Dissertation

The dissertation workflow takes you from your proposal through your private and public defenses to final submission to the Guarini School. Everything lives on one page at /graduate/dissertation, organized as a sequence of steps.

Workflow Overview

Step	Who completes it	What it covers
1. Proposal	You	Proposal title, abstract, document upload, defense scheduling
2. Proposal Outcome	Faculty	Committee records the proposal defense outcome
3. Private Defense	You	Schedule the private defense, upload your dissertation
4. Private Defense Outcome	Faculty	Committee records the outcome and approves the public defense
5. Public Defense	You	Schedule the public defense and provide announcement details
6. Final Submission	You	Final dissertation and Guarini paperwork

Steps marked Faculty in the navigation can only be completed by faculty or administrators — you'll see them in the step bar, but they're locked for students.

Dissertation Stages

The badge at the top of the page shows your overall stage:

Stage	What it means
Pre-Committee	No dissertation committee formed yet
Internal Committee	Internal committee formed (typically end of year 3)
Guarini Registered	Committee officially registered with the Guarini School (year 4)
Proposal Scheduled	Proposal submitted and defense scheduled
Proposal Complete	Proposal defense passed
Private Defense Scheduled	Private defense on the calendar
Private Defense Complete	Private defense passed
Public Defense Scheduled	Public defense on the calendar
Dissertation Complete	Final submission approved — congratulations

Your Committee

Before the proposal, you form an internal committee: your primary advisor plus two additional faculty members. In year 4 the committee is officially registered with the Guarini School (committee chair, two internal members, and optionally an external member from another institution). Once formed, your committee — chair and members — is displayed at the bottom of the dissertation page.

Step 1: Submit Your Proposal

1. Go to /graduate/dissertation and click Start Dissertation Proposal
2. Complete the wizard:
   • Proposal details - title and abstract (a substantial abstract is required), plus your proposal document as a PDF up to 50MB
   • Defense scheduling - date, time, location, and a meeting link if online/hybrid
3. Review and submit

Submitting schedules your proposal defense, creates a calendar event, and notifies your committee.

Proposal Outcome

After the defense, your committee records one of:

• Pass - approved to proceed
• Pass with Revisions Required - proceed once revisions are addressed
• Fail - major revisions and a re-defense required

Revision requirements and committee feedback are recorded with the outcome.

Step 3: Private Defense

Unlocked once your proposal outcome is a pass (with or without revisions). Click Schedule Private Defense, then:

• Schedule - the defense date must be at least 14 days out
• Upload your dissertation - PDF up to 100MB, required at least 7 days before the defense

Private Defense Outcome

Your committee records the outcome (pass / pass with revisions / fail), any revision requirements and deadline, and whether you are Approved for Public Defense.

Step 5: Public Defense

Unlocked when your private defense passes (or your committee approves you to proceed). Click Schedule Public Defense, then provide:

• Defense details - date (at least 7 days out), time, location, and a meeting link for public attendance if applicable
• Announcement - a title, a public-friendly abstract (up to 1500 characters), and an optional photo

A public announcement is sent out for your defense.

Step 6: Final Submission

Unlocked when your public defense outcome is recorded as a pass. Click Start Final Submission and work through:

1. Final Documents - final dissertation PDF (up to 100MB), signed signature page, and a summary of revisions
2. Guarini Forms - confirmation of completing the Survey of Earned Doctorates and your signed ProQuest publishing agreement
3. Acknowledgments - confirm all Guarini formatting and submission requirements are met
4. Review & Submit

The Graduate Committee Chair approves the final submission; once approved, your stage becomes Dissertation Complete.

What to Expect After Each Submission

• Submissions notify your committee automatically — no separate emails needed
• While a step is awaiting a faculty decision, the next step stays locked
• If revisions are required at any stage, the requirements (and any deadline) appear on the page; address them before moving on

Troubleshooting

"Step Not Available"

Steps unlock in order, gated by the previous step's outcome. Outcome steps additionally require a faculty account — if you're a student, that's expected; your committee records those.

My defense date is too soon

Private defenses must be scheduled at least 14 days ahead, and your dissertation must be uploaded at least 7 days before the defense. The form will flag violations.

Upload fails

Dissertation documents must be PDFs (up to 100MB; 50MB for the proposal). Guarini forms are limited to 5MB each.