Guidelines for the Dissertation Proposal Defense

All fulltime students in the Public Policy Ph.D. Program successfully completing their proficiency and comprehensive examinations must, within six months (four months for fulltime students with funding) of such completion, successfully defend a proposal of their dissertation. The defense will be conducted before the dissertation committee.

The proposal should, at a minimum, include a summary of the following: the purpose of the study; the nature of the subject to be investigated and its relevance; a brief review of the critical literature; the nature of the problem to be investigated and any hypotheses to be developed or tested; the empirical methods, techniques, and data sources, if any, to be used; and a time frame to completion of the dissertation.

The Dissertation Proposal Defense must be held with all appointed faculty participating. Committee members must be given a minimum of three weeks to review the Dissertation Proposal. The presentation of proposal is open to students and faculty alike. After the oral presentation of Dissertation Proposal, students will be excused and faculty will be permitted to question the student about the Proposal.

Every doctoral candidate must assemble a dissertation committee as early as possible before the proposal defense. Committee membership is expected to be the same as the final dissertation committee. The composition of the dissertation committee must be formally submitted to the Public Policy Program Director for approval. Membership can be changed only by written appeal to the Director. Such change in dissertation committee membership cannot be altered less than one month before the scheduled date of the dissertation proposal defense or of the defense of the final dissertation.

The Committee shall consist of at least four members. The student and the student's faculty advisor or Chair of the Dissertation Committee will select at least one other faculty member, normally from within the specialty area of the dissertation. The Director of the Public Policy Ph.D. will select one other faculty member from outside the specialty area but within the Public Policy faculty. One Dissertation Committee member will be appointed by the Dean of the Graduate School, and must be from outside the Public Policy Faculty.

No student may defend a dissertation or dissertation proposal unless all coursework required by the Program is completed. A grade of Incomplete does not constitute completion of a course.