Information for Graduate Program Administrators

Graduate program administrators have accounts on the ProQuest ETD Administrator for the University of Chicago, and they can access dissertations, supplementary files, and additional information such as ETD details, revision history, etc. Electronic versions of theses and dissertations are called ETDs. ETD details are worth checking as students sometimes make mistakes, selecting the wrong Academic Program from the department drop box menu, for example, or neglecting to include keywords or an abstract. Administrators may log in and search by a student's name to see the status of dissertation submissions from students in their programs.

Doctoral candidates should notify the program administrator as soon as the ETD Submission in Progress is ready to be approved by the department. They should not complete the submission process until after the ETD submission has been approved.

The department will review the pdf, additional files (if any) and the information about the dissertation in the ETD Submission in Progress.

In order to complete the submission process on the ETD Administrator site, the student must upload a completed copy of the Departmental Approval Form, signed by the department chair or dean of the professional school. The approval form confirms that the dissertation on the ETD Administrator site is in its final form, meets the University-Wide Requirements for the Ph.D. Dissertation, and has been accepted as satisfying the degree requirements of the department or school.

Graduate program administrators coordinate this process with the student. Either the student or the administrator can provide the chair of the department or dean of the professional school with a copy of, or access to, the final version of the dissertation pdf, any supplemental files, and the information about the dissertation available from the ETD Administrator site. Chairs and Deans who would like ETD Administrator accounts may request one from the Dissertation Office. ETD Administrators may log in and view decisions, revisions, and status for students in their programs.

After the student has completed the submission process, they must not make any substantive revisions. Changes should be limited to those requested by Dissertation Office staff.

ETDs are assigned to Dissertation Office staff and audited to ensure they meet the university-wide requirements. Dissertation Office staff will request changes or additional material from doctoral candidates as needed, copying the graduate program administrator, so students should remain in contact with the Dissertation Office and with their graduate program administrator throughout the quarter. When the submission is in order, Dissertation Office staff will register the decision "Accept" on the ETD site, and the dissertation status will change to "Ready for Delivery."

Doctoral candidates and graduate program administrators will be notified by email as soon as the ETD has been accepted and is ready for delivery. ETDs are delivered to ProQuest shortly after convocation. Once ProQuest Dissertation Publishing receives the ETD, it can take up to 12 weeks before it is available online in ProQuest Dissertations & Theses @ University of Chicago.