email to you informing you on next steps and submission guidelines. In particular, they will invite you to upload your dissertation to ProQuest.

Filing 'Between Quarters'

There is some flexibility when graduating 'between quarters'. A student can apply to graduate for a given quarter, but can submit all requirements for graduation before that quarter's start date. This enables the student to graduate without needing to enroll, and can be helpful when the dissertation is not done before the "Deadline to complete all requirements for degree" for the previous quarter.

Post-Graduation

Once a student's application to graduate has been accepted, they are no longer eligible to enroll. A student must be an active student to hold academic student employment positions, such as TA and GSI. A student that applies to graduate in Spring will be ineligible for TA or GSI positions the following Summer.

You are also advised to complete the following:

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