Subject: New deadlines for Ph.D. exams From: Laszlo Mihaly Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2008 14:18:22 -0500 To: PAGRA-L@lists.sunysb.edu The Graduate Council has recently introduced new (stricter) deadlines for the approval of PhD Exam Committees. In short: The PhD Committee has to be approved at the beginning of the semester when the student wants to graduate. For example, if a student has a defense in the Spring 2008 Semester, the Committee has to be submitted for approval by February 11, 2008. The actual date of the exam can be set later. Another rule, that was in the books earlier, but not strictly enforced, was a deadline for the students to notify the Graduate school about the intention to graduate ("File for graduation"). For the Spring Semester this deadline is set to February 15. I suggest that we accommodate these rules by introducing the following practice (I assume that the date of the exam falls close to the end of the semester, as is the case for most of our exams): 1. If there is EVEN A REMOTE CHANCE that a student will graduate in the Spring Semester, (s)he should apply for graduation and submit a list of committee members to me by February 11. This committee should be identical to the Oral Exam Committee (if possible), supplemented by an "outside member" (someone not affiliated to our Department). 2. The students should notify the committee members about the intention to have the exam, but no discussion of the actual date is necessary. 3. Once the dissertation is at a sufficiently advanced state, the student should contact the Committee members again, and discuss the time of the exam. 4. If there is no agreeable time for all Committee members, the student, in consultation with the advisor and me, should select a replacement. Whenever possible the new Committee member should have expertise in the subject matter of the dissertation. 5. The Committee should be finalized and the date and place of the exam must be set at least four weeks before the exam. The student should send me (by email) the Doctoral Defense Announcement (this is a document that will be posted by the Graduate School on the WEB). At the same time we also ask the Grad School's approval for the modification of the Committee, if necessary. 6. If the exam does not happen, the student should let me know and send a note by email to the Grad School. The student should file for graduation again in the next semester. The Committee approval will be in effect for the next semester. I believe that if we adopt this procedure the new deadlines will not create an unnecessary burden to students or faculty. I encourage all students and advisors to discuss the issue of graduation before the semester starts. Again, the crucial point is to file a Committee list even if the actual defense is not set in stone. No harm is done if the defense does not happen. The old rules are still in effect for PhD exams within the first four weeks of the Semester. Cheers, Laszlo -- ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Laszlo Mihaly Graduate Program Director Department of Physics and Astronomy Stony Brook University 631 632-8279 laszlo.mihaly@sunysb.edu ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^