Doctoral Program Requirements

Doctoral Program Course Requirements

There is no Graduate School requirement on the number of courses students must take in either the major or minor fields. The Graduate School policy encourages the development of individualized programs for students who seek the doctoral degree. The academic departments and interdisciplinary programs have been directed to decide major and minor requirements, levels or sequences of required courses, and similar requirements for submission to the Graduate Council for approval.

Courses taken at other institutions approved by the graduate program for partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree at UMB are listed on the Application for Admission to PhD Candidacy at the time of admission to candidacy (see the Admission to Candidacy section that follows).

Doctoral Program Time Required

The Graduate School requires a minimum of three years or its equivalent of full-time graduate study and research. Of the three years, at least one year or its equivalent must be spent at the University of Maryland, Baltimore. Students must submit all work at other institutions in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a doctoral degree to the Graduate School with the program recommendation for approval at the time of admission to candidacy. Official transcripts of this work must be on file in the Graduate School.

Students must be admitted to candidacy within five years of admission to the doctoral program and at least two full sequential semesters or sessions (spring, summer, or fall) before graduating. All degree requirements, including the doctoral dissertation and final doctoral examination, must be completed within four years of admission to candidacy and no more than nine years after admission into the doctoral program. Failure to complete all requirements within the time allotted requires another application for admission to the Graduate School with the usual requisites as decided by the program committee. The Graduate School grants extensions of time only under the most unusual circumstances.

Doctoral Program Registration Requirements

Doctoral students may not enroll for 899 research credits (if/when conducting research) until reaching candidacy; before candidacy, they may enroll in Pre-candidacy Research 898 (1 to 8 variable credits) in preparation for candidacy and to ensure full-time enrollment at that stage in their studies. Students should enroll in the appropriate number of credits to reflect their work toward the dissertation before reaching candidacy. 898 credits are not counted as part of the 899 credits required for graduation and are only offered as a pass/fail grading option.

Once admitted to candidacy, doctoral students must successfully complete a minimum of 12 credit hours of doctoral dissertation research (899).

Admission to Candidacy

Doctoral students must complete an application for admission to candidacy when they fulfill all requirements for candidacy. Preliminary examinations, grant writing, or other substantial tests as the program/department may elect are frequently prerequisites for admission to candidacy.

Students must submit the following to the major advisor and program director for review: the application, an unofficial UMB transcript, and official transcript(s) showing relevant external graduate coursework to be used in partial fulfillment of the UMB degree (if applicable). The advisor and program director indicate which courses are to be used to fulfill degree requirements. The student must forward the application and attachments to the Graduate School for final review.

Courses taken at other regionally accredited institutions that are approved by the UMB graduate program are listed on the Application for Admission to Candidacy at the time of admission to candidacy. These courses do not appear on the UMB transcript, but, if approved by the program or department, may be used as partial fulfillment of the doctoral student’s degree program completion requirements.

Doctoral Dissertation

Students must prove the ability to do independent research by an original dissertation on a topic approved by the department or program graduate committee. During the preparation of the dissertation, all candidates for the doctoral degree must complete a minimum of 12 credit hours of doctoral dissertation research (899) at the University of Maryland, Baltimore.

A PhD student must establish and maintain a professional relationship with a member of the graduate faculty with the appropriate knowledge and expertise to serve as their research advisor. If no appropriate graduate faculty member is available or no appropriate graduate faculty member agrees to be the student’s research advisor, the student cannot continue in the PhD program.

Students also must have a doctoral examination committee nominated by the graduate program. The doctoral examination committee comprises a minimum of five scholars: the advisor, who is a regular member of the graduate faculty; at least two additional regular members of the graduate faculty; and at least one individual from outside the program, department, or discipline. Two committee members are designated as readers.

The student must submit their dissertation to the chair and two other readers at least one month before the defense date. When the dissertation is completed to the satisfaction of this committee and at least 10 days before the defense, the advisor and both readers sign the form verifying that the dissertation is ready for defense.

Often, students will submit the results of their dissertation research for publication. Students should obtain authorization from research advisors for publication of all or part of the dissertation before its defense. A manual to help students in the preparation of their doctoral dissertations, Electronic Dissertation and Thesis Style Guide, is available online and from the Graduate School.

Procedures for Examination of The Candidate’s Doctoral Dissertation

The purpose of the defense is to allow the candidate to demonstrate that they:

Have mastered a field of knowledge.
Have successfully completed a program of research in their chosen field.
Are able to discuss and defend a research question and the results of the research project with colleagues and the general public.

The examination of the doctoral dissertation is conducted by the doctoral examination committee. Described below are the:

Composition of the doctoral examination committee.
Documentation and actions required before the doctoral examination.
Conduct of the doctoral examination.

Composition of the Doctoral Examination Committee

The committee must have a minimum of five and a maximum of seven voting members, all of whom must hold a doctoral degree or the terminal degree in their discipline. The committee must include the candidate’s dissertation advisor, two readers, and one member who is external to the candidate’s program, department, or discipline. One of the committee members (other than the chair) is appointed by the dean of the Graduate School as graduate school representative and serves as the dean’s surrogate. At least three of the members of the committee must be regular members of the graduate faculty.

At least six months before the proposed defense date, the committee chair will prepare and send a list of potential committee members to the dean of the Graduate School (Nomination of Members of Final Doctoral Examination Committee) for approval. If changes need to be made in committee composition, the committee chair must request approval from the dean of the Graduate School. If last-minute changes need to be made to the membership of the committee, the chair is to contact the office of the dean of the Graduate School and inform the office of the needed change and the reason for the change.

Chair: The committee chair must be a regular member of the graduate faculty and is normally the candidate’s advisor. If a candidate’s advisor is not a member of the graduate faculty, the candidate’s program director is responsible for appointing a regular graduate faculty member from within the program to serve as the chair. In this case, it is expected that the dissertation advisor would serve on the committee as one of the other members.
Readers: In addition to the chair, two members of the committee must be identified as readers. The chair and readers serve to certify that the dissertation is ready to be defended and do so by signing the Certification of Completion of the Doctoral Dissertation. This form must be returned to the Graduate School at least two weeks before the proposed examination date (see the Documentation and Actions Required Prior to the Doctoral Examination section that follows). The candidate will provide the chair and the readers a copy of the dissertation at least two weeks before the deadline for submitting the Certification of Completion of the Doctoral Dissertation. By signing the certification, the readers and the chair are indicating that the dissertation is a presentable, interpretable, and complete document. The three signatures attest that the dissertation conforms to these criteria; however, they do not indicate a determination of the ultimate acceptability or approval of the dissertation, which can only occur after the final examination session. The candidate’s program director also must sign the Certificate of Completion form. By signing, the program director indicates that all other University and program criteria pertaining to completion of the PhD are satisfied and that the exam may go forward.
External Member of the Examination Committee: One of the members of the committee must be an external member. This individual must be from a separate program, department, or discipline from that of the candidate. The role of the external member is to provide a broader perspective within the examination process. The external member must hold a doctoral degree or a terminal degree in their field. The individual may be from within the University or may be a scholar from another institution. If the external member is a member of the graduate faculty, the individual may also serve as the Graduate School representative or as a reader. If the external member is not a member of the graduate faculty, a curriculum vitae must accompany the nomination.
Graduate School Representative: One member of the committee, designated by the office of the dean of the Graduate School, serves as the dean’s surrogate. The representative must be a regular member of the graduate faculty and cannot be the committee chair. In addition to the normal responsibilities as a member of the committee, the representative has the responsibility of ensuring that the examination is conducted according to established procedures. Any questions or disagreement over the examination procedure are referred to the Graduate School representative for a decision. Upon designation, the Graduate School representative will receive from the Graduate School a copy of the Procedures for Examination of the Doctoral Dissertation.
Other Committee Members: There may be up to seven members on the committee. Beyond the five required members described previously, up to two additional individuals may be appointed to the committee. These members may be individuals within or outside the candidate’s program and may include scholars from other institutions or other components of the UMB Graduate School. All such members must hold a doctoral degree or a terminal degree in their field. A curriculum vitae must accompany the nomination form submitted by the committee chair to the dean of the Graduate School for any committee nominees who are not members of the graduate faculty.

Documentation and Actions Required Prior to the Doctoral Examination

Prior to the doctoral examination, the following actions need to be completed:

Nomination of Final Doctoral Examination Committee members: Must be submitted to the dean’s office.
Certification of Completion of the Doctoral Dissertation: Must be submitted to the dean’s office.
Announcement of Doctoral Dissertation Defense: a) The dean of the Graduate School has the responsibility for making all members of the graduate faculty aware of the candidate’s doctoral examination at least one week before the examination date. b) Graduate programs are responsible for notifying their students about the examination. The time and place of the examination will be established by the chair.
Submission of the Doctoral Dissertation: All members of the committee must receive a final version of the dissertation, as described previously, two weeks (i.e., a minimum of 10 working days) before the proposed examination date. This version of the dissertation should be substantially the same as that which was certified by the chair and the two readers as ready to be defended.

Conduct of the Doctoral Examination

The doctoral examination normally comprises two components: an open presentation by the doctoral candidate and a formal examination by members of the committee.

Open Presentation by the Doctoral Candidate: Each candidate is expected to give a presentation of their dissertation in a forum open to the general public and moderated by the committee chair. The open presentation should take place as close as possible to the time scheduled for the doctoral examination. In many cases the open presentation will immediately precede the formal doctoral examination; however, the exact timing and notice of the presentation will be in keeping with the usual policy of the candidate’s program. All members of the committee must be present (see the following for definition of “present”) at the open presentation. Those attending the open presentation may ask questions of the candidate within a reasonable time interval set by the candidate’s committee.
Formal Doctoral Examination Procedures: The formal doctoral examination is open only to members of the candidate’s committee and other members of the graduate faculty who wish to be present and is conducted under the direction of the examination committee’s chair. All members of the committee must be present for the examination. Committee members may participate by video conference or by telephone, if necessary. In such cases, arrangements for the member not physically present should be made such that their participation can be interactive and they have access to all audio and visual materials used by the candidate or committee members during the formal doctoral examination, can ask questions and hear the candidate’s answers, and can fully participate in the committee’s discussions. This may require that the member not physically present participate by a video connection or have access to presentation slides (sent in advance to the member), or that other appropriate arrangements are made to allow the member to be an active member of the committee’s deliberations. The dean of the Graduate School must be notified of an absence and the accommodations made. The formal examination is moderated by the committee chair, and only committee members may ask questions of the candidate. Other members of the graduate faculty who attend the examination do so only as observers. They are not permitted to participate verbally or otherwise in the proceedings.

The formal doctoral examination has the following components:

An initial private discussion among the members of the committee only (the candidate and other graduate faculty members are not present during the discussion). This discussion should determine whether the written document is presentable as a dissertation and hence defensible. If a majority of the committee agrees that the dissertation is not defensible, the examination is canceled. Otherwise, the examination proceeds. The committee then determines procedures for the examination, including the order and manner of questioning.
A presentation of the dissertation by the candidate (if required by the committee) is followed by questions from the committee members. At the discretion of the candidate’s program and the Doctoral Examination Committee, the open presentation may serve as the doctoral examination presentation. In this case, no further formal presentation by the candidate will be required and committee members may immediately begin questioning the candidate. No time limit is set for this period, but it would be considered unusual if the entire period exceeded three hours.

Outcome of the Examination

At the end of the examination, the candidate and any others in attendance who are not part of the committee withdraw, and the committee deliberates in private on the acceptability of the written dissertation and the oral performance of the candidate. The chair asks each member for an opinion, and after these deliberations, the members vote on whether the candidate has passed or failed. There are two levels of pass: 1) the dissertation is accepted with very minor changes, if any; or 2) the dissertation requires significant, nontrivial revisions. In the latter case, the committee sets a timeline for completion of revisions and names the committee members who will certify satisfactory completion of the revisions. The members sign the report of the committee and register their votes. The affirmative votes of a majority plus one of the committee members constitute a successful defense of the dissertation; this means that the required number of affirmative votes is four from a five-member committee or five from a six- or seven-member committee.

The candidate may be failed if the committee finds that the quality of the written dissertation or the candidate’s presentation is wanting. The committee may find that, despite a decision that the dissertation document was defensible, it has defects that prevent it from being accepted. If these defects are minor in nature, the committee may vote to accept the dissertation pending remedial modifications. If the defects are more serious, the committee may decide to fail the candidate and require a new examination. Alternatively, the dissertation document may be determined to be sound but the candidate’s defense inadequate. In this case, the committee must decide on a date for a new examination.

The Report of the Examination Committee form signed by the committee must be returned by the Graduate School representative to the Graduate School office no later than two working days after the examination. The candidate’s program director also must be provided with a copy of the report.

The candidate should be informed of the decision as soon as possible. If the candidate fails the examination, the Graduate School representative will submit a letter within two working days to the dean of the Graduate School stating that the candidate has failed, the reasons for the failure, the decisions concerning necessary remedial action, and approximately when a new examination will be held. The Graduate School representative must return the letter with the signed Report of the Examination Committee. Copies of the letter must be provided to the candidate, the chair, and the Graduate Program director. The new examination must be conducted within one year from the date of the defense of the first examination. The chair must notify the Graduate School of the date of the second examination so that the necessary paperwork may be sent to the Graduate School representative. The candidate may present himself or herself for the doctoral examination at most twice.