Thesis Defense

Before The Defense

Get Permission to Start Writing

After completing all course, seminar, TA, publication and research requirements for your program of study, there are many things that must be done before a thesis defense can occur. Most importantly, you must meet with your advisory committee at least 6 months before you intend to defend your thesis. Your advisor and committee need to agree to your intentions to conclude experiments and data collection and begin writing. Once you get the go-ahead to start writing your thesis, you will need to decide on a date by which the defense should occur. You will also need to inform your program director and graduate program coordinator that you have started the process to defend.

Chair for Your Defense

A Chair is appointed for each PhD oral defense exam to monitor and promote fairness and rigor in the conduct of the defense.

At least 4 months prior to your defense, you, with support from your advisor and/or program director, must identify a faculty member to serve as Chair for your defense. The Chair must be a current full-time tenure-track University of Rochester faculty member at assistant professor rank or higher who is external to the program, and without a significant scholarly relationship with the candidate or other committee members. You must include the Chair in planning for specific dates and times for your defense.

Selecting a Defense Date

If all goes as planned and you have made sufficient progress in your writing, schedule the actual defense date at least three months in advance to ensure that your advisor, all committee members and your appointed Chair are able to be present at your defense and that rooms are available on the date and time selected.

The academic calendar includes important dates for defense for each semester of the academic year. When you begin thinking about defending, check the academic calendar for deadlines and blackout dates (periods of time when defenses are not permitted). This will make identifying possible dates for defense a lot easier for you, your committee members and your Chair.

When all members of your committee and your Chair agree to a specific date and time for defense, inform your graduate program coordinator of the scheduled defense date as soon as you possibly can but no later than 8 weeks prior to your defense date. They will advise you of any program-specific requirements for the defense as well as prepare your Program Statement on Completion of PhD Requirements. This form requires your program director’s signature. Check with your graduate program coordinator to determine if you or they will obtain the signature for your form. Once approved and signed, this form along with others will be scanned and submitted via an online thesis registration system along with a pdf of your thesis and an Exit Interview Form and your CV/Resume.

At Least 2 Months Prior to the Date of Defense

The TBS Program Coordinator will create your record in the University of Rochester Graduate Studies PhD Completion website. This record will include your degree information, past degrees, important contact information, and attachments including the defense version of your thesis in pdf format, and other relevant documents. The version of your thesis submitted to your online record is considered the registration copy. “Registering” simply means that you have presented a thesis, which you intend to defend, to the Dean of your School and to the University Dean that governs all doctoral candidates.

Poll your committee on their format preference for the copy of your dissertation (hard copy vs. electronic PDF copy).

At Least 25 Full Working Days Prior to the Date of Defense

Provide a copy of the thesis to each committee member for review in their preferred format. (Some may prefer hard copy vs. electronic; therefore, it is advisable to make individual inquiries to each member in advance of document distribution).

At Least 20 Full Work Days Prior to the Date of Defense

The TBS Program Coordinator will submit the defense record through the online system. This generates an email to your Research Advisor, Advisory Committee, Defense Chair, and TBS Program Director to request the online approval of the thesis submitted for defense. Once the registration has been submitted to the online system, no changes may be made to the thesis before the final examination.

At Least 10 Full Work Days Prior to the Date of Defense

Advisor, Advisory Committee, Defense Chair, and TBS Program Director have approved your thesis for defense. The thesis and defense record is reviewed and approved by SMD Senior Associate Dean for Graduate Education and Postdoctoral Affairs.

At Least 5 Full Work Days Prior to the Date of Defense

Registration of thesis for defense. The University Dean for Graduate Studies reviews and approves the thesis and defense record. This generates an email to your Chair, Advisor and Advisory Committee announcing the date, time, and location of defense. The Chair receives instructions for the defense, forms and for reporting of the exam outcome.
 

Writing Your Thesis

Once permission to write has been acquired at the final committee meeting, the student may prepare their dissertation in one of two ways:

1. The "Full Dissertation" Option: from start to finish, with introduction/background, methods, results, discussion, and conclusion sections
2. The "Manuscript" Option: an introductory chapter, a body comprised of results chapters adapted from three distinct, submitted manuscripts, and a conclusions chapter

A booklet, last updated in 2014, entitled “Preparing Your Thesis” is available online or from the TBS Program Coordinator. This material provides specific information on the format to be followed. It is the student’s (not the mentor’s) responsibility to ascertain that the format of the thesis meets the approval of their Thesis Advisory Committee and follows all rules set forth by the University. The committee for the final examination decides on the acceptability of the quality of the research and the method of presentation (written and oral), following all University guidelines.  

The thesis (and all published papers) must explicitly acknowledge all sources of financial support. It is essential that students also acknowledge any individuals who assisted in the work presented, and clearly describe their specific roles. All data reported in the thesis that were not generated by the PhD candidate must be explicitly noted, along with the source of the particular data.

The cost of thesis preparation and copying is the responsibility of the student. Students should notify the TBS Program Coordinator before the actual process of preparing the thesis is started. In this manner, the Program Coordinator can assist the student with the complex process of meeting all due dates for this final part of the PhD process.
 

The Defense

The PhD thesis defense in Translational Biomedical Sciences is held in the following format: the first hour of the exam is a public seminar open to the faculty, students, research staff at the University, and any guests. The student’s presentation should last about 45-50 minutes, with about 10-15 minutes allowed at the conclusion for questions from the audience. The student should be selective about the material presented, so that the seminar does not exceed the time available. Notes, slides, charts, and the usual visual aids for a seminar are permitted; however, the student needs to make arrangements for special audiovisual equipment well in advance. Following the public lecture, the student and the examining committee will adjourn to a closed session, where the remainder of the exam will be conducted.

At the start of the closed-door exam, the student will be asked to leave the room for a short period of time. Upon returning to the room, questioning for the oral exam typically lasts 1.5 - 2.5 hours. At the end of the oral exam, the student will be asked to leave the room. The committee will come to consensus regarding whether or not the student passed. The results of the closed oral exam and any changes required in the written document are communicated directly (verbally) to the student immediately at the end of the exam. The Chair of the examination committee is charged with the responsibility of conveying the results of the examination in writing to the Senior Associate Dean for Graduate Education and Postdoctoral Affairs and the Vice-Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies.
 

After the Defense

Paperwork

You will receive annotated copies of your thesis from the members of your examination committee. After a successful dissertation defense, you will receive an e-mail from University Graduate Studies that includes: (1) Survey of the Earned Doctorate (2) Instructions for submission of the final thesis to ProQuest Dissertation Publishing, and (3) the University of Rochester publishing agreement.

The survey and UR publishing agreement are expected to be submitted to the University Dean by the date the final copy of the thesis is submitted to ProQuest. Students have 30 calendar days after the defense to complete all final requirements (revisions and upload to ProQuest) except when defenses are scheduled late in the semester and are subject to a deadline date that is shorter than 30 calendar days. 

Students typically give a bound, corrected copy of the thesis to each of the committee members. Although not mandated by the program, students should determine whether the committee members want a final copy. 

The student must maintain continuous enrollment up until the time of submission of the corrected thesis to the Office for Graduate Education and Postdoctoral Affairs. If registration must be continued into a new semester, the student must register for IND 999 Doctoral Dissertation.