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Candidacy and Defense Information for Faculty

Committee chairs should prepare to collect signatures for student academic milestones, such as oral candidacy exams and defenses. Files are available for download on this page and from the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences. Please consult the Eberly College Graduation Forms and Processes page for policies and information. Additional information is available in the Graduate Student Handbook. If you have any questions, please contact the Graduate Studies Director (Alan Bristow).


Ph.D. Oral Candidacy Exams

Ph.D. Defenses


Policy Reminders

  • Booking rooms, announcing the oral candidacy exam, and/or declaring the thesis defense needs to happen at least two weeks prior to the event. Do not proceed until you know that the room is available, and that it is reserved. 
  • You can work with Miranda Heitz to announce events or to ask for additional information about booking rooms.
  • When submitting completion forms, they need to be sent to the college within 48 hours of the event. This is very strict for the defense, in particular.
  • All paperwork for the college has to go through the Graduate Director for signature, so please send it to Prof. Alan Bristow immediately after the event, or at least two weeks in advance (in the case of the Ph.D. declaration form).
  • Additional student-facing information about candidacies and defenses is available in the Graduate Student Handbook.


Back to the Graduate Student Handbook