Review Student Degree Plans And Petitions

Each graduate student must submit an official degree plan to the Graduate and Professional School for approval. The degree plan formally declares the student’s degree objective, the membership of the student’s advisory committee and the specific courses that the student will be required to complete as part of his/her degree program. The student should develop the proposed degree plan in consultation with his/her advisory committee.

The proposed degree plan should then be submitted for review and approval through the online Document Processing Submission System (DPSS). Once submitted, the degree plan must be electronically approved through DPSS by the following:

• A pre-committee staff approver (if applicable),
• The committee chair and co-chair (if applicable),
• Each member of the advisory committee,
• The department head or an intercollegiate faculty chairperson (if applicable)

At any point in the approval process, the degree plan may be returned to the student for additional changes. Once edited and resubmitted by the student, the electronic decision routing will begin again with the pre-committee staff approver (if applicable), followed by the committee chair and co-chair (if applicable), and so forth. Following departmental approval, the degree plan will be routed to Grad School for processing. For specific rules and limitations on course work and committee membership, see the university catalog. To review and make a decision on a student-submitted degree plan, log into the Grad School Document Processing Submission System (DPSS).
 

Requirements

Completed degree plans must be submitted to Grad School according the following guidelines:

• Prior to the deadline imposed by the student's college or interdisciplinary degree program;
• No later than 90 days prior to the date of the final oral examination or thesis defense for master's students, or 90 days prior to the date of the preliminary examination for doctoral students;
• According to deadlines published in the calendars, dates and deadlines documents each semester for that semester.

Changes

Once a degree plan is approved by Grad School, any changes in course work, committee membership, major, degree or department must be requested by petition to Grad School. As with the original degree plan, any changes must be electronically approved through DPSS by the following:
 

• Pre-committee staff approver (if applicable),
• The committee chair and co-chair (if applicable),
• Each member of the advisory committee,
• The department head or an intercollegiate faculty chairperson (if applicable).

If the student is requesting a change of department or committee membership, the petition will be electronically routed to the current, approved department and/or committee member, as well as the new, proposed department and/or committee member. Review and make decisions on student submitted petitions online using the Document Processing Submission System (DPSS).

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