Expectations for Doctoral Degree
The SEAC has approved the following list of expectations to receive a PhD:
- Students will meet with their dissertation supervisory committee
(external member may be absent) semiannually to review and report
research progress. A written response to the committee evaluation must
be provided to the Program Director in Experimental Pathology and to
each member of the dissertation committee within one week following the
committee meeting. Failure to have a meeting and/or to file the report
of the meeting will result in a grade of "Unsatisfactory" in research or
dissertation and immediately place the student on academic probation.
Students cannot graduate while on academic probation.
- During the duration of the dissertation research period, a student
must have presented their work (poster or oral) in at least one
National Meeting. Mentors are encouraged to support student’s attendance
at other meetings as part of their general training. A published
abstract of their presentation should be provided to the SEAC.
- At the time of the dissertation defense, the student must be an
author (first author or second if the journal states that the first and
second authors are considered as equal contributors) on at least one
peer-reviewed paper that has been accepted for publication. Most
students have several publications by the time that they graduate.
- It is the responsibility of the student and mentor to
ensure that the version of the dissertation that is sent by the student
to all committee members is complete and in the final and presentable
form that is required by the GSBS. The dissertation format is
not fixed and can be, for example, a sequential report of the study with
introduction, methods, data, discussion and bibliography sections, or
as a package of published papers linked with a general introduction and
discussion. A defense cannot be scheduled unless a final draft
of the dissertation has been submitted to the Program Director and
supervisory committee at least one month prior to the scheduled defense.
A bound file consisting of published papers alone is not
considered to be an adequate dissertation. All dissertations must follow
the GSBS guidelines and be approved by the GSBS. All
dissertation supervisory committee members are expected to read the
dissertation prior to signing the "Request for Oral Defense" to
determine if the student has completed all requirements and is prepared
to defend the work during a public oral defense.
- Students will publicly defend their dissertation as required by the
GSBS. This will be in the form of a one-hour public seminar and open
session for questions. A private dissertation committee-only defense
will be held immediately following the public defense. Upon successful
dissertation defense and having met Program requirements outlined above,
the committee members will formally approve the dissertation only by
signing and accepting the final version.