1. Decide with your committee chair during which semester you will be ready to defend. If you would like to graduate in the same semester, your defense date must precede finals week. Please schedule your defense no later than two weeks in advance. 
2. Coordinate with all committee members to find three dates that the majority of them can attend. Attendance via Zoom, Teams or similar is acceptable. Determine if your defense will be held in-person, virtually, or if it will be hybrid. Once the date and time of the defense is determined, ensure a Zoom/Teams/etc. meeting is scheduled for a virtual or hybrid defense. 
3. Submit the Project or Thesis Defense Request form at least two weeks prior to your defense.
4. For an In-Person or Hybrid Defense, the Graduate Student Coordinator will reserve a room in Gardner Commons and send you the reservation confirmation.
5. We recommend you visit the space at least a day before your defense to become familiar with the space and its resources. If you need cords to connect to a projector or TV, the main department office has some available for check-out.
6. Defense Guidelines
   • Plan on 60 minutes
   • Aim for a 30-40 minute presentation. Some professors will enforce strict time limits, some will not. Discuss this with your committee chair
   • Most presentations use PowerPoint or similar presentation software.  If you'd like to do something different, discuss this with your committee chair. 
   • After the presentation, each committee member will ask questions.  
     • Sometimes questions will interrupt the student, making the presentation time longer, but also making the post-presentation question time shorter.  You have the right to postpone answering a question that was asked during your presentation—postponing it to the post-presentation question time—but unless the question is quite distracting or off-topic, many (but not all) professors would advise you to answer it when it is asked. 
   • The student will leave the room while the committee members determine if the student has passed the defense. After their deliberation, the student will be invited back into the room. 
7. When your committee determines that you have passed your defense, please have your committee chair email the Graduate Student Coordinator who will record the outcome of your defense and begin the process of clearing you for graduation.
8. You can track your graduation approval status through CIS under “Graduation,” “Graduate Student Summary,” then “Grad Student Prog Plan Audit."

Defending your Thesis

PLEASE NOTE: Consult the Handbook for Theses and Dissertations and follow all guidelines provided by the Graduate School's Thesis Office.  The steps below are meant only to supplement the processes outlined in that handbook.

1. Prior to your thesis defense it is recommended that you submit your draft manuscript (or a portion of it) for preliminary review by the Thesis Office. 
2. Decide with your committee chair during which semester you will be ready to defend. If you would like to graduate in the same semester, your defense date must precede the deadline for format approval listed on the Graduate School's website. Please schedule your defense no later than two weeks in advance. 
3. Coordinate with all committee members to find three times that the majority of them can attend. Attendance via Zoom, Teams or similar is acceptable. Determine if your defense will be held in-person, virtually, or if it will be hybrid. Once the date and time of the defense is determined, ensure a Zoom/Teams/etc. meeting is scheduled for a virtual or hybrid defense. 
4. Submit the Project or Thesis Defense Request form at least two weeks prior to your defense.
5. For an In-Person or Hybrid Defense, the Graduate Student Coordinator will reserve a room in Gardner Commons and send you the reservation confirmation.
6. We recommend you visit the space at least a day before your defense to become familiar with the space and its resources. If you need cords to connect to a projector or TV, the main department office has some available for check-out.
7. Defense Guidelines
   • Plan on 60 minutes
   • Aim for a 30-40 minute presentation. Some professors will enforce strict time limits, some will not. Discuss this with your committee chair
   • Most presentations use PowerPoint or similar presentation software.  If you'd like to do something different, discuss this with your committee chair. 
   • After the presentation, each committee member will ask questions.  
     • Sometimes questions will interrupt the student, making the presentation time longer, but also making the post-presentation question time shorter.  You have the right to postpone answering a question that was asked during your presentation—postponing it to the post-presentation question time—but unless the question is quite distracting or off-topic, many (but not all) professors would advise you to answer it when it is asked. 
   • The student will leave the room while the committee members determine if the student has passed the defense. After their deliberation, the student will be invited back into the room. 
8. When your committee determines that you have passed your defense, please have your committee chair email the Graduate Student Coordinator who will record the outcome of your defense and begin the process of clearing you for graduation.
9. When your thesis has received final approval from your committee chair, you must submit it to the Thesis Office for formatting approval and release.  
   • To submit, you will need uNIDs for your supervisory committee members and the department chair. 
10. The Department Chair and each member of your committee must digitally sign off on your submitted thesis before the Thesis Office will begin their approval. You will receive confirmation emails as signatures are submitted. Follow up on any missing signatures directly with your committee. 
11. A Thesis Office editor will contact you within 3 business days either approving your thesis format, or with needed revisions. You will correspond with your Thesis Office editor regarding any necessary changes to the manuscript and resubmit when you make the changes. This process could take 4-6 resubmissions. 
12. When the Thesis Office approves your thesis, you will follow their instructions to upload your thesis to ProQuest no later than 2 days before the end of finals week. 
13. The Thesis Release will be issued and you will be cleared to graduate. You can track your graduation approval status through CIS under “Graduation,” “Graduate Student Summary,” then “Grad Student Prog Plan Audit."