The Graduate School
Graduation Deadlines and Submission Instructions for Doctoral Candidates for fall, 2009
Steps to take to graduate in fall, 2009
- Register for Dissertation (_99W) for fall.
- Beginning August 26, 2009, submit the online Doctoral Degree Candidate Form. The form can be completed and submitted online from August 26, 2009 until October 12, 2009. After October 12, any student who fails to complete the online Doctoral Degree Candidate form must contact a degree evaluator in the Graduate School to request individual access. Students who do not submit a Doctoral Degree Candidate form by November 20 will not be eligible to receive their degree in the fall.
- Schedule your Defense/Final Oral Examination. Give your committee a
copy of your dissertation at least a month before you plan to defend
so each member can examine it. Then fill out the Request
for Final Oral (.pdf) form. Secure signatures of your committee
on this form indicating each of them agrees to attend the defense on
the date shown.
- Submit the Request for Final Oral (.pdf)
form to the Graduate School at least two weeks in advance of the defense.
This is how your Defense/Oral Examination is officially scheduled.
- At the defense, the Committee Certification
of Approved Version (see Format
Guidelines - .pdf) should be signed by all members of your
committee (any not attending will need to sign this page before the
dissertation is submitted).
- Make any required/requested revisions to the dissertation, check it
carefully for grammar, spelling, punctuation, content and format (see Format
Guidelines - .pdf), then convert the final approved version of
the dissertation into one .pdf file.
- Upload the dissertation to UMI or the Texas Digital Libraries (TDL), as described below, by 5:00 p.m. on December 4, 2009. Publication of your dissertation in the exact version that has been approved by your committee is a requirement for the degree.
For Students in the College of Liberal Arts and College of Natural Sciences ONLY:
Submit your dissertation to Texas Digital Libraries (TDL). Instructions for submitting the dissertation online to TDL can be found at the TDL Dissertation Submission Site. Texas Digital Libraries will provide Open Access to your dissertation free of charge.
The TDL Submission Site provides students with an option to request the supplemental submission of their dissertation to UMI. Students selecting this option must submit a UMI Submission Packet (.pdf) to the Graduate School Degree Evaluators along with their final paperwork submission. This submission packet is available at the Graduate School Forms page at http://www.utexas.edu/ogs/pdn/. Students selecting UMI publishing or registration services will be billed by The University of Texas for the associated fees.
Additional information on converting your word or .rtf version of your dissertation to .pdf (including a link to an online .pdf converter) is available at the Electronic Thesis and Dissertations (ETD) site. (Some students have reported difficulty using the online .pdf converter. DO NOT WAIT until the last day to try to convert your dissertation or treatise or you may not be able to meet the deadline.) For assistance with problems converting your dissertation to .pdf format, contact the ITS Help Desk at 512-475-9400.
For Students in All Other Colleges
Submit your dissertation to UMI. Instructions for submitting the dissertation online to UMI can be found at the UMI Dissertation Submission Site. When uploading your dissertation to UMI, you will be offered various publishing options. When considering these options, keep in mind that the Texas Digital Library provides Open Access to all dissertations produced at UT Austin free of charge. Students will be billed for the selected UMI publishing and copyright registration services: Traditional Publishing, $65; Open Access Publishing, $160; Registration of Copyright, $65. Payment is required at the time of upload.
Please note that your dissertation is being published by UMI and by the Texas Digital Libraries. When UT delivers your dissertation to UMI for publication, a copy is also provided to the Texas Digital Libraries. Students should note that restrictions and embargos requested from UMI do not apply to the Texas Digital Libraries. A student may request permission from the Graduate Dean to delay making the dissertation available to the public through the Texas Digital Libraries for up to one year in order to protect patent or other rights. This request must be supported by a written recommendation from the dissertation supervisor and must be submitted and approved prior to your graduation. If no petition is made to the Dean, the dissertation will be searchable on the web and available free from UT.
Additional information on converting your word or .rtf version of your dissertation to .pdf (including a link to an online .pdf converter) is available at the UMI Dissertation Submission Site and the Electronic Thesis and Dissertations (ETD) site. (Some students have reported difficulty using the online .pdf converter. DO NOT WAIT until the last day to try to convert your dissertation or treatise or you may not be able to meet the deadline.) For assistance with technical problems while using the online submission system, please send email to support@dissertations.umi.com, or call 510-665-1200.
- Submit all required forms and paperwork to the Graduate School by 5:00 p.m. on December 4, 2009. For a detailed list of paperwork to be submitted, print the Checklist for Final Submission of Dissertation or Treatise for fall, 2009. Due to the large numbers of dissertations to be processed each semester, you are encouraged to upload your dissertation and submit all required paperwork as soon as possible. This paperwork may be submitted in person no later than December 4, 2009 by coming to the Graduate School, Main Building 101 or it may be mailed to arrive no later than December 4, 2009 to: The University of Texas at Austin, VP & Dean of Graduate Studies, 1 University Station G0400, Austin, Texas 78712-0531.
Please note: To complete .pdf forms, you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer.
