General Procedures for the Ph.D. Program

Doctoral students generally advance according to the following steps:

• Gain admission to the graduate school and to the department.
  
  
• Select a major advisor no later than at the conclusion of 15 completed course hours.
  
  
• With the major advisor, select two other members of the department to serve on the advisory committee. Select a fourth member of the committee, the Graduate School appointee, who must be a full member of the NDSU graduate faculty.
  
  
• If necessary, remove admission deficiencies to qualify for full-standing status.
  
  
• Develop a plan of study with the major advisor.
  
  
• Schedule a meeting of the advisory committee to gain approval of the plan of study and to discuss research progress no later than at the conclusion of 21 completed course hours.
  
  
• Submit the plan of study to the graduate dean for approval. Complete the majority of courses on the plan of study. Maintain continuous enrollment through completion of the degree or obtain leave of absence from the Graduate Dean.
  
  
• Seek outlets for presentation of professional papers and for publication of scholarly work. Students will be provided with suggestions and guidelines on professional presentations and publications in COMM 700 and COMM 701.
  
  
• Engage in teaching or other applied work.
  
  
• Engage in service at the professional, college, or community levels.
  
  
• Write and successfully defend the comprehensive examination.
  
  
• Personally meet with the Graduate School to verify that all courses on the plan of study have been completed and the required GPA has been attained.
  
  
• Complete the prospectus for the dissertation, working closely with the major advisor.
  
  
• Schedule a prospectus meeting with the advisory committee and orally defend the proposal. Students may need to schedule more than one prospectus meeting with the committee if the committee is not satisfied with the prospectus. No more than three prospectus meetings will be allowed. After three unsuccessful meetings, the student will be terminated from the program.
  
  
• Seek permission to schedule the final oral defense of the dissertation from the major advisor. Upon agreement, the student coordinates committee member's schedules to find a mutually agreeable time. The request to schedule the examination is sent by the major advisor to the Graduate School at least two weeks prior to the examination.
  
  
• Submit the dissertation to the advisory committee members no fewer than seven days prior to the oral examination. If the student does not successfully defend the dissertation, he or she may rewrite and redefend it once. No more than two dissertation defenses will occur. After two attempts, the student is terminated from the program.
  
  
• The examining committee immediately reports in writing the results of the examination to the graduate dean.
  
  
• Submit one draft of the dissertation to the Graduate School for approval of format and style. The approval process may involve several submissions.
  
  
• Submit five final and approved copies of the dissertation to the Graduate School office no later than one year after the oral defense. Failure to do so results in another oral defense.
  
  
• Submit request to participate in commencement. (Optional)
  
  
• Participate in commencement. (Optional)