Departmental Approval Form Information

Doctoral candidates should contact their graduate program administrator as soon as they are ready to complete the submission steps on the ETD Administrator. The department can review their dissertation submission while it is in progress, and the student may be asked to make changes before the dissertation files and details are approved by the department. After asking the department to review the dissertation, the student should not make any changes other than those requested by the department. The departmental review occurs before the student completes the submission process on the ETD Administrator site.

In order to complete the submission process, 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. If your degree is from more than one program, you will need more than one completed and signed approval form.

Graduate program administrators coordinate this process with the student. Students should ask their program administrator for their department's deadline.

After the student has uploaded the signed and completed Departmental Approval Form and completed the submission steps on the ETD Administrator, Dissertation Office staff will audit the dissertation files and details to ensure University requirements are met. Dissertation Office staff may request additional changes from the student, copying the graduate program administrator. The student should make the changes requested by the Dissertation Office promptly.