Defences

NEXT DEFENCE....

 There are no defences scheduled at this time.
Getting Ready To Defend? 

First of all, congratulations, you are almost done!  You have a defendable draft of your thesis, and there are just a few more steps, and you will have completed your graduate degree.  Here are a few important things to consider when getting ready to defend and hand-in your graduate thesis…

The form that gets the defence process started is called an “Approval of Examining Committee” form, and before I can submit it to graduate studies I will need some crucial information.  This includes,

·      Date

·      Time

·      Proposed room

·      Examiners name (MA)

·      Internal & external examiner name (PhD)

·      A CV for the external examiners (PhD)

·      Short bio for internal examiners (MA)

·      Abstract

·      Title

I must submit this form to the Dean of Graduate Studies office 4 weeks before the defence for an MA, and 6 weeks for a PhD.  You will also need to supply me with a copy of your defendable draft for the front counter, and one for each of the examining committee members.  This must arrive at least 4 weeks before the date of the defence.  The sooner you can get it to me the better, as you need to consider the amount of time needed to get it to your examining committee members.

It is understandable that you may not have all of this information, but please go over this information with your senior supervisor, and try to supply me with as much of it as possible. Please note that as the student you are not to contact your examiners for any reason. That is to be done by your senior supervisor, or by the Graduate Program Assistant.

A common misconception is that the defence date determines the timing of convocation, e.g., if a defence is held by 30 April, the student will be able to attend summer convocation. FALSE-- In fact, in order to graduate in any given semester, the completed thesis (after the defence and necessary revisions) must be accepted by the Library before the Thesis Submission deadline for the previous semester.  This deadline is last Friday of the last month of each semester (i.e., end of-Dec. to attend June convocation, end of-April for June convocation, and end of-August for October convocation).

For more information on Library Submission Guidelines, please refer to the “Last Steps” document that I send out every semester.  It has some vital information on it.  Pay careful attention to the last few pages, which are summaries of where to put all your required documentation.