Graduate Catalog
2023-2024
 
Policies, Procedures, Academic Programs
Graduate School Policies
Advisory Committee Approval of the Thesis or Dissertation

All members of a student's Advisory Committee are required to participate in that student's final examination. Depending upon the technological resources available, committee members may participate from a remote location. If an Advisory Committee member cannot participate, the committee member should recommend to the Chair of the Advisory Committee, when possible, the name of a scholar eligible for advisory committee membership to serve as a proxy during the examination. After consultation with the student, the Chair makes such a proxy appointment in writing. Regardless of the size of the advisory committee, only one official proxy will be approved. Those conducting the examination must log in to the Electronic Signature System and enter in their decision on the exam result. The proxy must communicate with the committee member for whom he or she is serving as a proxy regarding the exam result decision, and the original committee member must log in to the Electronic Signature System to enter the decision on behalf of the proxy. 

All committee members must also signify approval or disapproval of the thesis/dissertation in the Electronic Signature System. This signifies that the thesis or dissertation is in final form and ready for ETD submission to the Graduate School. If a committee member does not approve the thesis/dissertation, that non-approval will be designated on the ETD. A successful candidate is allowed, at most, one negative vote, regardless of the size of the Advisory Committee.