The Proposal Defense is an outline of a student’s intended research project sufficient in scope for a PhD dissertation. The defense is conducted in the form of a presentation made to the entire committee. It typically includes the totality of work already completed, in whatever state it is in, and plans for further work. The defense should also include a detailed timeline of planned activities leading up to the final defense of the dissertation and upload of the final draft in the student’s last term. In our program, dissertation research projects consist of either a long multi-year project that culminates in a single research paper or several shorter projects that each result in a series of usually closely related research papers. The work(s) are published in peer-reviewed journals. The topic(s) presented in a proposal defense often evolve, so it is not unusual that projects expand or change significantly from the original thesis. The proposal defense usually results in a 5 to 10-page mini paper summarized in a 30 to 45-minute presentation made to the committee. During the presentation, the student may be asked questions on knowledge specific to the area of research, as part of an oral examination. At the end of the presentation, the committee deliberates and determines whether the defense was successful. The advisor should then communicate this to the GPD.

• When (together with D2 above): As soon as the student has completed all coursework and has passed the written part of the qualifying exam. The timeline is identical to the D2 process above since this milestone is submitted for approval to the Dean of the College at the same time. The student needs to plan when scheduling the time and place to present the defense in front of the entire committee. This needs to take place at least a week before classes begin in the term in which the student plans to advance to candidacy, complete at the same time.
• Step-by-step procedure: (UGS corresponding webpage)
  1. Student (panthersof): The student initiates the “Doctoral Dissertation Proposal (D3)” process in panthersoft. He or she will fill in the fields requested by the panthersoft interface and comply with all of the online requests. Whatever is entered in the fields needs to be properly written, grammatically correct, with no spelling errors, and with proper punctuation (feel free to use grammar checker/AI tools). The student approves the form on panthersoft.
  2. Faculty Advisor(s) and Committee (panthersoft): The advisor and co-advisors, as well as each member of the committee, review the contents written into the form by the student. Approval by each member of the committee is performed through panthersoft.
  3. GPD (panthersoft): The GPD reviews the form and indicates his approval through the panthersoft interface. All committee members must approve before this form is forwarded to the GPD.
• Program (GPD) Deadline: While there are no explicit PantherSoft-managed deadlines, the proposal defense is an oral examination conducted by the committee so it should be completed a week or two before the student’s first term as a PhD candidate, to coincide with the D2 process.