Doctoral Program Guidelines
[revised March 2026]
University Requirements
See the Graduate Catalog for additional details on all academic policies and procedures as well as degree requirements and services & resources available to graduate students at Ohio University. View the Graduate Catalog
Registration
As a doctoral student, you must be enrolled for a minimum of 0.5 credit hours in at least two semesters in each academic year that you are working toward your degree, including the semester in which you graduate, unless you are on a leave of absence. See the Continuous Enrollment and Leave of Absence policies in the Graduate Catalog for full details.
Doctoral students on a graduate appointment must be full time, enrolling in at least 12 credit hours in a fall or spring semester where those contracts apply; summer appointments require 9 credit hours.
If you have completed all academic requirements for graduation, have submitted your dissertation before the first day of the semester in which you plan to graduate and are not receiving services from the university, you do not have to register for that semester but must still apply for graduation and pay the application fee.
Tuition and Fees
You can find a current listing of graduate student tuition and fees at the Office of the Bursar website. The Graduate College also has information on the cost of attending OHIO.
Meeting Deadlines
Please be aware of the university’s deadlines to apply for graduation. Deadlines for submitting dissertations are strictly followed and the university will not waive its graduation deadlines. If you miss a deadline in the dissertation process, you will need to reapply for graduation in the following semester.
If necessary for employment purposes prior to the availability of an official transcript showing your degree, the Scripps College of Communication Associate Dean will provide a letter verifying that you have met all requirements for your degree.
Applying for Graduation
You can can apply online for graduation.
The graduation fee is $50 for doctoral candidates. Notify the Graduate College if you need to cancel your application for graduation at graduate@ohio.edu. Any student who does not graduate in the semester for they applied must reapply for graduation. There is a $5 reapplication fee.
Commencement
There are two graduate commencement ceremonies each year, one in December and the other in May. Students completing their degree requirements during Summer or Fall semesters (including early-for deadlines for those semesters) typically participate in December commencement exercises; students completing during Spring (or by the early-for-Spring deadline) participate in May.
Ohio University will contact you regarding cap and gown orders and attendance. You can view further information about commencement and cap and gown sales.
Ph.D. candidates will receive a letter from the Graduate College to RSVP for the commencement ceremony and to indicate the name of their faculty escort. About a week before commencement the Graduate College will email all faculty escorts reminding them of the date and outlining the ceremonies.
Diplomas
Your diploma/certificate will be mailed to you approximately eight weeks after graduation to the address supplied on your graduation application. The Office of the University Registrar receives the graduation conferral/denial lists from the college offices indicating the graduation status of each candidate. Diplomas are mailed First Class. Diplomas will not be mailed for students with financial or other obligations to the University until the holds are released. For questions or address changes, please contact the Graduation Department, 740.593.4196 or graduation@ohio.edu.
Diplomas/Certificates are issued by Ohio University in the following sizes:
- Certificates: 11"W x 8.5"H
- Doctoral: 15"W x 12"H
Adequate Academic Progress
Adequate progress toward program completion is determined at the school level by the student’s academic committee. In the absence of a committee, the school graduate committee in concert with the school graduate director, determines adequate academic progress.
Students in graduate programs must progress through program checkpoints in a timely fashion. A student who fails to form a program of study committee[B3.1], pass portfolio review or comprehensive exams, successfully defend a dissertation proposal, or successfully defend a dissertation may be denied continuation in the program.
In addition, progress will be assessed based on grades earned within the student’s current program of study within the Scripps College of Communication (using GPA). Students will be notified in writing if they are found to not be making adequate academic progress. That notice will include the conditions necessary for the student to demonstrate that adequate progress is being made. A student on notice for not demonstrating adequate academic progress is on probation (see “Academic Probation” in the Graduate Catalog).
Students who are determined to not be making adequate academic progress or whose GPA within their current academic program falls below 3.0 for two continuous semesters may be denied permission to register, required to withdraw, or be dismissed from the program.
Two continuous semesters with a GPA below 3.0 may result in dismissal from the graduate program per Graduate College guidelines. Students who have been dismissed may petition the Scripps College Associate Dean for reconsideration of the dismissal with a plan of study approved by the student’s academic committee/school graduate committee and the school graduate director.
Two failing grades of C- or lower result in an automatic dismissal from the graduate program. Students may petition for reconsideration of the automatic dismissal with a plan of study approved by the student’s academic committee/school graduate committee and the school graduate director.
Financial assistance is not a guarantee and is based on academic merit and successful completion of tasks assigned. If a student is not making adequate academic progress or has received one or more poor performance reviews, the student may lose financial support from the university and may become ineligible for federal financial aid. Financial assistance is not available to students currently on academic probation.
Time Limit to Complete Doctoral Program
You must complete the doctoral program within seven calendar years of the date you begin your program as determined by your school and recorded in the Graduate College. The clock starts when you take your first course after you have been admitted.
Time Extension
If you think you will need more time to complete your dissertation, you must apply to the Scripps College of Communication Associate Dean for a one-time, one-semester extension. Time extensions are not automatic. The Dean’s Office will grant an extension only when your request is supported by a letter from your school’s graduate director and submitted before you run out of time—typically during the final semester of your seven-year program. If you need an extension beyond the one-semester dean's extension, you must apply for re-admission to your program.
Re-Admission
The graduate committee of your school and the Associate Dean will review your application for re-admission. The criteria for re-admission should be the currency of your (1 knowledge of the required work, (2) research literature, and (3) research methods and techniques.
Your school’s graduate committee may require additional coursework, a retake of the oral or written comprehensive examination, changes or updates in the dissertation, or degree requirements that may have been added since you began your program. If you are approved for re-admission, the condition for re-admission and timeline for completion must be presented in writing to you with a copy placed on file with the Scripps College of Communication and the Graduate College.
Dissertation Policies and Procedures
Scripps doctoral students are required to complete doctoral program milestones and track milestone progress via the Student User Interface of the Graduate College Milestone Tracking App.
For example, once you have chosen your dissertation committee you will formalize it by submitting Milestone 6.
Comprehensive Examination
At the end of your doctoral coursework, you will take a written comprehensive examination with questions set by your program committee. The question length and exam format are determined by your committee, subject to program guidelines. The written exam is normally followed by an oral one.
Your program committee chair should submit Grad Form 7, “Report on the Comprehensive Exam for the Ph.D. Degree,” to the Associate Dean of the Scripps College of Communication within one week following the oral exam.
Dissertation Proposal
The next step after successfully completing your comprehensive exam is writing and defending your dissertation proposal. Proposals have no set length, so consult with your chair on this matter. Your proposal should outline your research topic; demonstrate your knowledge of related literature and research, and clearly indicate the research questions you propose to examine and the methodology to be used.
Dissertation Committee (Grad Form 8)
A dissertation committee consists of at least four faculty members (including the chair and the Dean’s Representative). Check with your committee chair or your school’s graduate director for your school or program’s policy on the makeup of your committee. Your dissertation chair should be a faculty member in your school with an appropriate degree (doctorate for the dissertation) and expertise that closely fits with your research focus. The dean’s representative is a faculty member with an earned terminal degree from outside the Scripps College of Communication. The dean’s representative participates in all aspects of the examining process, beginning with the initial proposal defense through the dissertation defense and helps determine whether you have been adequately examined and whether the standards and practices of your school, the Scripps College of Communication and the University have been maintained. They will complete and submit Grad Form 14, Report of the Dean’s Representative, to the Associate Dean of Scripps College following your dissertation defense. Your dissertation chair will file Grad Form 8, “Report on the Dissertation Committee and the Dean’s Representative,” with the College of Communication.
You must have your graduate director’s approval to change members of your dissertation committee. One of the most common reasons is that a committee member has left the university (although they may remain on the committee if both the student and faculty member desire). If the graduate director approves the change, it is your responsibility to inform the faculty member who is being replaced. A new Grad Form 8 must also be filed with the Associate Dean.
If the graduate director is one of the faculty members involved in the change (coming off the committee or going on the committee), approval should be requested from the director of your School. If both the graduate director and director are involved in the change, you should contact the associate dean of the College for approval.
If a request for a change is rejected by the graduate director, you may appeal to the director of your School. A rejection by the school director may be appealed to the associate dean.
Proposal Defense (Grad Form 9)
You will meet with your committee members to orally defend your dissertation proposal. You should provide copies of your proposal to committee members at least two weeks in advance. Once your dissertation committee approves your proposal, your school’s graduate director must receive a copy of your proposal signed by all of your committee members to be placed in your file. Your committee chair will file Grad Form 9, “Report on the Approval of the Dissertation Proposal,” with the Scripps College of Communication.
After your Proposal Defense
Now you are free to begin your research (but note the section on Human Subjects Research below). You should work closely with your chair during your research and as you write your dissertation. Your chair may require several drafts before the work is deemed presentable to the rest of the committee.
Requirements and information on preparation and formatting of your dissertation are available from the Office of Thesis & Dissertation Services of the Graduate College. Your program may also have dissertation formatting guidelines or a template; consult your program guidelines document.
Doctoral Candidacy (Grad Form 10)
No doctoral student may proceed to the oral examination on the dissertation without first establishing candidacy. Candidacy requires verification of the following:
- Successful completion of comprehensive examination (Grad Form 7)
- Dean’s approval of Dean’s Representative to dissertation committee (Grad Form 8)
- Approval of dissertation proposal (Grad Form 9)
After the Scripps College of Communication receives these forms, the college will issue Grad Form 10, “Certificate of Doctoral Candidacy.”
Thesis & Dissertation Services offers a checklist that you can use at this point to make sure you are on track through the process of completing your dissertation.
Scripps College of Communication Deadlines
University deadlines for degree completion are available on the Ohio University Thesis and Dissertation (TAD) Services web site. The Scripps College of Communication prepares an annual set of deadlines using the OHIO deadlines to enable students to plan when you should have your completed dissertation to your committee and when to schedule your defense. See Deadlines for Advanced Degrees.
Dissertation Defense (Oral Examination)
The Defense (Grad Form 11)
A dissertation must be defended in an oral examination before the student’s committee. You should give each member of your committee a finished copy of your dissertation at least two weeks prior to your oral examination.
Because the dissertation defense is a public event, you must also submit (via your dissertation director) Grad Form 11, “Arrangements for the Oral Examination of the Dissertation” to the Scripps College of Communication at least two weeks before the date of your examination. An email announcement of the date and time of your oral exam will be distributed to faculty and graduate students in the Scripps College of Communication.
Doctoral candidates are strongly encouraged to also submit their pre-defense dissertation to TAD for a format review. See the TAD Process Checklist referenced above.
After the Dissertation Defense
Report of Defense (Grad Forms 4 and 14)
Your dissertation director should submit Grad Form 4, “Report on the Dissertation Oral Defense,” to your school’s graduate director who will forward the original to the Associate Dean of Scripps College, who is responsible for submitting the form to Thesis And Dissertation Services.
The dean’s representative should submit a completed Grad Form 14, “Evaluation by the Dean’s Representative of the Dissertation Process,” to the Associate Dean of the Scripps College of Communication within one week of the defense.
Use of Human Subjects in Research
All studies that involve humans are potentially subject to federal government regulations. This includes everything from clinical trials to surveys, interviews, and observation. Any research -- including dissertation projects -- that calls for participation by people must be reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) before the project can begin. The IRB is a committee of university and community representatives that reviews all requests to involve human subjects and determines whether any harm will occur to individuals participating in these research projects. This is a federal legal requirement, not just a university policy.
All researchers (including doctoral students and dissertation directors) who conduct human subjects research must complete the required CITI training. To get approval for your human subjects research, you must submit an IRB form using the electronic LEO IRB system. Your request will then be reviewed by staff and, if needed, distributed to members of the IRB. If you are using a survey or interview design, you may qualify for an exemption from the full human subject review process, but must still file with the IRB to claim it. Review categories of research involving human subjects and the typical timelines for IRB processing.
Be sure to allow sufficient time to complete the review process before initiating your research.
Restrictions on Publication (see also Restricted Publication of Theses or Dissertations in the Graduate Catalog)
Dissertations produced in graduate programs are intended to be public documents, adding to public knowledge. As such, TAD will publish a link to the approved final document on OhioLINK, which means the full text of the work can be found and accessed online as well as via many libraries. Students needing to protect their ability to first publish exact or derived text from the dissertation elsewhere, or with a patent pending based on the work, may request a delay in publication for either 1 or 2 years, with the possibility of a renewal. Under certain exceptional circumstances, publication delay may also be requested to protect proprietary data used in the dissertation, although anonymization or other means of protecting that interest while not restricting the publication are generally preferable alternatives.
The Publication Delay form is available from TAD and must be submitted and approved prior to submission of the final version of your dissertation.
Guidelines for Sponsored Research
View the Complete guidelines for Sponsored Research. Faculty and students engaging in sponsored research should familiarize themselves with these guidelines.