Adjustments to dissertation, thesis, and report deadlines for spring 2020

Dear faculty, staff, and students,

In response to the disruptions caused by COVID-19, the Graduate School will be adjusting deadlines for completing a dissertation, thesis, or report for spring semester.

To successfully complete a research degree, students must complete the following items by deadlines established by the Graduate School:

1. Pass their final oral examination (“defense”)
2. Submit the Approval of a Dissertation, Thesis, or Report form
3. Submit a committee-approved dissertation, thesis, or report to Digital Commons
4. Submit a committee-approved dissertation or thesis to ProQuest (reports do not submit to ProQuest)

For the spring semester, the following deadlines will apply for the above items:

1. To complete a degree in spring, the deadline is 4pm on April 27, 2020.  This is a one week extension from the normal deadline.
2. To complete a degree in summer – at no additional cost – the deadline is 4pm on May 27, 2020.  This is a three week extension of the regular “grace” period. For students with a terminal degree who submit by this deadline:
   1. The Graduate School will enroll them in UN5951 – a 0 credit, no fee, no tuition course
   2. The Graduate School will request that students are coded as “off campus”
   3. No fees – for this semester – will be due when the document is accepted
   4. A provisional certification indicating degree completion can be provided.  Students request this on the Approval form.

Students unable to submit by May 27 who wish to complete their degree in the summer must register for at least one credit.  They will have until 4pm on August 10, 2020 to complete their defense and submit their document and associated paperwork.

Defenses should still be scheduled two weeks in advance and must include a public presentation. These presentations may be held using an online platform of the committee’s choice and the URL provided for public access will be publicized by the Graduate School.   Based on feedback we have received, we offer the following suggestions for your defense using Zoom:

• The IT Knowledge Base on Conferencing includes answers to many of your questions. Contact IT if you need additional assistance (906-487-1111, it-help@mtu.edu)
• Set up your meeting to have a co-host so that a second person can start the meeting, mute participants with audio issues, or act as a moderator.
• Set up your meeting to mute participants automatically when they join.
• Set up your meeting to turn off video for participants to preserve bandwidth.
• Share your slides and present as usual.
• There are several options for asking questions during a Zoom webinar:
  • Participants can be encouraged to type questions in the chat window.  These can be answered in real-time or saved for the end.
  • Participants can “raise your hand” and then ask via chat, audio, or video.  It is helpful to have a friend or committee member be a moderator for this.
  • Participants can “unmute” themselves and simply ask their question. This is easier with a smaller group.
• The “on-hold” feature may be used to exclude a participant from the audio and video feed, for example, while the committee is deliberating about the defense.

We hope that these adjustments will allow all students to complete their degree in a timely manner with less stress about registration and fee payment.

We are here to help.  Please let us know how we can assist you.

Sincerely,

Graduate School