Admission to Candidacy and Dissertator Status

To obtain dissertator standing, the student must file the Application for Doctoral Dissertator Status available in the online doctoral Milestones system. This form should be filed before the semester that dissertator status is sought. Once all the approvals are obtained through the online Milestones system, the student will be admitted to formal candidacy for the Ph.D. degree and is given ‘Dissertator’ status.

A doctoral student in Dissertator status must register each semester for three (3) graduate level credits, at a reduced Dissertator rate.

Dissertation Research

Dissertation research is initiated and conducted with the major professor. A student must be registered for Dissertation Research credits in order to use the facilities of the University for research. A grade of Satisfactory or Unsatisfactory is recorded for all research credits. The Dissertation should be of such caliber and be written in a style and format appropriate for publication in a peer-reviewed journal.

Ph.D. students are required to have submitted or published at least one primary authored manuscript in a peer-reviewed journal prior to graduation.

Ph.D. Students are required to present a Colloquium in the Department of Biological Sciences prior to graduation.