Final Oral Exam

The final oral exam, if possible, should be scheduled during the academic year. The final oral exam is open to the public and the first part consists of a 45-minute seminar, at which you present your major findings. After the seminar, the audience is invited to ask questions related to the presentation. The chair of the committee then asks the audience to leave the room, and the committee continues further questioning during a closed session. The outcome of the exam (pass or fail) is determined by a vote of the examining committee members.

After the final exam, the examining committee members typically provide comments and suggested revisions for the thesis. These revisions must be made before the thesis is submitted to the adviser for approval and signature and then submitted to the Graduate School. Students are required to submit one electronic copy of the dissertation and abstract to the Graduate School. See the Onestop website for more information. This copy of the dissertation will then be made available through the University Library catalogue system. Another copy of the revised final thesis is required for the adviser, although the adviser may request a copy in electronic form. It is also recommended to submit a copy to each member of your committee.

Doctoral Final Oral Committee:

The doctoral final oral committee must consist of at least four members, including the advisor(s). All members of the committee and the candidate must participate in the final oral examination.

Committee members and/or the student may participate remotely as long as all conditions for remote participation in the examination are met.

-At least three members (including the advisor) must be from the student's major field.

-At least one member must represent a field outside the major. If the student has declared a minor, the outside member, or one of the outside members, must represent the minor field.

-Members cannot satisfy the requirement with respect to more than one field.

-The chair of the committee must not be the candidate’s advisor or co-advisor.

-At least two members of the committee must be tenured or tenure-track University faculty members who hold earned doctorate degrees or designated equivalents in appropriate fields from an accredited institution. At least one of the committee members must be a tenured University faculty member.

-Collegiate deans or their designated representatives at the collegiate level must verify eligibility and approve the members of the final oral examination committee.

Thesis Reviewers for final oral examination:

-A minimum of 2 major field reviewers and 1 minor/outside reviewer are required. In the case of multiple minors, there must be a reviewer for each minor.

-Advisor(s) and co-advisor(s) must serve as reviewers.

-Students must provide reviewers with a copy of the dissertation at least 14 days before the scheduled date of the doctoral final oral examination.

-Every designated reviewer on the doctoral dissertation reviewer’s report must certify that the dissertation is ready for defense before the doctoral final oral examination may take place.

The doctoral final oral examination must include:

-A public presentation of the candidate’s dissertation to the doctoral final oral examination committee and the invited scholarly community.

-A closed session (open only to the doctoral final oral examination committee and the candidate) immediately following the public presentation.

To be recommended for the award of the doctoral degree, all committee members, or all committee members save one, must vote that the student has passed the doctoral final oral examination.

-Students are not allowed to retake the final oral examination.

Committee members must notify the candidate in writing of all required revisions to the doctoral dissertation as well as specifying a time limit for the submission of the revised doctoral dissertation within seven (7) days of the final oral examination.

All students who complete a doctoral dissertation must file a digital copy of the dissertation with the University in accordance with University standards.

Students may choose whether or not to request an embargo of the publication of the dissertation for a limited period of time.