Doctoral Degree: Performance Standards and Progress

This policy sets minimum standards for doctoral students to maintain academic good standing and satisfactory progress in their degree programs, and establishes requirements and procedures for the administration and evaluation of doctoral written and oral preliminary examinations. Programs and collegiate units may have additional and/or more stringent requirements.

I. Requirements Upon Matriculation

1. Students are responsible for knowing all program requirements of their doctoral program when they matriculate.
2. Upon matriculation, programs must:
   1. Provide each student a current graduate program handbook, specifying the program’s requirements and policies governing successful degree completion.
   2. Assign each student a temporary advisor.

II. Progress Review

1. Annual Review
   1. Programs must have a procedure to review the progress of each doctoral student at least once a year and must provide the results to the student in writing.
2. Degree Plan
   1. Doctoral students must have an approved degree plan on file with their collegiate unit prior to taking the preliminary oral exam. It is recommended that the degree plan be filed a minimum of three months prior to the exam date.
   2. If a student intends to complete a minor, the proposed minor must be included as part of the degree plan prior to taking the preliminary oral exam.
      • The approved degree plan must be centrally archived in the system of record.

III. Performance Standards

1. Continuous Enrollment Students are required to enroll every semester (fall and spring) from the time of matriculation until degree conferral except for cases with an approved Leave of Absence on the student’s record.
2. Time Limit for Earning the Doctoral Degree All requirements for the doctoral degree must be completed and the degree awarded within eight calendar years after initial enrollment to the graduate program or the more restrictive time frame specified by the program.
   1. Students unable to complete the degree within the time limits described above may submit a Request for Extension to the Maximum Time Limit for approval by their advisor/s, program director of graduate studies, and collegiate unit for one extension of up to 24 months. The extension petition must be submitted by the student prior to the end of the term in which the time limit expires.
      • If a petition is approved, the student is notified in writing of the expectations for progress and of the expected timeline for completion and award of degree.
      • If the petition is denied, the student is notified in writing that they will be terminated from the doctoral program.
   2. Students may, under exceptional circumstances, file a second Request for Extension to the Maximum Time Limit for an additional extension of up to 24 months. Petitions after the initial extension must be approved by the advisor/s, program director of graduate studies, collegiate unit, and the Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Education.  The extension petition must be submitted by the student prior to the end of the term in which the initial extension expires.
      1. If a petition is approved, the student is notified in writing of the expectations for progress and of the expected timeline for completion and award of degree
      2. If the petition is denied, the student is notified in writing that the student will be terminated from the doctoral program
   3. Students who have been terminated under such circumstances may apply for readmission to the program; however, readmission is not guaranteed.
      3. Minimum Grade Requirements To remain in good academic standing students throughout their doctoral studies must meet the minimum GPA requirement specified by the graduate program or 3.000 (on a 4.000 scale) for courses being applied toward program requirements, whichever is higher. Students who have filed a doctoral degree plan must maintain a 3.000 GPA for courses included on the degree plan. Only courses with grades of A, B, C (including C-) and S can be counted toward the degree. Students who fall below the program's minimum GPA requirement may be terminated from the program.
      4. S/N grades for courses A minimum of 2/3 of the course credits included on a degree plan must be taken A/F.

IV. Doctoral Preliminary Written and Oral Examinations

1. Every doctoral student must pass a written examination in the major field.
   1. Students must be notified in writing whether or not they have passed the written examination requirement(s).
   2. Programs must record whether the student has met the written examination requirement(s) in the central system of record. Students who are reported to have failed to meet the written examination requirement(s) will be terminated from the doctoral program.
2. Every doctoral student must pass a preliminary oral examination in the major field. The preliminary oral examination is conducted as a closed examination, attended by only the student and the examining committee.
   1. The oral examination may not take place before the program has certified that the candidate has passed all written examination requirement(s).
   2. The doctoral preliminary oral examination will be graded either pass, pass with reservations, or fail.
   3. If a student fails the exam, the student may retake the examination once, if all committee members, or all committee members save one, approve this option via  the Preliminary Oral Exam Report for Doctoral Students.
   4. The retake committee for the doctoral preliminary oral examination must comprise the same members as the first examination unless an extraordinary or emergency situation necessitates a substitution.
   5. If the committee does not approve a retake, or if the student fails the second attempt, the student will be terminated from the doctoral program.
3. The doctoral preliminary oral committee must consist of at least four members, including the student’s advisor/s. All members assigned  to the committee must meet the minimum eligibility standards established by the program and college. All members of the committee and the candidate must participate in the preliminary oral examination. Committee members and/or the student may participate remotely as long as all conditions for remote participation in the examination are met.
   1. At least three members (including the advisor) must be from the student's major field.
   2. At least one member must represent a field outside the major. If the student has declared a minor, the outside member, or one of the outside members, must represent the minor field.
   3. Members cannot satisfy the requirement with respect to more than one field.
4. Collegiate deans or their designated representatives at the collegiate level must verify eligibility and approve the members of the preliminary oral examination committee.
5. Changes in committee membership may be made if approved by the director of graduate studies and the collegiate unit. Changes must also be archived centrally in the system of record.
6. Voting Requirements for the doctoral preliminary oral examination:
   1. At the end of the closed examination, the candidate is excused and an independent, non-binding vote is taken before discussion of the examination begins. This initial non-binding vote is intended to represent the independent assessment of each committee member of the student’s performance free from undue influence of other committee members. Following discussion, a final vote is taken and is recorded via the Preliminary Oral Exam Report for Doctoral Students .
   2. The outcome of the preliminary oral examination is recorded in one of three ways: pass, pass with reservations, or fail. The voting proportions necessary to pass the exam are shown in the table below:

*The outcome is recorded as “pass with reservations” in situations where to achieve the minimum number of votes to reach a verdict of pass, any vote of pass with reservations is included. For example, on a four-person committee, if there is one “pass with reservations” vote and three pass votes, the result is pass. If there is one “pass with reservations” vote, one fail, and two pass votes, the result is pass with reservations.

7. Students who do not earn the minimum number of passing votes fail the examination. A vote to pass the student with reservations still constitutes a passing vote.

Exceptions

Programs with a distinctive student population (e.g., students who are pursuing degrees in programs with specialized accreditation) or approved joint-degree programs may request a program-wide exception to the eight-year time limit for earning the doctoral degree.

Doctoral programs with approved degree performance standards and progress requirements that do not require preliminary written and oral examinations are exempt from IV.

This policy does not apply to the J.D., M.D., Pharm.D., D.V.M., D.D.S, L.L.M. degrees.

Effective Date

This policy applies to all students admitted after January 1, 2013. Students who matriculated before January 1, 2013 and have maintained active student status since that time may choose to continue under the policies in effect when they initially matriculated in their graduate program.