The supervisory committee must give preliminary approval of the thesis or dissertation prior to the defense. The defense can be scheduled after this approval. To schedule the defense, contact the Graduate Coordinator. Students are strongly encouraged to schedule the defense during a regular colloquium slot.
The student must provide one copy of the thesis or dissertation to the chair of the supervisory committee at least three weeks before the defense, and one copy to each of the other committee members at least two weeks prior to the defense. A complete draft of the thesis or dissertation must be delivered to the Graduate Coordinator one week prior to the announced time of defense. This copy will be made available for public access. Students are encouraged to place an additional copy on the School of Computing web pages at least one week prior to the announced time of defense.
After successfully defending the thesis or dissertation, the student must obtain approval from the Final Reader (typically the supervisory committee chair), School Director, and Dean of the Graduate School. A draft of the final thesis or dissertation must then be presented to the Thesis Editor. Successful completion of the defense must be reported to the Graduate School at least four weeks before the last day of examinations in the final semester. Students should also read the document regarding copyright notices provided by the School and declare their intentions regarding granting the School the right to photocopy the thesis or dissertation before notifying the Graduate Coordinator of completion of the defense.
The student has one month after the defense to make any revisions prior to submitting the thesis or dissertation to the Graduate School Thesis Editor. There will be at most two additional months to complete any changes required by the Thesis Editor before final acceptance. If either of these deadlines are not met, the candidate must redo the oral defense. The final thesis or dissertation must be filed one week before the end of the semester of graduation.
Students are expected to offer each committee member a bound copy of the thesis or dissertation once it is completed. Detailed policies and procedures concerning the thesis or dissertation are contained in ``A Handbook for Theses and Dissertations'' published by the Graduate School.