Scheduling a Preliminary or Final Exam

Before the Exam Can Be Scheduled:

• Coursework must be completed.  No Incomplete (I), Not Recorded (NR) or F by Rule grades
• Prerequisite Milestones are complete: 
• PhD Students: Early Research, Research Area, and Qualifying Exams
• EdD Students: Residency Requirement, Cognate Requirement, and Qualifying Exams
• You must be registered during the term in which the exam takes place.  At minimum, this is 0 thesis (599) credits.
• A date and time must be selected with all committee members.

• Human Subjects Approval for Dissertations: Approval for use of human subjects or confirmation that human subjects review is not required must be obtained from the Office for Protection of Research Subjects prior to doing research on the dissertation topic. The decision by the Campus Institutional Review Board (IRB) for either human subjects approval or confirmation that the project is "not human subjects research" (NHSR) must be forwarded by email to the Office of Graduate Programs (OGP) as soon as it has been received from IRB and prior to any dissertation data collection. Importantly, a fully drafted and submission-ready IRB new study application form, where needed, should be included as part of the faculty review during the preliminary exam. Students should plan on the IRB approval process taking up to (or for some projects, more than) eight weeks, so should plan ahead with their faculty advisor and doctoral committee. Upon approval by the faculty director of research, dissertation research projects may be submitted to IRB prior to the preliminary examination.

Guidelines for Committee:

• The master's committee must consist of at least three faculty members (chairperson + 2 voting members).
• The doctoral committee must consist of at least four members (chairperson + 3 voting members).           
  
  • At least three members, including the chairperson, must be members of the Graduate Faculty (check the Graduate Faculty Database). 
  • At least two members must be tenured at the University of Illinois. 
  • At least one member must be from outside the student's field of specialization. 
  • Emerti faculty who has been awarded continuing membership on the Graduate Faculty may serve on and chair committees. 
  • All voting members of the committee must be present in person or participate via teleconference or other electronic communication media during the examination, deliberation and results determination.
    
• If a committee member is not a member of the Graduate Faculty (i.e., retired faculty or external faculty) additional information is required:
  
  • An up-to-date copy of the committee member's Curriculum Vita (CV)
  • A letter of justification from the advisor/chairperson are required to be submitted to the Graduate Student Services Office

Exam Process and Request for Appointment of Committee:

At least four (4) weeks prior to the exam date the student must submit their committee request to the Graduate College Student Portal.  Failure to submit this form may result in the exam not being held. 

For Prelim Exams:

• The request is received in the GSSO Office. 
• Advisor and departmental approval will be obtained and then the request will be submitted to the Graduate College for processing.
• Once the paperwork is approved at the Graduate College, either a room reservation in the College of Education, or a Zoom link will be created by GSSO based on the information provided on the committee request form.

• The Preliminary Exam Result (PER) form will be made available electronically through the Slate Portal. GSSO will be sure the chair of the committee receives the pdf of the PER.
• After the PER proposal meeting, the chair (or Director of Research) of the committee should submit an email to their respective GSSO contact, cc’d to the committee members, that includes the following information:
  
  •  PER Form: 1) Date of the exam, 2) Result of the exam, 3) Names of committee members 

• GSSO will obtain the Department Head/Chair signature on the PER form once they receive the exam result notification from the committee chair (or Director of Research) and submit the results to the Graduate College for official record of milestone completion.
  

For Final Exams: 

• The request is received in the GSSO Office. 
• Advisor and departmental approval will be obtained and then the request will be submitted to the Graduate College for processing.
• Once the paperwork is approved at the Graduate College, either a room reservation in the College of Education, or a Zoom link will be created by GSSO based on the information provided on the committee request form.

• The Final Exam Result (FER) and Thesis/Dissertation Approval (TDA) forms will be made available electronically through the Slate Portal. GSSO will be sure the chair of the committee receives the pdf of the FER and TDA.

• After the defense, the chair of the committee should submit an email to your respective GSSO contact, cc’d to the committee members, that includes the following information:
  
  • FER Form: 1) Date of the exam, 2) Result of the exam, 3) Names of committee members, 4) How each committee member voted
  • TDA Form: 1) Approval of the document, 2) Names of committee members 
    
• GSSO will obtain the Department Head/Chair signature on the FER and TDA forms once they receive the exam result notification from the committee chair (or Director of Research) and submit the results to the Graduate College for official record of milestone completion.

Office for the Protection of Research Subjects (IRB)