Dissertation Defense

Structure and procedures for the dissertation defense are in the Ph.D. Handbook

 

You must be enrolled in at least one credit of GEOG899 during the semester in which you graduate.

 

Timelines: 

 

ASAP in semester you are graduating:

  • Apply for graduation by the Graduate School's deadline (https://gradschool.umd.edu/calendar/deadlines/academic-deadlines)
  • Set a time/date if your committee members for your dissertation defense. Use the departmental google calendar to reserve your room and date. You may hold your defense in River Road if all committee members agree.
  • Then, share the reservation date with Renata Johnson rejohns@umd.edu by adding her as a guest to the calendar event.

Six weeks before the defense and before the established (https://gradschool.umd.edu/calendar/deadlines/academic-deadlines):

  • Submit a Nomination of Thesis or Dissertation Committee form (https://gradschool.umd.edu/forms) to the Registrar's Office. Before you submit this form:
    • Is your Committee valid? It needs to be before your submit the Nomination Form. The Committee must include a minimum of five members of the Graduate Faculty, at least three of whom must be Full Members (tenure-track faculty). One member must be from outside the Department of Geographical Sciences. Two members must be from the Department of Geographical Sciences. All must be members of the UMD Graduate Faculty (and only tenured/tenure track professors automatically are). Check to see who is nominated to the Graduate Faculty in GEOG (and therefore eligible to be on your committee) here, as well as how to nominate someone onto the graduate faculty (about a 6 week process).
    • If your advisor is NOT a tenured/tenure track faculty member, you must have a tenured/tenure-rack co-advisor. The Graduate Director must send a letter to the Graduate School Dean requesting this arrangement before you submit the Nomination Form. 

One to three months (within the 9.5 month academic calendar) before defense:

  • Meet with dissertation committee.

At least 10 business days before defense:

  • Provide each committee member with a copy dissertation.
  • Remote requests: You or a member of your committee can request to be remote for the defense. To make this request follow the instructions on this page and submit the form linked to this page https://gradschool.umd.edu/remotedefenserequest at least 10 days before your defense. The Grad School's guidance on holding remote dissertations is listed here: https://gradschool.umd.edu/newsroom/remote-dissertation-thesis-defense-advice

5 business days before defense:

  • Announce defense (with date/location/time, dissertation title, and committee members) to geoglist listserv
  • Upload dissertation to the shared Google Drive folder "PhD Dissertations." From Google Drive, select the shared drives link on the left hand panel. From there you will see the PhD Dissertations folder. If you cannot access this shared folder from your terpmail account, contact geoghelp@umd.edu. 

 

3 business days before defense:

  • The Report of Examining Committee (REC) form will be generated via Adobe Sign automatically by the Office of the Registrar about 3 days before the scheduled defense. A separate REC request is no longer required. When you submit the Nomination of Dissertation and Thesis Form at least six (6) weeks before the your defense, Graduate Degree Clearance Services will review and approve the committee, AND they will prepare the REC 3 days before the scheduled defense. All committee members (even those external to UMD) will be able to access the Adobe Sign REC form using the email provided on the Nomination of Committee form.

 

Forms to return after the defense:

  • The advisor and all committee members Adobe sign 1 Report of Examining Committee (REC) form .

    • All committee members will receive a link via email from Adobe Sign with a link to the student's electronic Report of Examining Committee.

    • Once the student has successfully defended their thesis or dissertation, all committee members should access the REC form sent via email from Adobe Sign and submit their approval for the student’s defense.

    • When all committee members have submitted their approval, the form will automatically route to the Graduate Director for final approval.

    • Once the Graduate Director signs, the form automatically routes to the Office of the Registrar. No other action is needed from the graduate program at that time. All members of the committee will be notified by Adobe Sign that the form is complete.

  • Upload your dissertation to the ETD system by the deadline: https://gradschool.umd.edu/calendar/deadlines/academic-deadlines
  • PhD Exit Survey .

 

 

Faculty: beginning August 2024, after your student passes their dissertation defense, each GEOG DEC member is required to submit a DEC rubric as part of the Graduate School's Graduate Learning Outcome Assessment. Use this link to submit your rubric: https://forms.gle/E9vkjrPkQeLGfQu39

 

If you are an I-20 visa holder and you plan to apply for OPT:

  • You are required to take one of the ISSS OPT workshops, which will walk you through the OPT application process and timelines. The ISSS office is your contact for questions on the OPT process, end dates for your I-20, and validity of continuing to work at UMD.
  • Make an appointment EARLY with ISSS to understand the I-20 ending and OPT start date process. Even the semester before you plan to graduate.