Milestone Seven: Arrangements for Proposal Defense

Students use Milestone 7 to schedule their dissertation proposal defense. If the student does not have an approved committee, a pop-up will appear to redirect to Milestone 6: 

Screen shot of a message with a green background

Prerequisites

✔ Milestone 6 must be completed and approved
❌ Students cannot bypass committee formation.

Committee Confirmation Prior to Submission

Before submission, students are prompted to “Please review your committee to the right and confirm it is accurate.”

Two options appear:

  • I need to update my Committee. Prompts student to edit Milestone 6.
  • Continue: My Committee is Correct. Student proceeds to Milestone 7. 
Screenshot of multiple messages appearing on a dashboard

Student Actions

All “required” fields must be completed to enable the “Submit” button. Students must provide:

  • Dissertation title
  • Proposal date and time
    • Make sure the correct AM/PM is selected.
    • A future date (not current or past date) must be selected.
      • If a date selected is within 14 days of the current date, students must acknowledge they have already been granted approval from the Dean’s office. An email will IMMEDIATELY be sent to the College Associate Dean notifying them that a student has requested to schedule a proposal defense within 14 days. The Associate Dean may reject Milestone 7 Form when it is their turn to approve, if the student has scheduled the defense meeting early without receiving prior permission.
  • Duration (in minutes)
  • Presentation venue
  • Teams link (if applicable); Note that it is the student’s responsibility to share the TEAMS link with any attendees who need virtual attendance.
  • The field for Advisor is optional. 
Screenshot of a menu students are prompted to fill out to schedule a dissertation proposal defense

Approvals Triggered for Milestone 7 Scheduling

  • Committee Chair
  • Program Director/Graduate Chair
  • Co-Chair, Dean’s Rep, and Committee Members, External Member
  • Associate Dean

Approvals Triggered Day-Of Proposal Defense

On the scheduled date and start time of the proposal defense, the system automatically sends emails requesting approval of the proposal to all committee members. It is expected that committee members will share their decisions with the student at the conclusion of the defense meeting. These emails requesting approval should not be the way to inform students of committee member decisions; these forms are to record decisions that have already been shared with a student. These email requests for approval should be completed after the defense meeting.

Approval emails on the Day-Of Proposal Defense meeting are triggered in this order:

  • All Committee Members, including Deans Representative, Co-Chair (if applicable), External Member (if applicable)
  • Dissertation Chair
  • Program Director/Graduate Chair
  • Associate Dean

Email Notifications After All Approval Responses Are Completed

  • Student
  • All Committee Members (including co-chair, deans’ representative, external member)
  • College Graduate Records Manager (if applicable)
  • Program Coordinator (if applicable)
  • Program Director/Grad Chair
  • Academic College (Associate Dean)