First Year students will take required core courses and begin to study the Core Reading Exam List. Students awarded Teaching Assistantships teach three undergraduate writing studio sections per academic year and participate in The Writing Program's teaching practicum course with weekly meetings. Students awarded University Fellowships typically take additional coursework in their first fellowship year. Students are encouraged to propose conference papers for national or regional conferences from the first year.
In the Second Year, students complete their required course work. During the academic year, they should continue studying the Core Reading List as well as either choose a seminar paper on which to base their exam-mandated publishable article or begin work on the annotated bibliography, also required as part of the comprehensive exams. Initial conversations with possible Exam committee members should also occur. During the summer of their second year, students will take the Core Reading List exam. Second year students are also registered for the Future Professoriate Project, begin participating in FPP events and collecting material for a professional portfolio.
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 semester. 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 complete and defend the dissertation.
What If I Do Not Meet the Milestones?
If life circumstances arise that prevent you from meeting the degree milestones, please let the DGS or your exams/dissertation chair know as soon as you are comfortable doing so. We are here to support you and can help you make arrangements. That said, here are the general rules:
Exams: Exams should be completed no later than May 15th before the end of the third year of study in order to retain your funding. If you don’t finish in the fall, then you should certainly plan to finish in the spring. In order to retain funding for the fourth year, your oral exam must be complete by this deadline. This means that your article and annotated bibliography must be completed, revised based on your chair's comments prior to their approval, and approved by your committee significantly earlier in order to meet the Grad School requirement of scheduling your oral exam at least two weeks out from the actual hearing date. It's important to work with your chair to develop a workable timeline for meeting these milestones and to take into account the fact that late spring is a very busy time for committee members.
Should an emergency or medical situation arise that means you need to alter your timeline, please contact the Director of Graduate Studies as soon as possible. They and the Graduate Studies Committee will work with you to address your situation.
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 on Exceeding Time to Degree Requirements:
Advancement to Candidacy/Time to degree
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 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.
Exceeding Time to Degree Requirements
If the student has exceeded the seven-year limit for 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 ABD status is achieved. 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 program.