(A) Credit
hours/program-specific and university requirements
(1) A minimum of sixty (if the student has
earned a master's degree) or ninety (if the student has not earned a master's
degree) semester credit hours of graduate work in one graduate program shall be
successfully completed for a doctoral degree including credits for dissertation
research. In no case, however, shall a degree be granted solely on the basis of
accumulated credit hours. The doctoral degree will be granted for no less than
the equivalent of three years of full-time graduate study.
(2) Graduate programs shall recommend
students for the doctoral degree after they have met all program-specific and
university requirements for the degree including satisfactory completion of an
approved dissertation or other culminating project.
(3) The final thirty semester credits must be
completed under the direction of graduate faculty from the university of
Cincinnati.
(4) Prior to admission
to doctoral candidacy, doctoral students shall complete a residency requirement
of a minimum enrollment of ten graduate credit hours per semester for two out
of three consecutive semesters of study including summer.
(B) Candidacy
(1) Doctoral students shall complete a
departmental certification process for doctoral candidacy. The nature of this
departmental certification process and the rules governing its administration
shall be determined by the doctoral program in which the student is
enrolled.
(2) A doctoral student
shall be admitted to candidacy when he or she has achieved a grade point
average of at least 3.0 for all doctoral course work, satisfactorily completed
all pre-candidacy requirements as specified by the doctoral program in which
the student is enrolled, and successfully completed the departmental
certification process.
(3) Once a
student is admitted to candidacy, he or she shall register for at least one
graduate credit hour in the fall semester of each year to maintain his or her
graduate student and candidacy status.
(C) Time limitation
(1) The period from time of matriculation to
a doctoral program to candidacy shall not exceed five consecutive years unless
otherwise approved by the dean of the graduate school.
(2) The period of time from admission to
doctoral candidacy to completion of the doctoral degree shall not exceed four
consecutive years unless otherwise approved by the dean of the graduate
school.
(3) The period of time from
matriculation to graduation shall not exceed nine years regardless of the pre-
and post- candidacy periods.
(D) Dissertation
Each Ed.D. and Ph.D. candidate shall produce an approved
dissertation that demonstrates high scholarly achievement based on the
candidate's original research or creative activity. Other doctoral programs may
require students to complete other types of capstone experiences.
(E) Dissertation committee
Following admission to doctoral candidacy and the selection of
a research topic and research mentor, a dissertation committee shall be
appointed by the vice provost and university dean of the graduate school
according to the recommendation of the doctoral program in consultation with
the research mentor and student.
(1)
The research mentor shall serve as chairperson of the dissertation
committee.
(2) A dissertation
committee shall be composed of a minimum of three full-time faculty members
with professorial rank at the university of Cincinnati. The committee chair
must be a member of the graduate faculty.
(3) Individuals with appropriate expertise
may be added to a dissertation committee if nominated by the candidate and
approved by the committee chairperson and doctoral program. Such persons shall
serve without compensation from the university or candidate, and shall be full
voting members of the committee.
(F) Final defense of dissertation
Once a dissertation is deemed to be satisfactory with respect
to its form and content by the committee, a final defense shall be announced
under dissertation defense announcements on the graduate school website.
(1) The defense is open to the public and all
members of the academic community.
(2) Under the standard dissertation defense
procedure, the candidate will answer pertinent questions put by members of the
committee following an oral presentation of the dissertation.
(3) After the committee has completed its
questioning, other persons present will have an opportunity to submit questions
or comments.
(4) At the conclusion
of the defense, the committee will withdraw and render a decision regarding the
acceptability of the dissertation and its defense, and report its decision to
the candidate. In the case of a favorable decision, this decision shall be
communicated to the graduate program and the graduate school. Dissertation
approval requires a favorable decision by the candidate's dissertation
committee.
(G) Petitions
for reinstatement and extension of candidacy
Students may petition graduate council for extension of their
doctoral candidacy through their program, college, and the vice provost and
university dean of the graduate school prior to its expiration. Students whose
candidacy has expired may petition for both reinstatement and extension of
candidacy using the same administrative procedure. If reinstatement is
approved, the student will be readmitted to candidacy only after satisfying the
formal candidacy examination requirements administered by the department. Each
department shall establish and publish a policy concerning extension of degree
candidacy and requirements for reinstatement into candidacy subject to the
approval of the vice provost and university dean of the graduate school.
(H) Publication of dissertations
Dissertations completed as part of the degree requirement for
the doctoral degree shall be published and made freely available in hard copy
and/or electronic form. A request to delay publication of a dissertation may be
made to the vice provost and university dean of the graduate school to allow
intellectual property related to the content of the dissertation to be
appropriately protected.
Replaces: 3361:50-77-23
