Proposal and Doctoral or Masters Dissertation or Thesis Defense Meetings

These are Graduate School guidelines; a department or unit may create stricter guidelines as long as they are stated in the department’s or unit’s graduate-student policy statement or handbook.

Programs should use good judgment in determining whether individual meetings should be conducted by video/audio conference or whether to enforce an on-campus-only policy when appropriate. All policies must be administered equitably.  Exceptions to these guidelines, including requests for last-minute emergency distance conferencing by a committee member or student, must be approved by the program director or their designee, the student, and the chair of the committee and must be documented in a memo to the Graduate School that accompanies the Status of Comprehensive Exams form.