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The University of Texas at Austin

Graduation Deadlines and Submission Instructions for Doctoral Candidates for spring, 2010

Steps to take to graduate in spring, 2010

  1. Register for Dissertation (_99W) for spring.

  2. Beginning January 19, 2010, submit the online Doctoral Degree Candidate Form. The form can be completed and submitted online from January 19, 2010 until March 25, 2010. After March 25, any student who fails to complete the online Doctoral Degree Candidate form must contact a degree evaluator in the Graduate School to request individual access. Students who do not submit a Doctoral Degree Candidate form by April 23 will not be eligible to receive their degree in the spring.

  3. Schedule your Defense/Final Oral Examination. Give your committee a copy of your dissertation at least a month before you plan to defend so each member can examine it. Then fill out the Request for Final Oral (.pdf) form.  Secure signatures of your committee on this form indicating each of them agrees to attend the defense on the date shown, and submit the form to the Graduate Adviser in your department/program for his/her signature.

  4. Submit the Request for Final Oral (.pdf) form to the Graduate School at least two weeks in advance of the defense. This is how your Defense/Oral Examination is officially scheduled.

  5. At the defense, the Committee Certification of Approved Version (see Format Guidelines - .pdf) should be signed by all members of your committee (any not attending will need to sign this page before the dissertation is submitted).

  6. Make any required/requested revisions to the dissertation, check it carefully for grammar, spelling, punctuation, content and format (see Format Guidelines - .pdf), then convert the final approved version of the dissertation into one .pdf file.

    Additional information on converting your word or .rtf version of your dissertation to .pdf (including a link to an online .pdf converter) is available at the Electronic Thesis and Dissertations (ETD) site. (Some students have reported difficulty using the online .pdf converter. DO NOT WAIT until the last day to try to convert your dissertation or treatise or you may not be able to meet the deadline.) For assistance with problems converting your dissertation to .pdf format, contact the ITS Help Desk at 512-475-9400.

  7. Upload the pdf file of your dissertation to the Texas Digital Libraries (TDL) by 5:00 p.m. on May 7, 2010. Publication of your dissertation in the exact version that has been approved by your committee is a requirement for the degree. Instructions for submitting the dissertation online can be found at the TDL Dissertation Submission Site. Texas Digital Libraries will provide Open Access to your dissertation free of charge.

    The TDL Submission Site provides students with an option to request the supplemental submission of their dissertation to UMI. Students selecting this option must submit a UMI Submission Packet (.pdf) to the Graduate School Degree Evaluators along with their final paperwork submission. This submission packet is available at the Graduate School Forms page at http://www.utexas.edu/ogs/pdn/. Students selecting UMI publishing or registration services will be billed by The University of Texas for the associated fees.

  8. Requests to Delay Publication:  A student may request permission from the Graduate Dean to delay making the dissertation available to the public through the Texas Digital Libraries for up to a year in order to protect patent or other rights. This request must be supported by a written recommendation from the dissertation supervisor and must be submitted and approved prior to your graduation. If no petition is made to the Dean, the dissertation will be searchable on the web and available free from UT.

  9. Submit all required forms and paperwork to the Graduate School by 5:00 p.m. on May 7, 2010.  For a detailed list of paperwork to be submitted, print the Checklist for Final Submission of Dissertation or Treatise for spring, 2010. Due to the large numbers of dissertations to be processed each semester, you are encouraged to upload your dissertation and submit all required paperwork as soon as possible. This paperwork may be submitted in person no later than May 7, 2010 by coming to the Graduate School, Main Building 101 or it may be mailed to arrive no later than May 7, 2010 to: The University of Texas at Austin, VP & Dean of Graduate Studies, 1 University Station G0400, Austin, Texas 78712-0531.

Please note:  To access or complete .pdf forms, you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer.

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