Graduate School regulations stipulate that the doctoral degree, including the dissertation defense, must be completed within four years after admission to candidacy or within nine years after matriculation, whichever is greater.
Specific procedures for scheduling and administering the dissertation defense are given in the Graduate School Catalog.
All NACS students must present a research seminar on their thesis work. This seminar is open to all NACS faculty, students, and postdocs, and it should be advertised accordingly well beforehand. The seminar will normally take place immediately before the dissertation defense, but in any case, should not take place more than one week before the defense.
The outcome of the dissertation defense will be determined by the student’s doctoral examination committee, and the results will be reported to the NACS Graduate Director and the Graduate School.
The NACS program requires one copy of the completed dissertation. The Graduate School requires electronic submission of the dissertation. The on-line submission process is outlined at their website http://dissertations.umi.com/umd.
