Procedures for Final Oral Examinations

The COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated moving to virtual defenses for all doctoral Final Oral Examinations. In order for the defenses to go ahead as smoothly as possible, we have made the following accommodations.

Committee Member Remote Form:

• You do not need to complete the Committee Member Remote Form to attend the defense remotely.

Committee Member Absence E-mail Notification:

• If you are not going to participate in the defense, please email me (erugg@utdallas.edu) notifying me of your absence. Only one committee member may be absent, and they must agree to vote with the rest of the committee.

Remote Hosting:

• It will be necessary for someone to host the remote meeting. The committee will need to decide who this will be, preferably ahead of the defense.  The host can be anyone of the committee or may be another faculty member or member of staff. I strongly suggest that you hold a trial run. A member of the OGE team will be assigned to each committee and will be available if you need help setting up. They will also attend the defense and help with any difficulties that may be encountered. I will let you know who that person is by the end of today, Friday, March 20, 2020. 

Final Examination Report:

• The completed Final Examination report can be emailed to committee members for approval.  There is no need to sign the report, an email will suffice. The final report and the emails should be sent to dissertations@utdallas.edu.

Please bear in mind that our students are also having to adapt to a new situation. Whilst standards need to be maintained, many of our students may be experiencing high levels of stress and try to be accommodating in your approach.

These unprecedented times are challenging for everyone. There are more than 60 defenses scheduled between March 23 and April 2. Together we will get this done.

Via:
Elizabeth L. Rugg
Associate Dean of Graduate Education
erugg@utdallas.edu