Doctoral

Dissertation

It is the student's responsibility to form a Dissertation Committee composed of faculty members agreeing to supervise the student's research. This committee must be composed of at least four tenure track faculty members but need not contain previous members of the student's Advisory Committee. At least two of the members of the Dissertation Committee including the Dissertation Chairperson must be from the Management & Leadership Department. Moreover, at least one member of the committee must be from outside of the Management & Leadership Department. In accordance with Bauer College policies, an approved dissertation Chairperson must be selected within two months of the successful completion of the specialty area examination.

Oral Defense of the Proposal

All Bauer College policies regarding the oral defense of the dissertation proposal apply. Two weeks prior to the scheduled defense the student will supply one copy of the dissertation proposal to the Management Doctoral Program Coordinator to be made available for inspection by other faculty and students. Moreover, the Dissertation Committee will inform the candidate of one of the following three decisions within 24 hours of the proposal presentation:

Pass - Unconditional pass, by unanimous vote, with no major qualifications. The candidate may proceed with his/her dissertation.

Conditional Pass - The candidate must correct identified deficiencies to the dissertation proposal to the satisfaction of all members of the Dissertation Committee before proceeding with the dissertation. The Dissertation Committee will provide to the candidate a written account of the committee's reservations. The proposal defense need not be repeated.

Failure - The candidate must significantly revise the dissertation proposal, or begin a new proposal. The Dissertation Committee shall provide to the candidate a written account of the committee's reasons for rejecting the proposal. Any revised or new proposal must again be defended.

Management and Leadership majors must have successfully defended a dissertation proposal within 12 months of successfully passing the Comprehensive/Specialty Examination. Failure to defend a dissertation proposal within this time limit will result in assistantship funding being terminated immediately.

Read more about Bauer dissertations or the Graduate Grievance Policy.