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Graduation Degree Requirements, Step-By-Step
Doctor of Philosophy, Ph.D. or
Doctor of Education, Ed.D.
Immediately following admission, students should be aware of and/or complete the following.
- Satisfy any provisional admission condition.
- Be sure there is an official transcript of all undergraduate and master's degree course work taken elsewhere on record in the Graduate School, Graduate Student Services Office, room 2123 Lee Building.
- Be sure that you are admitted under the degree option that you intend to earn.
- Maintain a 3.0 g.p.a.
- Register every semester (including the summer session if you are advising with your adviser, using University facilities, or graduating in August). If newly admitted register in the semester of admission, in order to validate your admission.
- Stay within the 5 year time-frame awarded until you are ready to apply for admission to candidacy. If you go beyond the 5 year time frame, be sure to request an extension the semester prior to your time-out date. Once a student is admitted to candidacy an additional 4 years will be awarded to complete degree requirements. If a student applies to be admitted to candidacy earlier than 5 years from the original date of admission, the Graduate School will award 9 years from the original admission date to complete degree requirements (instead of 4 years from the admission to candidacy date).
- Foundational Competencies Policy/College Of Education Technical Standards
All graduate students who are in an approved program leading to initial teacher certification, or advanced certification, in professional preparation programs are expected to demonstrate that they are prepared to work with children and youth in educational settings. This preparation results from the combination of successful completion of university coursework and field/internship experiences and the demonstration of important human charateristics and dispositions that all educators should possess.
By action of the College Senate, at its March 6, 1992 meeting, policy was passed that doctoral student progress must occur in a step-by-step progression.
Each step toward graduation must be approved and recorded in the College of Education, Graduate Studies Office before the student is allowed to progress to the next step. The progress steps are listed in order below. This policy was put into effect for students admittted Fall 1992 and thereafter.
- Pass the Preliminary Examination (if required)
Students who are required to take the preliminary examination will not be permitted to file a doctoral program form until they have passed the preliminary examination. This requirement was deleted as a "College" of Education requirement, however departments were allowed to impose the preliminary examination requirement. To date, the only department that requires the preliminary examination is EDMS (if a waiver is not obtained). Students should contact the EDMS department for the examination requirements and the application process, and deadlines for the preliminary examination.
- File the Doctoral Approved Program Form
Doctoral students shall not be allowed to register for course work beyond the semester in which they earn the 21st post-masters credit hour following admission, unless an approved program of study is filed with the College Graduate Studies Office. The individual advisor is responsible for monitoring the number of credits earned by the student. The College Graduate Studies Office will not accept the doctoral program form unless the "pass" result of the preliminary examination is on file (if required).
- Apply to Take and Pass the Comprehensive Examination
All doctoral students must take a comprehensive examination after completion of the appropriate coursework. The doctoral comprehensive examination may not be taken until an approved program of study is on file with the College Graduate Studies Office. The individual departments in the College of Education determine what constitutes a comprehensive examination. Students should check directly with their department for applications, processes, and deadlines.
- Apply for Admission to Candidacy
Applications for admission to candidacy shall not be forwarded to the Graduate School by the College Graduate Studies Office unless the comprehensive examination has been passed. Students have 5 years from the date of original admission until they are expected to be admitted to candidacy. Candidacy applications receive final approval by the Graduate School on the 1st of each month (as long as the application was received by the 25th of the month prior). Once a student has been admitted to candidacy they have four years to complete the degree requirements. Students admitted to candidacy must maintain continuous registration, and will automatically be registered for 899 dissertation credit, by the University, each fall and spring semester. Students must be registered in summer "if" they are using university facilities or resources, or graduating during the summer.
- Students must be admitted to candidacy 6 months prior to graduation.
- Present and Pass the Dissertation Proposal
The College requires that a student be admitted to candidacy prior to approving the doctoral research committee or accepting the disseration proposal. Students should obtain the Certification of Doctoral Research Committee and Dissertation Proposal form prior to their proposal meeting, fill-out the form, and present it at the proposal. Students should discuss with their advisor who the committee members should be.
- Human Subjects Approval
At the University, all research that involves the use of human subjects requires review and approval by the Institutional Review Board prior to the initiation of the research. Researchers should review the IRB website to be sure they are adhering to regulations and following the correct process.
Student researchers make a decision about which of 2 applications they should complete.
- If the research involves no more than minimal risk students should file the Departmental Application for Review of Research Using Human Subjects
to the department in which the student is admitted in the College of Education.
- If the research involves more than minimal risk students should file the Application for Initial Review of Research Using Human Subjects
to the department in which the student is admitted in the College of Education.
- Obtain a copy of the on-line Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Style Guide published by the Graduate School.
A number of forms must be submitted in partial fulfillment of graduation requirements.
It is the student's responsibility to obtain and file the required forms by the published deadlines in "Important Dates". When considering deadlines for forms, please keep in mind that all forms must be advisor and departmentally approved, prior to being submitted to the Graduate Student Services Office in Education, so allow extra time to meet the deadlines. You may pick-up the required forms in room 1204 Benjamin Building, or you may obtain the forms on-line .
The following forms must be filed and approved by your advisor, department, and the Graduate Student Services Office in Education by the deadlines listed in "Important Dates" in order to become a candidate for graduation:
- Check with your advisor to be sure that all course work listed on your Doctoral Program Form has been completed, as well as any additional requirements of the department to which you are admitted.
- Application for Graduation
No approval is needed on this form. Students should apply for graduation on-line by the published deadline.
- The approval letter from the Institutional Review Board (IRB) on campus, based on the submission of the Departmental Application for Review of Research Using Human Subjects must be filed with the Graduate Studies Office in the College of Education. If a student has not provided this letter to College Graduate Studies Office it should be done when submitting the Nomination of Thesis or Dissertation Committee form.
- Nomination of Thesis or Dissertation Committee
The Graduate School formally approves and appoints the committee to which the student defends their final thesis or dissertation. This form must be submitted by the deadline in the semester in which the student intends to graduate, or six weeks prior to the final oral defense, whichever is sooner to the College Graduate Studies Office. An oral defense may not be held without the formal approval of the committee by the Graduate School. Committee construction must meet the Graduate School criteria. All members of the committee must be in physical attendance at the oral defense.
The members of the Dissertation Examining Comittee should receive the dissertation at least ten working days before the scheduled defense. Should the Dissertation Examining Committee deem it reasonable and appropriate, it may require submission of the dissertation more than ten working days in advance of the defense.
- Oral Announcement
The Graduate Council of the Graduate School passed a policy effective October 7, 1999 that dissertation defenses shall be open. Part I of the dissertation defense shall be a public presentation by the candidate on the main aspects of the research reported in the dissertation . Announcements of the date, time, and location of the defense, as well as the candidate's name and the dissertation title, shall be disseminated to all faculty and graduate students within the department or graduation program in which the candidate's degree is to be awarded. The oral announcement should be provided to the department to which the student is admitted.
Additional Requirements for Graduation
- Students must be registered in the semester of graduation, including one of the summer sessions if graduating in August.
After approval of the Nomination of Thesis or Dissertation Committee, the Graduate School will produce and provide to the College Graduate Studies Office, additional forms titled the "Report of the Examining Committee" and the "Interim Report of the Examining Committee". The advisor will be notified when these forms are available. These forms are not available on-line.
- The Report of the Examining Committee form is used at the oral defense as the official signature form by the committee members to show its final approval of the defense. The advisor typically holds the Report of the Examining Committee form after the defense has taken place, until all revisions are made to the dissertation . When the advisor approves the revisions made on the dissertation he or she will release the Report of Examining Committee form for submission to the College Graduate Studies Office, in room 1204 Benjamin Building for its endorsement prior to submission to the Graduate School. The Report of the Examining Committee form acts as documentation that all requirements for the degree have been met. If any other requirements are outstanding (i.e. internship completion, papers, coursework, etc.) the faculty member should not release the Report of the Examining Committee form until all requirements are met for the degree.
- The Interim Report of the Examining Committee form should be filed immediately following the final defense, and should not be confused with the form titled "Report of the Examining Committee". The Interim Report of the Examining Committee form is used to report the outcome of the defense, and to report the action(s) that need to be taken by the student, in order to submit a final dissertation document. Whereas, the "Report of the Examining Committee" form is the final official report, acts as the official signature sheet, and documents approval ("pass") of the oral defense by all members of the committee, as well as completion of all requirements for the degree.
- Pass the final oral defense of the dissertation.
- Effective September 2003 the Graduate School, Graduate Student Services Office changed the requirements of the submission of a dissertation at the University of Maryland, from a printed hard-copy to an electronic format, on-line (see below). The dissertation is submitted on-line, and is reviewed on-line by the Graduate School to assure adherence to standards.
- Follow the standards from the on-line Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Style Guide. This style guide presents the requirements for the appearance and formatting of theses and dissertations submitted on-line, in order to conform to Graduate School standards.
- Dissertation, Pro-Quest/UM Submission Agreement (For Dissertation Submissions).
Students completing dissertations must submit their documents electronically through a company called "ProQuest". These documents provide information regarding your agreement to publish your doctoral dissertation through ProQuest.
- Submit a single copy of the final dissertation document on-line through ProQuest/UMI.
- After submitting your thesis on-line you will be required to pay a $125.00 fee for the services of the use of the electronic Proquest program, permanent microfilming, the printing and binding of copies for McKeldin Library, and shipping and handling charges. During the submission process, you will have the option to request that ProQuest/UMI file for copyright on your behalf. If you choose this option, there will be an additional $65.00 fee that can be charged to a credit card.
In addition to the on-line submission of the dissertation, the Graduate School will require the following documents as part of the graduation clearance process. Be sure that all items are submitted by the final deadlines listed in Important Dates.
- Report of the Examining Committee form signed by all members of the committee, as well as the Associate Dean in the College of Education (room 1204). This form is only available in hard-copy, and is usually held by your advisor until revisions are made to the dissertation. The form is then generally released to the student.
- The required Graduate School Survey of Earned Doctorates must be completed and is available on-line.
The College of Education will request graduates to file an exit survey. In the semester of graduation, graduates will receive, by e-mail, instructions and passwords in order to file the survey on-line. This survey information is used to determine how education programs can be improved. Your participation in the survey is important to the College as it enables us to evaluate our strengths and weaknesses. More importantly, this survey gives you the opportunity to assess your professional competence and to evaluate the University of Maryland's performance in preparing this important endeavor.
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