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By the fall semester of Third Year, students should select an exam committee and complete the final two portions of the comprehensive exam (publishable article/annotated bibliography). Once exams are completed, students should select a dissertation committee and, in consultation with their dissertation chair, begin work on the prospectus with the goal of defending it early in the Spring semesterand collaboratively develop a timeline for a timely defense. Students continue to participate in the Future Professoriate Project, work with their teaching mentor, complete their teaching portfolio and earn the Teaching Associate Certificate in University Teaching. Students should continue to present papers at conferences, and to develop their research into journal articles when appropriate.
Students who have followed the degree timeline to this point will have the Fourth and Fifth Year available for dissertation writing and polishing as well as career development. Students work with the program's Job Market Working Group and begin the job search, making applications, preparing for interviews and campus visits. They present their research at conferences and publish journal articles as well as ; support for developing presentations and articles is available from seminar discussions, discussions with faculty, CCR colloquia, and the Writing Center’s Graduate Writing Groups. Students also complete and defend the dissertation; support is available for this process from your dissertation chair and committee as well as from Writing Groups in the Writing Center, the department, or elsewhere on campus.
What If I Do Not Meet the Milestones?
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Dissertation: Students who need a sixth year to complete the dissertation may apply for competitively awarded funding. We offer two positions in the Graduate Editing Center of the Writing Center and also often have TAships come available that we can offer. A number of our students have applied for and received TAships in partner departments, and we also can provide support as you apply for dissertation fellowships.
Per the Graduate School Handbook policy Policies on Exceeding Time to Degree Requirements:
Advancement to Candidacy/Time to degreeDegree
The student will be admitted to doctoral candidacy when all requirements for the degree, except for the dissertation and the final oral dissertation defense exam, have been completed. The maximum time allowed to reach candidacy status is seven maximum time for completion of a doctoral degree, as set and monitored by the Graduate School, is eight years from the term the student matriculated into the doctoral program. The student’s department/college must notify the Graduate School once this status has been reached and before the end of the term in which the status is effective. The maximum time for completion of a doctoral degree is five years from the end of the semester in which the student is admitted to candidacy.eight-year time to degree requirement expectation represents the maximum number of years a graduate student can take to complete the degree. Doctoral programs can and should enforce shorter time to degree requirements as necessary and outlined in their respective departmental handbooks.
The eight-year time to completion expectation does not automatically stop and start again in situations where a student takes a leave of absence, nor does it extend solely based on part-time status. Credited time towards degree completion based on a leave of absence or part-time status will be granted only with approval of the program and the Graduate School Dean through a petition filed with the Graduate School.
Exceeding Time to Degree Requirements
If the student has exceeded will exceed the seveneight-year limit for achieving ABD statuscompleting their degree, the student must, by the second semester of their eighth year, with the support of their department and advisor, submit a petition for an extension of study. Such a petition must provide evidence of academic progress on the dissertation and include a detailed plan for dissertation completion within one year.
Students with an approved petition must register for GRD 991, which requires payment for a minimum of one credit hour per semester, each fall and spring semester until ABD status is achieved. If If the student fails to register for GRD 991, for a given term, the student will be withdrawn from the program. If the student has exceeded the degree completion limit of five years after achieving ABD status, the student must register for GRD 991, which requires a minimum of one credit hour per semester, each fall and spring semester until the completion of the doctoral degree. If the student fails to register for GRD 991, for a given term, the student will be withdrawn from the
Petitions to extend the eight-year time to degree requirement will not be approved for greater than one year at a time and additional extensions will only be granted if there are significant extenuating circumstances, with program and Graduate School approval.
For doctoral students admitted prior to the Fall of 2023 and who are already at or beyond their eighth year of study, academic programs are expected to engage with the student to determine whether the student can develop a realistic plan for dissertation completion. Students who provide a plan for dissertation completion that is agreed to by the department and the academic advisor will submit a petition (including the detailed completion plan) to the Graduate School Dean, seeking approval of a formalized timeline for completion of the degree. Petitions for additional extensions will be considered by the program, with concurrence of the Graduate School, on a case-by-case basis and will require registration for GRD 991 in subsequent semesters.
Students beyond the eighth year of study who do not submit a plan to their department or whose plan does not meet the requirements as set forth above will be administratively withdrawn from their program.