Faculty advisors play a key role in helping their students make progress toward the degree. This section describes the major stages leading to Ph.D. degree candidacy.

Early Identification of Advisor
Plan of Work
Annual Review of Student Progress
Transfer of Credit
Directed Study
Foreign Language Requirement
Repeating Courses
Qualifying Examination
Oral Examination Requirement
Degree Candidacy
Time Limitation and Extension

Early Identification of Advisor

An advisor should be identified for each doctoral applicant as soon as the student is admitted. This initial advisor may be a faculty member or the departmental Graduate Director.

Responsibilities of the initial advisor

• Helps orient the student to the academic culture and expectations of the department.
• Helps the student develop an initial Plan of Work and interim updates annually.
• Provides the student with a written annual progress report.

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Plan of Work

The doctoral applicant, with the advisor's assistance, must plan a sequence of study that satisfies the requirements for the Ph.D. degree. An initial Plan of Work should be developed as early as possible and updated annually. A final Plan of Work must be filed with the Graduate School.

The Initial Plan of Work

Purpose

• Serves as a planning document.
• Annual updates encourage review of progress and allow for changes in objectives.

What is included

• A listing of all didactic and research-related coursework.
• Non-course objectives, such as conference participation, journal clubs, teaching objectives, publishing and grant writing objectives, etc. should be attached to the Plan form.

When prepared

• Within the first two semesters or by the time the student accumulates 12 - 20 credits.
• The student and advisor prepare updates annually

Who signs

The student and the advisor sign the initial Plan and each of the annual updates.

Filing procedure

These are retained in the student's file at the department.

The Final Plan of Work

What is included

• A listing of all didactic and research-related coursework taken or to be taken.
• Non-course objectives, such as conference participation, journal clubs, teaching objectives, publishing and grant writing objectives, etc., should be attached to the Plan form

When prepared

As early as possible, but must be filed by the time the student has accumulated 40 credits.

Who signs

The student, the advisor, and the departmental Graduate Director sign the final Plan of Work.

Filing procedure

The signed final Plan of Work must be submitted to the Graduate School for approval.
An approved final Plan of Work is required for attaining doctoral degree Candidacy.
For students receiving General Fund support, tuition payment will be made only for courses on the Plan of Work.

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Annual Review of Student Progress

Review of student progress is an important cornerstone of quality training of Ph.D. students. All Ph.D. students are required to receive a written annual review of progress toward completing the requirements for their degree. Consult the sample review forms used by departments.

What is included

• The evaluation should indicate the degree to which students are progressing satisfactorily in their programs. Performance in coursework, scholarship, research, teaching, and other significant activities defined by the department should contribute toward assessment of progress.
   
• Strengths and weaknesses in these areas should be described. In particular, areas of concern, along with recommendations for improving performance, need to be clearly articulated.
   
• Development and updating of the Plan of Work should be part of the process.
   
• Goals for the following year should also be described and then used to evaluate performance the next year.

Procedures

• The review should be discussed with the student.
• The annual review must be signed by the student, advisor, and departmental Graduate Director.
• A copy should be given to the student and one retained in the student’s department file.
• Copies of a student’s annual reviews must accompany a request for a time extension.

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Transfer of Credit

Students may request to transfer graduate credit, earned at other institutions, toward the Ph.D. degree. A Transfer of Credit form should be used.

When filed

The Transfer of Credit form is submitted to the Graduate School along with the final Plan of Work.

Eligibility of credits

Transfer credit must be appropriate to the student's degree program
Transferred credits may not be used to reduce the minimum requirement of thirty credits of coursework, excluding dissertation, that must be earned at WSU.
A minimum grade of B is necessary to transfer credits.
Credits graded B – (minus), P, or S cannot be transferred.

Approvals

Advisor, Graduate Director, Graduate Dean

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Directed Study

Independent study may be authorized for areas of interest not covered by regular courses. Completion of the Directed Study form is recommended to assure that student and advisor expectations of the project are aligned.

Procedures

Only advanced students should be permitted to engage in Directed Study.
The student should confer with his/her advisor to get permission for and to plan the study. The advisor typically serves as the instructor for the study.
The student should complete the Directed Study Petition, indicating the outline of the study, its significance to his/her program and the evaluation method.
The student and advisor should both sign the form.
The form should be retained in the student’s departmental file.

To Register

A departmental representative authorizes an override to allow the student’s registration for the course.

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Foreign Language Requirement

Each graduate department establishes its own foreign language requirement and the level of competency required.

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Repeating Courses

A graduate department may allow a student to repeat a graduate course in which he/she receives a grade of B-(minus) or lower.

Limitations

Students will not receive University financial aid for repeating courses.
The number of graduate courses that may be repeated is determined by the student’s department. A student is allowed to register for a course only once; the department enforces its repeat policy by limiting the number of registration overrides it provides its students. Courses that may be repeated legitimately, such as research or special topics, are not restricted to one registration.
The department’s policy should be stated in the student handbook.

GPA calculation

The original grade for the course will remain on the student's transcript, but only the grade received in repetition of the course will be used in computing the student's grade point average.

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Qualifying Examination

The final Qualifying Examination is used to document the student's knowledge of his or her field and is one of the requirements for attaining Ph.D. degree Candidacy.

Plan of Work requirement

The student must have the Plan of Work on file with the Graduate School before taking the Qualifying Examination.

Examination areas

The Examination covers the Applicant's major and minor     areas, along with other related areas as the department may prescribe.

Examination components

The Qualifying Examination may consist of a written Examination OR a written and an oral Examination.
If the Qualifying Examination contains an oral component, the Oral Examination must be scheduled within 60 days of completion of the written component.

Oral Examination requirement

If the Qualifying Examination does not have an oral component, the program must still have a requirement for an Oral Examination.

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The Oral Examination Requirement

The Oral Examination is required of all Ph.D. students. This requirement may be fulfilled as part of the final Qualifying Examination, or as a lecture or seminar, as part of the prospectus meeting, or in some other context in which the student presents information orally and answers questions posed by the student's Oral Examination committee.

Oral Examination committee responsibility

The Examining Committee is responsible for Examining and certifying that the student has an adequate command of knowledge in the field of study, and can organize, apply, and convey that knowledge.

Oral Examination results

• A student may be passed in the Examination if there is not more than one negative vote. Abstentions shall be considered negative votes.
   
• If the Examining Committee determines that the student has not successfully completed the Oral Examination at its first administration, the Examining committee may recommend that the student repeat the Examination. If it recommends a second Examination, it should specify any additional work the student should complete prior to the Examination.
   
• A second Examination may not be held until at least four months have elapsed, but must be held within one calendar year following the first Examination. The second Examination shall be considered final.

Reporting procedures – Oral Examination as part of Qualifying Examination, or lecture or seminar

• At least one week before the Oral Examination, the student should complete the top portion of the Report on Doctor of Philosophy Oral Qualifying Examination form and submit it to the departmental Graduate Director.
   
• The Graduate Director shall verify that at least two members of the Examining committee hold Regular Graduate Faculty appointments before the Examination can proceed.
   
• At the end of the Examination, the "Report on Doctor of Philosophy Oral Qualifying Examination" form should be used to transmit the results to the Graduate School.

Reporting procedures – Oral Examination as part of Prospectus meeting

• At least one week before the Prospectus meeting, the student should submit the Prospectus form, with the Dissertation Advisory Committee names, to the departmental Graduate Director.
   
• The Graduate Director shall verify that at least two members of the Examination committee hold Regular Graduate Faculty appointments before the Examination can proceed.
   
• At the end of the Examination, the Prospectus form should be used to transmit the result to the Graduate School.

Oral Examination committee

• Oral Examination as Qualifying Examination: Requires three members, at least two of whom are from the student's department; a member from outside the department is optional and typically will be from the student's minor or cognate area.
   
• Oral Examination as Prospectus meeting: the members of the student’s Dissertation Advisory Committee.
   
• At least two members must hold Regular Graduate Faculty appointments.

Examination Moderator

• Oral Examination as Qualifying Examination: One of the members of the committee serves as the moderator.
   
• Oral Examination as Prospectus meeting: The outside member of the Dissertation Advisory Committee serves as the moderator.
   
• The moderator is responsible for chairing the Examination and ensuring that the committee determines whether the student passes or fails the Examination.
   
• The moderator gathers the committee’s signatures and submits the form to the Graduate School immediately following the Examination.

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Degree Candidacy

The Graduate School advances a Ph.D. Applicant to degree Candidacy upon the completion of the requirements outlined below.

Candidacy requirements

• The Plan of Work approved by the Graduate School
• Completion of didactic coursework, or approximately 50 credit hours, required on the Plan of Work
• Satisfactory completion of the Qualifying Examination(s).
• Establishment of the dissertation advisory committee. Membership may change until the prospectus is submitted.

Documents required

• The Recommendation for Doctor of Philosophy Candidacy Status form is prepared by the department and approved by the Graduate Director.
   
• A current transcript must be attached to the form to verify completion of coursework requirements.
   
• If the department requires the Oral Examination as part of the Qualifying Examination, the department should ascertain that either the Report on Doctor of Philosophy Oral Examination form or the Prospectus form has been submitted to the Graduate School. If not already submitted, it should be attached to the Candidacy recommendation form.

Procedure

• The department submits the Candidacy recommendation form and attachments to the Graduate School.
   
• When completion of all requirements has been verified, the Graduate School will advance the Applicant to Ph.D. degree Candidate status.

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Time Limitation and Extension

Students have a seven-year time limit to complete all requirements for the Ph.D. degree.  A student whose Ph.D. time limit has expired is regarded by the Graduate School as automatically terminated from the program unless the department submits an appropriately justified petition for a time extension, and the Graduate School approves that petition.

Time-to-degree continues to be a national issue in graduate education. The Graduate School concurs with the statement by the Graduate Council at UCLA, summarizing the impact of lengthy times to degree.

Overly long times-to-degree are costly to students and the University, decrease the influx of new ideas that come with new students, reduce the productive work-life of holders of advanced degrees, diminish the capacity to meet anticipated faculty renewal needs, make it more difficult to diversify our graduate students and ultimately our faculty, and surely discourage some undergraduates from even considering graduate study.  Within limits, a shorter time-to-degree is neither synonymous with high quality graduate education nor antithetical to it.  However, timely progress is a sign of intellectual vigor, competence, and commitment.

Definition of the time limit

The seven-year period begins with the end of the semester during which the student was admitted to doctoral study and was taking work toward meeting the requirements for the degree.

Total Time for Extensions

The total time for earning the PhD degree, including all time extensions and any required revalidation is 12 years.

Procedure for requesting a time extension

• To allow a student to continue in the Ph.D. program past the seven-year time limit, the department must request a time extension from the Graduate School.
   
• The Time Extension Request form must be used to transmit the request.
   
• The request must be submitted no later than six months following the student’s time limit expiration.

Time Extension Eligibility Requirement

To be considered eligible for a time extension, the student’s Prospectus must have received Graduate School approval prior to the request for an extension.

Issues that must be addressed in the Time Extension Request form include:

• The reasons for the request;
• An explanation of how the student’s circumstances have changed to enable him/her now to complete the dissertation;
• Compelling evidence that the student's dissertation is in progress;
• A plan and timeline for completion of the dissertation; and
• An explanation of how the student has remained current in his/her field.

The Request form must include:

• Copies of all the student’s Annual Reviews.
• Endorsement by the student's advisor and a majority of the dissertation committee; and
• The approval of the departmental Graduate Director (or the Graduate Director in consultation with the departmental Graduate Committee).

Length of time extensions

• The length of time extensions should be handled on a case-by-case basis, justified by the timeline.
   
• During the extension, the student must meet with the advisor and committee annually, and documentation of the meetings must be maintained in the Annual Review.

Time extension beyond the 10-year mark

• Approval of a time extension beyond the 10-year mark requires revalidation of credentials through retaking the written Qualifying Examination in the major area or other mechanisms of revalidation as stipulated by the department.
   
• Additional coursework might be required.
   
• The dissertation must be completed and defended within two years of the 10-year mark.

These time extension requirements will be effective beginning Fall Semester 2011 and will apply to students who matriculated Fall Semester 2004 and forward. Students seeking time extensions prior to Fall Semester 2011 must include the proposed date for their Prospectus defense, if they have not had their Prospectus approved yet.

Appeal process

If either an advisor or the Graduate Director does not approve an extension, the student has the right to appeal the decision.  If the advisor does not approve the request, the student may appeal to the Graduate Director, who will meet with the graduate committee to respond to the appeal.  If the Graduate Director does not approve the request, the student may appeal to the Graduate School. If the Graduate School does not approve the request, the student may appeal to the Provost.

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